Page 17 of Soaring and Steadfast

Are you okay? Do you want to talk?

I know you must be feeling a lot of things right now, or something triggered this to bring it up this evening.

I wanted to check on you, friend…

I’m okay.

I think I’m going to curl up in a ball, have a good cry, and then maybe just go to sleep so I can dream of something – anything – else.

I hope you have the sweetest and most beautiful dreams that bring you joy then.

Thank you for listening… uh, I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but what is your name?

Louis.

It’s French, so it’s like you are saying ‘Louie’

What is your name?

Lila.

It’s very nice to meet you, Lila – and I appreciate you trusting me enough to open up and share your story as well as your first name with me.

Thank you for being kind enough to deal with my quirks.

Your quirks are my quirks, friend. It’s no burden in the slightest.

Good night, again.

Sweet dreams, Lila…

CHAPTER SIX

PASTEUR

Life was good and getting better all the time.

Louis stood on the outskirts of his group, watching, absorbing, feeling everything in a way he never had before. His friends were changing—finding something deeper, something lasting—and he couldn’t help but wonder if fate had carved out the same path for him.

He let his gaze drift over them. Memphis had stumbled into love while they were deployed in the Mediterranean, a whirlwind romance that had solidified into something real. Orion had taken a reckless leap, marrying a stranger, and somehow, against all odds, it had worked. Louis had been the one to tell him to fight, to stay in the Navy, to become someone’s guardian angel here on earth. And then there was Trophy—the one they all thought was beyond saving—who had met someone during Fleet Week in New York City. Louis had stood beside them, spoken the words that made them husband and wife, and watched the impossible unfold before his very eyes.

The world had a funny way of making things happen. Maybe that’s why he believed so strongly in the idea that good begets more good. It wasn’t just a saying to him—it was a truth buriedso deeply in his soul that he couldn’t let it go. But belief was one thing. Witnessing it, over and over again, was something else entirely.

His eyes flicked toward the other single men in their group, his mind turning over the possibilities. Who would be next? Shellac? Tic-Tak? Ohio? Moonbeam?

Him?

The thought caught him off guard, curling through his chest with a mix of yearning and hesitation. He swallowed hard.

Of course, he wanted love—something real, something permanent, something that wouldn’t slip through his fingers like sand. But he knew the truth, too. He had seen it play out on the piers, in the barracks, in the haunted expressions of men who came home from deployment only to find their world in ruins. The divorce rate in the Navy was brutal. Orion had learned that the hard way. Others had, too. Would he be any different? Or would he give his heart away only to have it torn apart?

Louis exhaled slowly, dragging a hand over his face as if he could wipe away the exhaustion that clung to him like a second skin. The weight of his thoughts pressed against his chest, heavier than the silence he carried in his heart. He was still searching—searching for peace, for purpose, for something to anchor him in the vast uncertainty of his life.

Still trying to hold onto his faith.

Still looking for a sign.

But what if he was so desperate for answers that he missed the truth staring him in the face? What if the thing he had been chasing all this time—the belonging, the connection, the love—wasn’t in some far-off place waiting to be discovered?

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