Page 119 of Her Marine
Journee’s head snapped up to look at him. “Wha…you retired?”
“Officially, no. Technically, yes.” When Journee furrowed her brow, he elaborated. “Since Commander Fields got them to agree to pay me out of my vacation time as part of my retirement, I decided to take it off instead. Three and a half more months puts me at another year and earns me more in retirement. So, I’ll be on active duty but on an extended vacation.”
“How do you have that much vacation time?”
“I worked through Covid, and a bill passed that allowed us to carry over one hundred and twenty days of paid leave until a specific time frame. I also receive extra time for each day I spend in a particular sort of... environment. Those I can roll over in general. So, in all, I have about five months’ worth.”
Journee took his face between his hands, kissed him, and Killian squeezed her waist gently. “I know this was a hard decision for you,” she stated when they pulled apart.
“This time last year, I wouldn’t have made it,” he responded honestly. “But it was easier than I thought, and I’m pretty sure I’d made the decision the moment he presented it to me.”
“What do you have planned for your extended vacation?” Journee asked, draping her arms over his shoulders.
“Well, Colorado Springs is closer to my business partners, but more importantly, the woman I love lives there. So, moving is what I plan on doing.”
“You’re serious?” she inquired with wide eyes.
“I am,” Killian confirmed. “I’m tired of not being able to see you whenever I want to. Tired of the distance, and though I’d do it as long as I had to, I can change that now. Besides, we have a puppy together. It just makes sense that I’m closer,” he responded with a smirk.
Journee studied him for a minute, nibbling on her lower lip as she played with the hair at the nape of his neck. He raised his left thumb, freeing her lip from between her teeth.
“Do better than closer,” she told him, and it was his turn to study her.
“You sure that’s what you want, baby?”
“What I want is you. And like you, I’d do the distance as long as I needed to. But seeing you wheneverIwanted; it wouldn’t be enough just having you in the city. That would be the worst type of torture. We also can’t have our fur baby splitting her time between two houses.”
As if agreeing with Journee, Voyage yipped, and they both laughed. Killian had no problem with what she wanted. He knew they’d split time continually between the two places, so what was the point in paying for two?
“No, we can’t have that,” Killian agreed, and that was it.
The decision had been made, and a year ago, if someone told him he’d be leaving a career he’d put eighteen years into, he would have called them foolish. Eight months ago, if someone had said to him that it would be because he’d fallen in love with the woman in front of him because he didn’t want to cut his life with her short, he would have called them a liar. But it’d all happened, and he couldn’t think of anything that could have been better than meeting her that October night.
Epilogue
Four and a half weeks later
Killian walked out of the backdoor to find Journee rearranging the tables he’d put up an hour ago while Voyage was running around the backyard, chasing some flying insect. He’d told her that if she wanted them somewhere else, he would move them for her, but he wasn’t surprised to find her trying to do it herself.
He walked behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I told you I’d move them if you wanted.”
“I only moved a few of them. I wanted more room in case you all decided to keep your tug-of-war tradition.”
Killian chuckled. When he’d told her it was his turn to host Fourth of July a couple of weeks before he’d moved in, she hadn’t had a problem with it and asked if there was anything, in particular, they needed to get aside from the food they planned on grilling. He’d told her they tended to have a tug-of-war competition, but Ace always brought the rope.
“Speaking of which, I have gloves for the occasion. You haven’t seen them, have you?” Killian asked.
“No. You still have a lot of boxes we need to unpack. So, they’re probably still packed up.”
He did have quite a few more boxes to unpack, but they were things he knew he wouldn’t need immediately. When he’d informed Journee of his decision to move, he’d only waited a few days to tell his mother, stepfather, and sister of his choice Sunday night at dinner after he’d taken Journee and Voyage to the airport. None of them had seemed surprised that he’d decided to retire and move. His mother even stated it would give her a reason to travel more.
They’d helped him pack over the course of two weeks, and Killian sold most of the things he didn’t need and wasn’t explicitly attached to. When he arrived, he’d put others that he wanted to keep in a storage unit.
Axel, Slate, and Ace had flown out to help him pack everything he was keeping into two U-hauls, and the four of them had made the twenty-five-hour drive to Colorado Springs. He’d placed his condo up for sale, and his little sister was gracious enough to help him filter offers on it and attend showings with the realtor if she needed to and was available. It was in a prime location, and there were several amenities. Killian didn’t anticipate it staying on the market for long.
Sure, with all the time Killian had available, he could have taken his time with the process and waited until he’d accepted an offer on the condo before moving, but he hadn’t wanted to. He’d been honest when he told her now that he could change the distance, he planned on doing so, and he hadn’t wanted to wait to make it happen.
“Come on. We’ve got time before everyone arrives. I’ll help you look for them, and you can start the grill,” Journee suggested. Killian released her, and she called the dog over. “Voyage, heel,” she commanded, and the puppy stopped its pursuit of the insect and trotted over, sitting by Journee’s feet. She gave Voyage a treat from the little pouch both carried when they were at home since they were training her.
