Page 12 of My Forever Soldier

Luke looked up in time to see Charlie hanging upside down, showing all his teeth he was smiling so hard. Luke gulped. This looked like a rescue mission to him.

“Stay still, bud. I’ll get you.” He gritted his teeth and jogged forward.

“Look, look! I’m upside down.”

Luke was looking, just not with the enthusiasm his son seemed to expect. How the hell had Charlie managed to scramble so high? Did Olivia let him do this sort of thing, or was he supposed to stop him?

A manual. He definitely needed a manual.

Charlie wriggled back onto the bars, still grinning, then landed with a thud on both feet.

“What next?”

“As in where are we going next?” Luke asked. Was there somewhere else they were supposed to be going!

“No! What do we play on next?”

A noise from behind him made Luke turn.

“Hi there.” The voice belonged to a pretty brunette.

“Uh, hi.”

“I just wondered if you were new to the area? We haven’t seen you here before.”

Luke followed her nod, and saw that two other young moms were watching them.

“Yeah, new,” he said. “Well, I lived near here for a while before I shipped out.”

“So you’re a soldier?” she asked.

Luke was flattered by the seduction in her voice, but he wasn’t interested. And he wasn’t exactly sure how to make that clear to her. “Yes, ma’am. Just arrived back from offshore.”

She turned around and smiled at her friends. Luke took his chance to change the subject. He reached for Charlie’s hand. His marriage might not be in the best shape right now, but his problems at being a husband had nothing to do with infidelity.

“I’m running a bit late to see my wife, so we’d best be off. Nice to meet you,” he said.

The woman looked disappointed, but she didn’t give up. “I’m Lisa.” She thrust out her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Lisa,” he said firmly. “Have a nice day.”

Luke saw her frown before he turned, but he didn’t care. A hand tugging his reminded him that he wasn’t alone, and that he had better things to worry about than hurting a stranger’s feelings. Especially one as forward as this woman.

“Who was that?” asked Charlie.

“Nobody we’ll ever see again,” said Luke, ruffling his boy’s hair. “You want to have a go on the slide again before we leave?”

“Then we’ll go see Mom?”

Of course. Charlie had heard him say they were off to see Olivia, so he thought that was where they were going.

“I don’t actually know where she works,” Luke admitted.

“I do!” shouted Charlie, taking him by surprise. “Let’s go.”

Luke had no choice but to comply, and he wasn’t complaining. Being dragged around by an almost four-year-old had its benefits, and being lost in the moment was one of them.

Despite trustingthat Charlie actually did have a sense of direction, and letting go of his own desire to be in charge, Luke wasn’t feeling all that sure when his boy confidently announced they had arrived at their destination.

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