Page 41 of The Soldier's Homecoming

But talking about Gabby wasn’t what she wanted.

What she wanted was to somehow find the courage to ask him the hows and whys of what had happened to make him stray.

Because no matter how many times she told herself it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t convince herself. And now that she wasn’t so angry, Daniel’s words from the other night kept playing through her mind.

Leaving the army was going to be harder than she expected it to be. Saying goodbye to her unit, giving up the adrenaline and the sense of achievement…it would all be hard. The problem was she’d never thought about it that deeply, had been so focused on getting home that she hadn’t even paused to think how Daniel might have felt giving up being a pilot.

“Penny?”

She glanced up, wineglass cradled in her hand.

“Sorry, I was a million miles away.”

“Can I ask you a tough question?”

She swallowed another sip of wine and wished she could drink the whole bottle for confidence. “It depends what you’re going to ask me.”

Daniel looked thoughtful. His deep brown eyes cast down, dark lashes almost bashful. “I want to know if you would ever have come home if it wasn’t for Gabby.”

Oh, hell.

“Daniel, I don’t know how to answer that.”

He reached for her hand across the table. Did it so fast that she didn’t have a chance to snatch it from his grip.

And it felt so good. Just like his touch always had. Filling her with a warmth that licked like a flame across her hand, up her arm, tingling into her shoulders.

It was a touch she’d missed every night she’d been away.

“Answer me from your heart.”

She shook her head, moving it from side to side, unable to stop the rush of emotions roaring in her ears. “No,” she whispered. “No, Daniel, I don’t think I would have.”

He sighed but didn’t let go of her hand, didn’t relinquish the contact. Instead his thumb brushed across her palm.

“Well, I’m glad you did come home.” He paused before forcing his eyes to meet hers again. “I know we’re in a bad place right now, one that we might never recover from, but I don’t want to lose you, Pen. Regardless of what happens, I don’t want to lose you from my life.”

She didn’t want to lose him either.

“Hot plates coming through. Enjoy!”

Penny pulled her hand back, away from Daniel’s, as the steaming clay dishes were placed in front of them.

“Looks delicious,” she said, happy to change the topic.Nor strong enough to go there yet.“Just like I remembered.”

She picked up her knife and fork and cut the first prawn in half. The garlic-infused, sizzling-hot juice begged for her to rip a piece of the fresh crusty bread in half to dunk into it

Penny’s mouth wouldn’t stop watering.

“Argh!”

She looked up to see Daniel’s mouth flapping open and shut, his fork clattering to the table.

“Ouch!”

Penny laughed, she couldn’t not. He looked so comical she almost lost the piece of bread she was holding. “Daniel…”

“‘It’s so hot!”‘

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