Page 53 of Forever Flirting

EVERLY

Yonder, Texas

Everly satin the small office she had for herself at the back of the clinic, a place for her to close herself off and hide for a few minutes. She rarely used her office except for lunches, a place to regroup in the case of a very bad visit, or a chance to work on something for the office like marketing, setting up flyers, or checking her email.

… And she was doing that today, hoping Alex had emailed, only to see that he hadn’t yet.

“It’s barely been twenty-four hours, you fool…” she whispered aloud to herself.

Alex said he would write, and she had to trust him, or this would be very telling of what kind of friendship they would have. Plus, she didn’t know the time difference between the two of them or how busy he was.

Her brother Killian hadn’t responded to her email yet, so maybe it was exceedingly tough to get access to a computer, or they were really swamped. She had no clue, but perhaps this would be something she asked about in the future.

Maybe tomorrow, she hedged silently, and grabbed her purse, heading home.

* * *

Late the next day,Everly found herself at her computer once more, hoping wistfully that Alex had written as she clicked ‘Send/Receive’ on her email, watching it load with a ton of junk mail… only to see an email from her brother seconds before Alex’s appeared.

Clicking on Killian’s, she began to read as Megan lay the mail on the corner of her desk.

* * *

Everly,

You know you could just spit it out – right?

We’re family and there is zero judgement on my end regarding what you do with your life… I just don’t want to see my baby sister ever get hurt or regret something – and as much as it pains me to admit it? I don’t think you would regret taking a chance with Maestro.

He's quiet, a fairly good guy that can talk trash with the best of us, and I can honestly say that I would (and do!) trust him with my life. If they gave us a chance to select a wingman, I would pick him. Ghost has no idea how lucky he got when he was paired with him. I’ve got a guy named Sparky and the dude is a bundle of kinetic energy. If a sparkler had a human personality, that would be my wingman.

How are you doing?

Do I even want to know how serious things are between you two? He mentioned he met you a few years ago – but neither of you said anything. He’s almost as closed-mouthed as you are… and it’s uncanny. You know he’s got a kid, right? I didn’t know that until about a month ago.

I’m thinking of coming for a visit. Do you still have that spare room? If not, it’s no big deal. I’ve got another place I can stay, or there is a Bed & Breakfast up the street.

Apparently, my squadron leader married the new owner of that B&B, and his home is in Yonder, too. Talk about realizing just how very small the world can be sometimes!

My sister & Maestro… who knew?

Just be careful, take things slow, and give me a head’s up if you get ready to dump him, because he’s literally living a few bunks from me on the opposite side of the barracks.

Love you,

Killian

* * *

Everly letout her breath as she read her brother’s email, feeling a flutter of unexpected hope within her. Her brother approved – because if he hadn’t, there would have been no holding back. His email would have been short, succinct, and to the point. If Alex, or Maestro, was a problem… Killian would have said as much.

It was good to hear that her brother trusted him, because he trusted very few people. If you made it to his circle of friends, then it was usually for life, because Killian was very bitter since their parents had taken off on their road trip. Even now, he didn’t comment on them or the update she’d passed on.

Yeah, her brother had been exceedingly upset by the timing of it all.

Killian was scheduled to fly out to Afghanistan two months before her graduation – and a few weeks before their departure. No, that had been a very bad evening, which was one of the reasons that she’d taken off that night and had unexpectedly met Alex.

Clicking on Alex’s email, she began to read… and smiled softly, realizing what he’d done. He had emailed Caleb and copied her, just to make sure things were crystal clear between them. He obviously wanted no secrets between them, and she was so glad he felt like that. It was hard enough to think of him being intimate with Mallory – even if it was only the one time.

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