Page 52 of Not Faking it with the Colonel

ChapterTwenty-Two

Friday afternoon,Bryson gathered the team together shortly after Graham arrived to pick Erin up. The week had been packed with seeing what the men did on a daily basis in non-combat situations and gave her insights for planning some mission storylines for the series.

She’d witnessed the bond and trust between the men. The past two days, she’d gotten past the façade most of the soldiers first presented and gotten to know them as people. She learned what motivated some to serve, like Bryson wanting to belong in the kind of tight-knit family the team formed. And Gabler having followed in his father’s footsteps. Though they sometimes butted heads, they were a unique kind of family.

This all helped her create unique characters instead of writing stereotypical, alpha warriors. Getting to meet their wives, or, in Bryson’s case, his fiancée, at the upcoming cooking date night would provide even more depth to her characters. Dating Graham had her curious about the unit wives. She knew it took a special woman to support these men and what they did. Would she fit in with them? Not that it mattered in the long run.

“You may not be an official part of the team,” Bryson started, “but we got you a little something to remember us by.” He pulled a black plastic bag from his pant leg pocket.

“Trust me, I won’t forget any of you. I’ve had the time of my life.” She winked at the captain. “Even if I didn’t get to ride in a Black Hawk—yet,” she finished before he could sing, which he tended to do whenever he thought of a song to fit the situation.

The men laughed, and everyone’s gaze shifted to Graham.

“It could still happen. I’ll ask Lundy next time we play golf. I hope that’s not camo paint.” He pointed to the bag in Bryson’s hand.

“She could be totally camouflaged, but I give it half an hour max before she’d say something and give away her position,” Gabler, the king of keeping a low profile, cracked.

“Thirty? Maybe if she were asleep, she’d be quiet that long. Or does she talk in her sleep?” Mateo joined in the ribbing, his gaze fixed on Graham, who didn’t respond other than the instinctive upturn of his mouth.

Erin reached into the bag, which weighed nearly nothing, and drew out a patch the size of a credit card. The inverted dome shape had yellow, red, black, and white blocks with arrows crossed over a sword andDe Oppresso Liberwritten on a black ribbon background.

“That’s the unit flash for 3rdGroup,” Captain Bryson explained. “I wore that one on my uniform on my last deployment.”

“I can’t take this.” A brand new one was one thing, but one he’d worn took things up several levels.

“I’ve got more. Some guys get flags that they give away to supporters. I did patches.”

“Thank you. This is . . . ”

“There’s something else.” Cruz pointed to the bag, his face beaming like a kid on Christmas. “It was my idea.”

She pulled out a name patch with Downey embroidered on it. “You guys are going to make me cry.” Her vision clouded a bit as she looked from the men to Graham. “Thank you all for letting me spend the week with you and making me feel part of your special family with these.” She sniffed back tears.

“I’ve got something that’s for both of you.” Bryson pulled a slightly bent envelope from the pocket on the other pant leg. “It’s the wedding invite. I hope you both will be able to make it. But don’t say anything to Cecilia about coming.”

“Why not?” Erin asked.

“It’s classified,” He gave a playful smile and winked at her.

“All right. Is the wedding formal with you guys in dress uniforms?” Erin would love to see Graham in his.

“We’re keeping it casual. It’s outdoors at my fiancée’s property.”

“Darn.”

Graham shook his head. “Guess you’ll have to wait until the unit ball to see us in Dress Blues.”

“I look forward to it. And I look forward to seeing some of you next week at the cooking class and other USO events. Thank you for everything.”

“If you need anything else for research or want to run through dialog to keep it authentic, I’m happy to help,” Cruz offered. “I won’t be available much after we deploy. When do they, uh, start filming?”

“Don’t answer that. I need him on this deployment. Army owns you for three more years,” Bryson reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah. Can’t blame me for wanting to get paid big money to have fake bullets fired at me.”

“Leaving your steady Army paycheck for an acting career is probably riskier than getting shot at. If it gets picked up and I am hired to write, I still won’t have a lot of pull, but I’ll do what I can to get any of you an audition.” She had a lot riding on this series getting picked up, but, even if nothing came of it, she wouldn’t regret pursuing her dream. She could continue to teach, and this journey had brought Graham into her life—at least for a while.

She exchanged fist bumps with the men, getting the explosion effect from Atkinson, who’d mentioned his kids several times this week.

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