Page 67 of Not Faking it with the Colonel

“The class filled up not long after I told Bryson’s team about it. Half of the class is his team.”

“Good. It would have been nice if the general were coming, but having the wives meet you and see us together is a positive.”

Graham carried the box of supplies into the brightly lit space where a woman about her age wiped down the front row of workstations.

“Hi. We’re here for the USO class. I’m Erin, tonight’s volunteer coordinator. Where would you like us to set up for registration?”

“I’m the owner, Mikie. That back table is fine.”

Graham set the box down. Erin hadn’t even finished laying out the name tags before the door opened.

“Hey, Captain. Good to see you again,” Erin greeted John Bryson.

“This is my fiancée, Elizabeth.” John smiled at Elizabeth like a man totally in love. He picked up their printed name tags.

“Nice to meet you after hearing him talk about you,” Erin greeted her.

“He talked about you spending time with the team too. You’re a brave woman to hang with these guys for a week.”

“They went easy on me and kept it fun. Especially him.” Erin pointed to John. “Graham and I are looking forward to the wedding. Thank you for the invite.”

“We’re glad you’re coming.”

Atkinson entered with his wife and exchanged a fist bump with John.

“Are you going to sing tonight?” Atkinson’s wife narrowed her eyes at John.

“Is he going to breathe?” Atkinson answered before John could.

“I told him he could only do one song.” Elizabeth gave John the side-eye.

“One? I thought we compromised on two song references.”

“One is enough,” Mrs. Atkinson rolled her eyes. “Especially since you cannot carry a tune if your life depended on it. Which doesn’t stop you from singing like you’re in some Disney musical.”

“It’s one of my more endearing qualities. Maybe we’ll be cooking ‘Cheeseburgers in Paradise,’” John broke into song.

“That was your one.” Elizabeth held up her index finger.

Erin laughed as John continued the banter, then she greeted the Nishiyamas. “Cindy, Greg said you’re a professor at the university here.”

“I’m a neurobiologist and teach in the psychology department. He mentioned you teach English and are writing for a TV series. That’s so exciting.”

“I’m writing. We’ll see if it gets made as a series.” She tried to temper people’s expectations—including her own. It had been a good week of writing, though.

“Greg wouldn’t give me any details, other than saying he was impressed with your research. Good luck.”

Cindy’s compliment and the proud look on Graham’s face gave Erin another boost of confidence.

The door opened again, and Graham did a double take. She looked that way quickly.

“General, Mrs. McKittrick, it’s nice to see you.” Erin’s mind raced with how to handle this.

“Please, call me Sally.” She gave a genuine smile.

“Graham told me the USO was doing this cooking demonstration, and since you had invited us to an event, we thought we’d come.” The general returned a mock two-fingered salute to Captain Bryson.

Sally eyed the name tags. “Except it looks like we needed to RSVP. Is there room for us?” she asked sweetly.

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