Free Forever Lovers by Suellen Smith

going AWOL was
reassurance from Jade, who had been talking to her on a regular
basis. She seemed all right, but Jade was still convinced that
something had happened. He was afraid that she could be right.
    After about a month, it didn't take too much
convincing that Lily didn't want to hear from him or talk to him.
He was more than afraid that she might be blaming him for what
might have happened to her after the unfortunate timing of the
phone call from his commander. Quinn seriously thought about just
taking off and going AWOL anyway. But, like most jobs, you can't
just leave your responsibilities because you feel like it.
    Suddenly, things had flipped. Now, Quinn was
the one wanting to hear from Lily. He became moody. Even his
friends called him a grouch. Of course, he could always count on
the twins to hold nothing back on how they felt about his
grumpiness. Siblings are always so generous in that respect.
    Quinn was frustrated. He realized that a
grown women is a whole lot less malleable than a child/woman. He
didn't know why he was surprised, he grew up with them. He should
have known. They challenge. They see things differently from a man.
They have their own opinions that in all likely hood does not agree
with yours. They become “dick yankers”. How they become such
accomplished nutcrackers before they are even out of their teens is
beyond him. He'd rate Lily right up there with the best of
them.

CHAPTER 13
    Lily had simmered for well over a week,
thinking that Quinn would call any day not realizing that he could
not have called even if he had wanted to do so. When he finally did
call, it gave her a huge amount of pleasure and joy to delete each
message with a great deal of gusto, not so much as listening to a
single one of them.
    Quinn still didn't get it. Just because he
was brilliant didn't mean he didn't possess the idiot gene. She
wasn't going to sit around the rest of her life waiting to hear
from him on a daily basis. She'd done that since she was sixteen.
She was finished!! She didn't need him to make a life of her own.
She'd work on convincing herself of that! As a determined young
woman, she managed to do a mighty fine job of it – almost.
    CHAPTER 14
    In a college town, there is always a party
and plenty action; especially, with all the continuous recreational
activities at the state park, Tuttle Creek – a quiet oasis north of
Manhattan, Kansas. It is a reservoir on the Big Blue River with
hiking trails, camping, fishing, and even has its own urban legend
of a manatee that is reported to be living in the lake.
    Even though it was summer, Lily was still in
town working at the new Manhattan Institute on animal research.
Today, Lily was getting ready to go to The Country Stampede Music
Festival, a yearly event at the Tuttle Creek Dam held in late June.
It would be the hotspot in the region for the next four days
featuring big country music artists such as Toby Keith, Tom McGraw,
Kenny Chesney, and many more. A giant country star screen would be
put up that could easily be seen by all 160,000 visitors plus, that
came within a two hundred mile radius.
    In addition to country artists there would
also be an all-day carnival, plenty of fried food, and a rocking
Last Chance Saloon, which always manages to serve a liberal amount
of beer along with plenty of action, and entertainment. A choice
spot for most of the party people.
    Lily was going to be part of Last Chance
Saloon's entertainment today. She was the main attraction when the
cancan girls weren't doing their high leggy kicks in tune to rowdy
saloon songs. She and the other girls were dressed in their bustier
of black lace with the rest of the costume in the colorful mix of
red, hot pink, and of course purple – Wildcat colors – with
matching ruffled skirts. Their legs were encased in sexy black
fishnet stockings with creamy white flesh that could be seen
tantalizing and teasing above the tops of their stockings. Colorful
feathers adorned their hair,