Free Rediscovering Peace (Military Love Book 1) by Steffy Rogers

dressed up. As I was putting my hair in a ponytail, Faith walked in. Privacy was nonexistent in this apartment.
    “Is that what you’re wearing for your date?” I glared at her again. She held up her hands. “I am just kidding. I know it’s not a date. Look I am sorry about earlier. Can we be friends again?”
    “We never stopped being friends, dummy. It was my story to tell Caige and I didn’t want him to know yet. It’s too late now but you need to ask me next time before blurting everything out, okay?” I smiled at her. I could never stay angry with my best friends for long–they meant the world to me. I knew they had the best intentions - I just didn’t have the same views on this matter.
    I finished getting ready and drove to The Grill where I was supposed to meet Braden. As I was walking up to the restaurant I saw him waiting for me already. He was still wearing his uniform which was weird, but I sure enjoyed the view. There’s just something about a man in a uniform. I needed to get a grip. Braden and I were just friends. Why did I have to keep reminding myself of that?
    “Hey, beautiful, I’m sorry I am still in my ACUs but we were released late and I didn’t want to make you wait,” Braden said and hugged me.
    “It’s okay. You could’ve just texted me, I would’ve met you a little later. You had to work on Sunday?”
    “Well I didn’t want to wait till later, but if you don’t mind I would like to stop at my place on the way to the movies and change. And yeah, some stupid training.”
    “No problem. Let’s go inside and eat, shall we?”
    Once we were inside we were seated in a quiet corner. The Grill was famous for its burgers so that’s what I decided to order for both of us not giving Braden a chance to look at the menu. After the waiter left I saw Braden laughing at me.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “You are. What if I don’t like burgers?”
    “Are you kidding me? You live for meat. If your mom would’ve let you, you would’ve eaten burgers for breakfast. Trust me these burgers are to die for.”
    It should’ve probably surprised me that I still knew Braden so well, but after spending as much time together as we had back in the day it just felt natural.
    “You’re right, I love burgers. I am just pulling your chain.” He smiled at me and I was reminded how much I had missed his dimples. “So how have you been in the past eight years after you left Germany?”
    “I have been okay. As you know Dad was stationed in Hawaii when we left Germany. I loved it there but I also missed Germany a lot. After that he was stationed here and when he retired he decided Savannah was where he wanted to settle. I was really glad about that. By that time, I had met Faith and Caige and for once I couldn’t imagine leaving friends behind. Those two are my rocks. I graduated from Savannah State University and work for a marketing company now. I love my job. It’s challenging and according to my boss, I am good at what I do. I just landed this huge campaign which is kind of a big deal.”
    “That’s great! Of course, I always knew you would be good at whatever you decide to do. You are passionate about everything you do, that’s what I love about you.”
    I almost choked on my drink – did he just say the L-word? Clearly I heard him wrong.
    “Are you okay? You turned pale all of a sudden?” Braden asked me with concern on his face.
    “I am fine. The drink just went down the wrong pipe. So what about you? What have you been doing all these years? Besides the army thing?” I was curious about how Braden had spent the last eight years.
    “I haven’t really done much besides the army thing. A year after you left I joined, Mom was devastated. She already had to deal with Dad always being gone now she had to go through the same with me. Don’t get me wrong she was proud of me but I knew she hated the fact that we wouldn’t all be together anymore. I went to basic training and AIT in Ft. Benning