Just One Night
spot.
    “You're late,” her
father said, a combination of anger and annoyance dripping from every word.
    “I’m sorry, dad, but I
couldn't sleep last night,” she said and avoided looking at Jase ,
although as she sat, he placed a comforting hand on her thigh.   His actions were hidden from view by the
table.
    “Funny thing, but I had
trouble sleeping as well,” he said and glared at the two of them, but said
nothing else as Rosie stepped between them to place the fruit platter on the
table.
    Her family had never
been big on formalities, especially not with the Harts w ho had shared so many good times with them.
    “Well, I'm starving,”
Tommy said and grabbed the spoon from the fruit platter to serve himself .
    “Dig in,” her mother
urged and whatever her father might have wanted to say was forestalled by the
exchange of plates from one hand to the other as people served themselves from
the pastries, bagels, eggs, bacon, and fruit that Rosie had prepared for the
meal.
    She wasn't very
hungry.   Her stomach was twisted up like
a pretzel as each second ticked by and became one second closer to the time Jase would leave with his parents.   But she also knew her father and eagle-eyed
mother would know something was up if she didn't eat.
    She’d always had a
healthy appetite and breakfast was her absolutely favorite meal.   There was no way she’d skipped it unless some
major shit was going down.
    She loaded her plate
with eggs, bacon, a bagel and some of the fresh fruit, and forced herself to
start eating.
    “Would you like some
coffee?” Jase asked and offered to pour from the
carafe in his hand.
    “I'd love some, thanks,”
she replied, maybe a little too formally.   Anyone watching them would hopefully never believe that they'd spent the
entire night fucking each other's brains out, but as she grabbed the carafe
from him, their fingers brushed and a salvo of desire and heat exploded through
her body.
    With a shaky hand, she
poured coffee for her dad, managing to spill a good amount into his saucer.
    “Are you sure you
haven't had too much coffee already, Nickie ?   You seem kind of jittery,” her father said
and steadied her hand with his.
    “Not enough,
actually.” When she finished pouring and set the carafe on the table, she fixed her
coffee with a few spoonfuls of sugar and cream and
took a big swallow.   “Heaven,” she said
and ignored her brother's snicker.
    “Heaven is Rosie's
French toast,” her brother said and then called out to the housekeeper, “How
come you didn't make your world famous French toast, Rosie?”
    Rosie came in a second
later with a plate heaped with blueberry walnut pancakes which she took right
to Jason.   With a wry grin at Tommy, she
said, “Because these are Jase's favorites and I
wanted to make something special for him before he left.”
    She dropped her fork at
Rosie's words, but Jase's reassuring touch on her
thigh provided the strength for her to pick it up and try to act as if
everything was normal.
    Only it wasn't.
    The man of her dreams
was sitting beside her and he'd be gone in a few short hours.   After that, who knew how long it would be
before he would be back home, only home wasn't New Jersey anymore.   Not since his parents had moved away months
earlier.
    She grabbed her coffee
cup again and took a bracing swallow, hoping the heat of the coffee would help
warm the chill that had suddenly seized her heart.
    It didn't.
    Somehow she managed to
eat, not that she was hungry.   Especially not as her dad decided to pile on with the reason for
this special meal.   He raised his
juice glass and said, “To Jason on his commission and deployment.   We hope you come home soon, as well as safe
and sound.”
    “Thank you, sir,” he
said respectfully and lifted his coffee cup to clink it against those being
offered by everyone except her.   She
somehow couldn't muster the strength to raise her cup at first, but then
managed a hasty tap against his to

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