Free Marine Ever After (Always a Marine) by Heather Long Page A

work.”
    “Yes and you can do a lot of it sitting down. It’s less hours on your feet.” Jodi rose and gave her a quick hug. “But the student nurses are a pain in the ass and that’s your punishment.”
    She couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing and squeezed her in return. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome. Eat, and get back to work. I’ve got stuff to do. Keep me in the loop, okay? We can get through this.” She didn’t wait for any response, hustling out of the locker room.
    Glad for the reprieve, Lillianna wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Her mother used to tell her everything happened for a reason. Believing the thought helped.
    The buzzing of her phone dragged her back to the present. Pulling it out, she stared at the screen. Rebecca’s name popped up with a simple message. We have to do lunch. Get some time off or I’m coming to find you .
    Her good mood evaporated. Could she see Becca and not tell her? No . If she told her, wouldn’t she tell Luke who would tell Paul? She’d put off telling him for four weeks.
    Do I really have the right not to tell him? Guilt nibbled at her. She looked at the message again and typed. Lunch Saturday? I have to talk. Private .
    She didn’t have to wait long for Rebecca’s response. Where and when?
     
    ***
     
    “A baby? Oh, my God.” Rebecca stared at her, wide-eyed and smiling. And then she behaved like a proper friend, leaping up and squealing. She threw her arms around Lillianna and hugged her. “I’m happy for you....” She pulled back abruptly. “I am happy for you, right?”
    “Yes, you’re happy for me.” She didn’t even try to contain her own grin. They collapsed together in another long hug. “Thank you for being happy for me.” It was the first time she got to squeal about it.
    Reclaiming her seat, Rebecca leaned forward and grabbed her hands. “Okay, tell me everything. Who is he? When do I get to meet him? When are you due?”
    “Um....” Tackling the hard stuff right away . “You know him.”
    “I do?” Her former roommate blinked. “Who?”
    “Paul Torres, I met him at your wedding.” She braced for her response.
    “Torres.” Rebecca frowned, as though trying to place him. “He must have been one of the Marines who came in for the wedding. I don’t know all of them, I mean I met them, but….” she made a face. “I didn’t really have a chance to talk to everyone that much. But I saw you dancing with your escort, one of Luke’s groomsmen.”
    “Guilty.”
    “That’s wonderful. Urk.” Rebecca made the leap and if it weren’t so serious, Lillianna would have laughed at the instant expression of ‘urk’ on her face. “Was it a four weddings and a funeral kind of hookup? Lots of hot sex and no phone calls after? Oh, I swear, I’ll have Luke kick his ass.”
    “No.” Lillianna squeezed her hand. “He didn’t seduce me…well, he did, but it was a pretty mutual seduction, and he didn’t call me because I didn’t give him my number, or a note, or anything else for that matter. I left before he woke up.”
    “Was it that bad?”
    “No. God, Rebecca. I’m not going to give you the blow-by-blow and before you ask, no.” She pulled her hands free and lifted her glass for a sip of water. They were tucked into a comfortable corner of a bistro in Frisco. It was a favorite of Lillianna’s and quiet during the weekend lunch hour—vital for delivering such news.
    “So have you seen him at all since?”
    “No, and again not his fault. He had new orders, I think he deployed overseas.” To Germany if I recall correctly, but then I wasn’t focusing on his PCS .
    “Do you want to be in touch with him?”
    “That’s the ten-thousand-dollar question.” She’d thought about it. Rethought it. Talked herself into and out of it a hundred times. “I knew him for twelve hours and this isn’t Terminator, we didn’t love each other enough for a lifetime. We used a condom, I didn’t ask him to use one,