23
Claudia woke quietly but the peace didn’t last long. She was on top of her sheets, wearing the clothes she’d put on forever ago…aboard the Gulfstream maybe? She’d also woken alone with limited memory of how she’d arrived, but she was in her quarters aboard the Peleliu. By her watch it was one hour to sunset and mission launch. She grabbed a shower and pulled on her flight suit.
One thing was clear as she tightened the covers of the bed she’d never climbed into—she’d slept alone. How had that happened? She hadn’t slept alone in weeks. It felt so right to sleep with Michael that it seemed to her they always slept together. Missing him was jarring.
Deal with it, Claudia. And she would. That’s what life with Michael would be like. One or the other of them would disappear on a mission for
