He pulled me in front of him and wrapped his arms around me, my back pressed to his chest. “Like you.”

I tilted my head back to look up at him, and his small smile lit my heart with the same colors as the sunset. My love for Josh never ceased; it grew steadily every day, but it never failed to surprise me how quickly he could make me slip right back into teenage-infatuation mode. That giddy feeling kept me hooked on him like the most addictive drug. “How like me? Because I came crashing into your life?” I joked.

“Yes and no,” he answered. “You were this tiny girl in high school. I’m not an idiot—I didn’t love you then, but I sure loved the idea of you. Someone smart, brave, gorgeous in a way that didn’t need an hour in front of the mirror to go to a game. I’d seen plenty of hot girls by then, but you were the first really beautiful one, inside and out.”

I pressed a kiss to his bicep. “Not sure I made the impact back then.”

“No, you did. Enough that when your dad said your name that day…the first time…in Kandahar, my heart leaped. Because of you, he knew who I was. Because of you, he pushed me to get back onto the ice. Because of you, I went back to college hockey. Before I knew you well enough to honestly love you, you’d already altered my world in ways you couldn’t have known. So small, but such a huge impact.”

I took in the crusted lines of earth around the crater, the sparse vegetation that persevered in the desert heat, the way the earth hadn’t softened to heal its wound. “A pretty long-lasting impact, by the look of it.”

He turned me in his arms, bracing me against the railing, and tilted my chin up. “A permanent impact, December. But you change me every day, make me want to be a better man for you.”

He kissed me lightly, sweetly, tasting like promise and mint from his gum. “I love you,” I whispered.

“I’m not sure love is strong enough to describe how I feel about you, but I guess it will have to do.”

I leaned on my tiptoes and kissed him. For that one moment, there was no helicopter crash, no deployment, no fights, no nightmares. In the breath of that kiss, it was just us, and the love that would see us through the worst of this storm. I wanted it to last forever, but the park closed, and a picture later, we were speeding back toward Winslow.

“No, seriously, they have the best strawberry malts here, ever,” Josh said, pointing to the picture on the menu. I turned back and forth on the bar stool at the fifties-themed diner as I debated dinner. As date-nights went, Josh was rocking it.

“They look really good,” I said as I scoped out the huge milkshake handed across the bar to a customer a few seats down.

I gave in as we ordered, already drooling over the thought of that ice cream. “So you used to hang out here?”

Josh casually pointed to the corner booth. “I did my homework there every day after school.”

“You did homework?” I teased.

“Hey, you made the grades or you didn’t get on the ice. B average or better or you got cut.”

“Thank God for hockey.”

He gave me a smacking kiss. “Hey, it got you to notice me.”

I laughed as he headed off to the bathroom. Our malts arrived a few minutes later, with a wink and a smile from the older waitress. “Thank you,” I told her, and then lost myself in strawberry bliss.

Heaven, I thought as I sucked the concoction through the long straw, holding on to the stemmed glass like my life depended on it. I bet this is why he loves strawberry ice cream.

The bell rang to my right, announcing new customers as I happily ruined my dinner. I glanced over to see three guys walk in. The one standing in the center searched the diner for something, rubbing his hand over a shaved head.

“I’d know that fucking bike anywhere,” he said.

“Evan, I highly doubt—” the guy on the right started.

“Walker!” The center one shouted in excitement, his eyes still scanning the seats.

I let the straw fall from my lips, looking to see if Josh was back yet. Nope. Well, maybe they meant a different—

“Josh Walker!” Evan called again, walking past me.

Nope, they definitely were looking for Josh. “He’s in the bathroom,” I answered.

Evan looked me over in a way that made me want to shower. Alone. Then he leaned in way too close, bracing his hand right next to my malt. “And who might you be, princess?” Logically, I knew I wasn’t in danger, but this asshat might be if he got any closer.

“My fiancée,” Josh called, and I wanted to fist-pump. “Now get the fuck away from her, E.”

“Holy shit, he lives!” Evan called, turning from me to launch at Josh with a hug.

Josh hugged him back with a laugh. The two were nearly comparable in height and build, Josh having only a couple inches on him. Josh shook the other guys’ hands, and then cut through them to take his seat next to me.

They flanked us at the counter, the shortest one taking the stool next to mine. “Tom.” He introduced himself by shaking my hand. “And you are?”

“Ember,” I said with a smile.

“Nice to meet the girl who nailed him down.” He motioned toward Josh, and then leaned across the counter. “Hey, Mrs. White! Give me a Coke and a piece of apple pie?”

She waved at him with a nod.

“Yeah, me, too,” the other one with the dark hair said from the other side of Evan.

“Use your manners, Samuel!” the woman called back.