Halfway to Paradise by Neesa Hart

Author:Neesa Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Twelve

Maggie turned into the airport parking lot. She pulled into a space, then killed the ignition on the Bronco. “Well, here ya go.”

Scott studied her. “You really didn’t have to bring me all the way to the airport.”

“I wanted to.”

He tipped her chin up with his thumb. “What’s the matter, Maggie?” She’d been out of sorts since they’d left Carl Fortwell’s office that morning.

“Nothing. Just tired.” Her smile was sheepish. “I guess I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Scott shook his head. “That’s not it. Something is wrong. I knew it when we left Carl’s office. You just haven’t been yourself.”

Maggie hesitated before meeting his gaze. “What are we going to do?”

“About what?”

“About us.”

“Oh. Us.”

Maggie nodded. “Scott, I—”

He pressed his fingers against her mouth. “Maggie, listen to me. I never pretended to have the answers for everything. I’m not even sure I know what all the questions are. I just know that there’s something about being with you that feels so right, so complete, that I just can’t believe it isn’t.”

“I feel like I’m shredded up inside.”

Scott pulled his gloves off so he could cradle her face in his hands. She looked sad, and vulnerable, and lovely, and he wanted to touch her more than he wanted to keep breathing. “I know this is hard for you. Hell, the tuning couldn’t be worse. Do you think I don’t know what you’re feeling right now? All I can think about is that one year ago today I was sitting at Annie’s bedside waiting for her to die.”

“Scott—”

“No. Listen to me. I know you didn’t go through that. I know things were different for you. You weren’t prepared, but damn, Maggie, it’s time for you to say good-bye.”

She enfolded his hands in hers and slowly lowered them from her face. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget that I’m not the only person in the world who has suffered through this.”

Scott checked his watch. His flight was scheduled to leave in just under half an hour, but Maggie needed him more than he needed to be on that plane. “Who told you Mark had died?” he asked.

She looked at him in surprise. “What?”

“How did you find out?”

“His commanding officer called me. It’s standard procedure.”

“They didn’t send someone by?”

“They did later. Colonel Drake wanted to tell me himself. He called from the base in Saudi Arabia.”

“How long were you alone before someone came to be with you?”

“Not long. The colonel had already called the base to make sure an aide was on the way over.”

“Was it someone you knew?”

She shook her head. “Not personally, no.”

“So you got a phone call in the middle of the day—”

“Night,” she said. “It was the middle of the night. Around two in the morning.”

He had a sudden vision of Maggie sitting up in her bed, clutching the phone to her ear, weeping. “Oh, Maggie.”

“Lieutenant Cross arrived about ten minutes after I got off the phone with the colonel.”

“Did you know him?”

“Lieutenant Marla Cross. I knew of her. Everyone knew of her.

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