“Hey.”
I rubbed at my eyes, trying to figure out what I was seeing. Garrett. Garrett was next to me, lying on his back, with one arm—my cuddle buddy—straight at his side, and the other tucked underneath his head. His legs imitated his arms, with one stretched out while the other was bent at the knee. He looked comfy as hell.
“Hey,” I greeted back.
He laughed, a deep sound straight from his chest that left a weird, warm sensation in my gut. “You should see your face right now.”
I ran my hands across my eyes and down my cheeks, sitting up fully. “I’m a little confused.”
“So was I when I stepped outside and noticed your unconscious form sprawled out in the yard. I about had a heart attack before I noticed the premeditated, perfectly laid-out blanket underneath you.”
I flushed, “Oh God, I’m sorry. How long have I been here?” I pinched the fleece blanket, rolling it back and forth between my fingers.
“Not sure how long you were here before I noticed you, but I’ve been here for about twenty minutes. I didn’t want to wake you, but I also didn’t want to leave you alone.” He tilted his head, looking at me under lowered brows. “It’s not safe to be sleeping in the middle of your yard.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
His eyes lowered farther, “I’m not that much older than you.”
I scrunched my lips, fighting a smile, and looked at the night sky, “You’re what, twenty years older?”
“Eleven,” he growled.
I chuckled. “Seriously, thank you for bringing a blanket and making sure I was safe. I hadn’t planned on falling asleep, I just wanted to look at the stars and breathe for a minute.”
“Yeah, you don’t look so hot.”
“Thanks.”
He curled his stomach into a crunch, smoothly sitting up and gestured at my face, “I meant you look tired.”
Normally, my sensitive ass would’ve felt like crap that a hot guy had pointed it out, but I didn’t. I was tired. “Are you always this smooth of a talker?”
Fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt, he shifted uncomfortably, as if he might actually be embarrassed.
“I’m joking. I look like complete shit, it’s okay, you can say it.”
He huffed a laugh under his breath, slanting his eyes in my direction. “I don’t always sleep well either. I spent a lot of years in the Marine Corps, several of them deployed, and it messed with my ability to sleep for eight straight hours. So, I get it.”
His admission piqued my interest, waking me the rest of the way. I felt like I should’ve known, but as much as media tried to portray all military members as stereotypical “jarheads,” that was rarely the case. You couldn’t always tell.
“How long have you been out?”
“Only a couple years, although it feels like longer.”
I nodded, I didn’t have experience with what being enlisted was like, but I’d lived on an Army base. I’d heard people talk about how difficult it was returning to civilian life. “Were you stationed around here, or did you move here after?”
“Most of my enlistment was spent here, but I’m from California.”
I popped my lips, watching my toes wiggle in front of me. “That’s a big change, California to here.” I wanted to ask why he’d chosen to stay here, rather than go back after he’d gotten out, but he looked uncomfortable enough as it was.
He coughed, rubbing at the back of his neck and cringing slightly. “So, what about you. What keeps you up at night, Madison?”