A couple minutes later, Hope appeared in the doorway in jeans and a plaid shirt with a red sweater vest. She’d changed out of black slacks and a wool blazer. The easy transformation from a fashionable sophisticated woman to a down-home country girl got his attention. He liked both versions.
“Get out of the rain, soldier boy, lunch is ready.”
Cade grinned and joined Hope and Shadow inside the cottage. The table was already set. She had toasted cheese sandwiches on a plate and was dishing up steaming bowls of tomato soup.
Cade washed his hands and sat down. Already his mouth was watering. He was hungrier than he realized. All too often he subsisted on take-out or something prepackaged. He had to admit his diet wasn’t the best.
“I could hear you whistling,” she said, as she carried the first bowl to the table.
Hearing that was news to him. “I was whistling?”
She paused before placing the bowl down. “It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place the tune.”
Cade didn’t remember doing that. He hadn’t whistled since he was a teenager. Talk about childhood regression. Then he remembered he was always happy when he whistled, and there was a song he’d always loved.
“It might have been an old Roger Whittaker tune. I used to whistle ‘The Last Farewell,’ but that was ages ago.”
“That’s the song! I’ve always loved that one. It’s so romantic, the sailor going off to war.”
“Trust me, there’s nothing romantic about war,” he felt obliged to remind her.
She sat down across from him. “I realize that more than you know.”
He wasn’t sure what she meant, and while momentarily tempted, he didn’t question her. It seemed they each had their secrets. She didn’t pry into his, and he refused to pry into hers. With a brother who was currently serving in the military, she was of course well aware of the ugliness of war.
His phone rang just as they were finishing lunch. Checking, he saw that it was Silas from his therapy group.
“Cade here,” he answered.
“Hey,” Silas said, sounding upbeat and cheerful. “You get things squared away with that woman you mentioned?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Silas didn’t stop to question his response. “I met someone myself.”
“Good going, man.”
“We’re going to meet later at The Logger around five. I wanted to know if you and your lady friend would like to join us.”
Cade didn’t correct him by explaining that Hope wasn’t officially his girl. But he realized he quite liked the idea of being linked with her. At this point they’d been together only a few times, yet he was more at ease with her than he had been with anyone in a long time.
Cade knew this was a big step forward for Silas, especially after he’d been dumped by his fiancée. Hearing the excitement and knowing his friend was anxious, Cade understood what Silas really wanted. Backup. If this date went south, he needed someone who knew his situation close at hand.
Before he agreed, Cade needed to clear the invite with Hope. “Give me five minutes and I’ll get back to you.”
“Sure thing.”
Cade disconnected and looked at Hope. “That was a friend of mine,” he said. “He invited us to join him later this afternoon for a beer. Is it something that would interest you?” Being out of practice, he felt a bit awkward asking.
“Sure, that sounds like fun.”
“Okay, I’ll text him back.” Before he finished typing, he felt he needed to tell Hope about Silas. Looking up, he made eye contact with her, unsure how much to say, although now was as good a time as any, he decided.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s something you should know before you meet Silas.”
“Okay.” She held his gaze, waiting.
Cade inhaled a deep breath. “Silas and I are in a therapy group together.”
“That’s nice.” She made it sound like a small thing, and maybe to her it was. He hadn’t mentioned his counseling or his need for it, or that it had been court-mandated. Telling her was harder than it should have been.
“Silas has been through hell and back. He was badly burned in an IED explosion. His face is partially scarred and it’s off-putting to some people. I thought you should know so when you first meet him, you won’t be taken back by his appearance.”
“Cade, honestly,” she said, with a small huff. “I’m not the kind of person to be bothered by something like that. You like and trust Silas?”