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“First, I’m not in love. And second, our meeting wasn’t anywhere near as elaborate as the scenario you described.” Gabe glanced at Janie, who still looked slightly confused. “Your wife has developed an overactive and unrealistic imagination since she left the Army; she’s absolutely convinced that I’ll meet the love of my life on a tow-truck job as soon as we open the garage.”

Janie’s expression changed from confusion to adoration as she nodded and looked at Solo. “She can be the most romantic person I’ve ever met, but that’s developed over time, Gabe. Maybe the same thing will happen to you,” she said and winked.

Gabe rolled her eyes. “Please, God, not you too.”

“You’re not open to falling in love?” Janie asked.

“I’m open to most things. I just don’t believe in love at first sight or fated love or super-romantic ideals of love.” Gabe shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea if I’ll ever find it, but I also can’t say that I’ve been looking. The Army has been my everything almost all my adult life. I haven’t had the time or inclination to even think about falling in love.”

“If you weren’t looking for forever, what were you looking for in the lingerie of all those women?” Solo asked before she shoved half a fajita into her mouth.

Janie sputtered wine back into her glass, and Gabe stifled a laugh. “You might’ve developed a romantic side, but that clearly hasn’t drowned your crass side.” She smiled at Janie, who looked marginally mortified. “It’s okay, Janie. I’m used to Solo’s directness, and it works just fine for me.”

“Damn good job,” Janie said and tapped Solo’s forearm anyway.

“I wasn’t looking for anything at all, Solo,” Gabe said. “All of that was a mutually beneficial way of passing time and letting off steam. No one ever took it seriously.” She didn’t emphasize that point with reference to Solo’s similarly prolific performances with all the women she charmed into her bunk. Charmed was probably too strong a word for it. Everyone in the Army had needs, and it was no great hardship to find companionship.

A flash of understanding crossed Solo’s expression as she likely realized that she’d led the conversation down a path she wouldn’t want Janie to walk. “Okay, so you’re not in love. Tell us how Max is.”

Gabe pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Physically, he’s fine, but his head? Not so good. Lori said he’d been doing well with their rehabilitation process to get him ready for a civilian home, but the Fourth of July celebrations did a number on him and set him back some.” It had been like a knife to her heart the way he’d practically crawled out of his kennel and slunk his way closer to her. He’d always been such a confident dog, but it was like someone had reached inside him and pulled every ounce of that out.

“They make special canine ear defenders for exactly that reason. Surely they’ve got some,” Janie said.

“Yep, and he was wearing them. But Max is a special dog—all his senses are superior to the average mutt—and they just didn’t work well enough for him.” Gabe wrapped another fajita. “They were expensive ones too. Lori said she didn’t have enough for every dog so she’s trying to get more donations before New Year comes around. She’s got a TikTok channel to raise money, and the schools pay a little for their visits, but it sounds like she’s got it tough trying to keep that place open.”

“And what else?” Solo asked.

“I asked if she’d be okay with me visiting again while they helped him get better.”

“And what else?”

“And nothing else. She said she was good with me coming back and thought that it would be a positive thing for Max as long as I committed to going regularly.” Like that would be a hardship, seeing Max and spending some time with an interesting and intelligent woman. It hadn’t been love at first sight—how could it be when she didn’t believe in such a thing?—but the sparks could’ve set the Sanctuary’s barns on fire.

“I don’t know much about dogs, but that makes sense,” Janie said. “If he starts to look forward to your visits and you don’t make it, I imagine he’d be sad.”

Gabe finished her mouthful of food and nodded. “Exactly. Lori said that would be harmful to his rehabilitation.”

“Did you ask about adopting Max when he was ready?” Solo asked.

“Nah, I didn’t want to say anything about that when I haven’t made a solid decision.” Gabe scooped up the last mouthful of guacamole with a tortilla chip.

Solo frowned. “I thought you said that was what you wanted?”

Gabe shook her head. “I said it was a nice idea, but I can’t go in blind. It wouldn’t be fair on me or Max…or Lori.” She thought about all the upheaval and change in her life right now and sighed. If she let it, overwhelm could easily set in. “I just left the Army, I moved into a new home yesterday, and I’m starting a business. I’ve got a lot going on, and I don’t see a dog fitting into that right now, you know?”

Before anyone responded, a blood-curdling scream came from one of the triplets. Gabe looked across to see Chloe, the purple one, throw herself on the soft ground of the playpen, clutching her face. Tia dropped onto her butt and grinned, adopting an angelic face that could’ve fooled the devil himself. Luna seemed unaffected by the chaos and continued stacking her over-sized building blocks. Janie and Solo were out of their chairs and at the playpen impressively fast.

“Tia. What have you done to your sister?” Janie lifted the screaming tot from the floor to inspect the damage.

“This is my fault.” Solo picked Tia out of the playpen and turned to Gabe. “We should’ve put them to bed like normal, but I wanted you to meet them properly.”

“Uh-huh.” Gabe took a long drink of her beer because she had nothing else to say. Kids had never been, and likely never would be, that fascinating to her.

“Help me get them upstairs,” Janie said, already heading out of the dining room. “I’ll get them to sleep, and you can come back down.”

“Right behind you.” Solo threw Gabe an apologetic look. “Any chance you could grab the last one?”

Gabe laughed but then saw Solo wasn’t joking. “Okay, sure.” She pushed away from the table and picked Luna up gingerly.