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“You don’t have to hold her like she’s an IED. She’s not going to explode, Cracker Jack.”

“Are you sure?” Gabe asked.

“Well, her butt might, but you’ve probably got another shirt in the truck, right?” Solo laughed and headed upstairs.

Gabe held Luna at arm’s length; she’d bet money baby poop was a stubborn stink to get out, and she was wearing her last clean tee. Tomorrow was laundry day while she waited for her new bed to be delivered and for RB to arrive. Luna gurgled and bubbles of spit emerged from her mouth. “Don’t even think about it. From either end.”

She followed Solo to a huge bedroom with three large windows facing out to a lush yard edged with tall trees. The inside frames of each window and the cot beneath them had been painted to match the babies’ color code, so it was easy for Gabe to figure out where she was supposed to dump Luna. She placed her down as quickly and gently as possible before backing away to avoid any projectile vomit the kid might aim her way.

“Are you okay there, Gabe?” Janie asked, smiling lightly. “They don’t break that easily, you know?”

“I don’t want to find out,” she said and moved farther away from the trio of trouble. What was Solo thinking, calling Gabe their auntie? She could be thankful that they hadn’t asked her to be a godparent at least.

Janie laughed and shooed her away. “Go back downstairs, you two.”

Solo clapped Gabe on the back. “Let’s go. I’ll show you the deck I built.”

Gabe couldn’t escape quick enough and happily followed Solo outside. She sat on a cushioned chair while Solo started a fire in the pit even though it was about seventy degrees. Solo regaled her with horror stories of the kids’ early months and by their third beer, Gabe just had to ask. “Whose idea was Auntie Gabe?”

Solo chuckled. “I knew that got to you.” She took another long pull of her beer. “We hadn’t talked about it. I guess that Janie figures you’re my family, so that makes you my kids’ family too. And hers.” She shrugged. “You want something more gender neutral? You wanna be Titi Gabe?”

Gabe shook her head. “It’s not that, you idiot. It’s just?—”

“Just what? You don’t want to be part of my family anymore?”

Solo glanced away, and Gabe wasn’t sure if she was really hurt or just playing at it. They hadn’t spent any solid time together for three years since Solo had left the Army, and Gabe was beginning to realize how much she’d changed, how much they’d both changed. They didn’t really know each other anymore.

But Gabe was out now too, and they were starting a business together, so that would change. Their night out had proven how easy it was to slip into familiar patterns, and it had felt like old times. This, though…this was a different environment, and it was going to take some getting used to.

Solo shoved Gabe’s shoulder. “Don’t leave a bro hanging on a question like that.”

“Don’t be crazy; it’s not that either.” She hung her arm around Solo and pulled her into a half-body bro hug. “I think it’s just going to take some time for me to adjust, that’s all. I’ve been in the service for twenty years. I don’t know why I was expecting to fit back into civilian life so easily.” She looked back toward the house and shook her head. “Being here tonight has kind of brought that home.”

“It’ll be okay, Jackpot. It gets easier, I promise.” Solo clinked her bottle to Gabe’s. “And when we’re all back together at the new garage, it’s going to be perfect. All the fun and none of the danger.”

“I’ll drink to that.” In response, the healed injuries on her back tingled and began to itch. She pressed her body into the firm cushioning of the chair and shifted from side to side.

“You’re like a bear scratching its ass on a tree. Are you okay?”

Gabe nodded. “Sure. The scars sometimes feel like they’re crawling around on my back, you know?”

Solo tilted her head. “Thankfully, I don’t, but I can imagine. Everything’s okay though, isn’t it? You’re fit and healthy?”

Gabe laughed. “You worried about your wife’s investment?”

“Don’t be an ass. I’m serious.”

Gabe raised her bottle to the sky. “Thank the heavens, I’m in better shape now than I was in my twenties.” She hoped that was going to make the stress of their new business easier to bear. “I was expecting Janie to ask more questions about the garage though. But she seems kind of Zen about the whole thing.”

“She doesn’t like to talk business at the dinner table,” Solo said. “She’s kind of old-fashioned that way. Plus, she’s already asked all the questions she wanted to, otherwise she wouldn’t have drawn up the agreement for us. She knows I want this really bad. The kids have grounded me a little, but I’d been floating since I got out.” She shrugged and emptied the last of her beer. “I’ve had a few jobs, but nothing stuck. When you called to say you were getting out and asked if I was still up for our garage idea, I can’t tell you how it made me feel.” Solo smiled and looked up at the bright windows of the kids’ bedroom. “Janie said I lit up, and she knew immediately that whatever it was, she wanted to help me make it happen.”

“I don’t know how you got that woman to agree to marry you.” Gabe grabbed two more beers from the ice bucket Janie had brought out for them and handed one to Solo.

“I wore her down, I guess.” Solo clinked her bottle to Gabe’s. “Whatever it was, she’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Gabe raised her bottle. “I’ll drink to that.” As she took that celebratory drink in honor of Solo and Janie’s happiness, her thoughts drifted to Lori Turner. A new life, a new business, and a new woman to get to know. Getting out of the Army and away from the only stability she’d known might not be so bad after all.

CHAPTER FIVE