Page 1 of Ember’s Heart

“W ell, it’s official. We’re done, brother,” Cade says excitedly.

He was swinging his legs and playing with the tassel of his cap, while mine was still in the truck, right where I’d tossed it after we left the ceremony.

The guy’s been a ball of excitement for weeks now and the last thing I want to do is bring him down or concern him with my feelings.

We’re sitting on the hood of my truck watching the sunset on the horizon.

Just hours ago, we walked across that stage, diplomas in hand, and tomorrow.

.. tomorrow everything changes. Tomorrow, we leave for basic training.

It’s been our plan since we turned fourteen, a pact made by two kids.

One who just wanted to get out of this town, and the other, me, who wanted to follow in the footsteps of the other men in my family.

But now that we’re here, I can’t help but feel a knot in my gut.

It’s a mix of anticipation and some other emotion I’m not ready to admit out loud.

Tomorrow everything changes. Not only will I be leaving behind everything familiar, including my friends and family, but also a certain blonde haired, blue-gray eyed girl who has had my feelings a twisted mess for a while now.

Ember. My firefly. I’m not sure when it happened, but it did.

Two years younger than me and Cade, she’s a whirlwind of laughter and sass, with eyes that remind of a stormy sea.

Our families have been friends our whole lives, so I grew up with Cade and his siblings.

I’d known Ember since before she could walk.

Somewhere along the way, she went from being my best friend’s little sister with pigtails, always tagging along, to a stunning sixteen-year-old girl I suddenly saw in an entirely new light.

“Yeah,” I mutter, jumping down off the hood, kicking at a loose stone on the gravel. “Things change tomorrow.”

Cade laughs. “Man, this is gonna be an adventure. We’re gonna see the world, learn some skills, make a difference.” He pauses, his voice softening. “You okay, Colt? You seem... off. You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

I shrug, avoiding his gaze. “Just thinking about everything. Leaving, you know?”

“Yeah, me too,” Cade admits, his excitement fading slightly.

“But we’ll be back. We’ll be back heroes.

” He bumps my shoulder with his. “Besides, think of all the stories we’ll have to tell.

Think of all the girls,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“They’ll be throwing themselves at us. Everyone knows women love a man in uniform. ” He laughs, while giving me a wink .

I force a smile. “Yeah.” But there’s only one girl on my mind. My gaze drifts towards the lights of Cade’s house. “Speaking of home, we should probably head back. Our moms probably have a huge spread laid out, and Ember...” I trail off, the name catching in my throat.

Cade’s eyes narrow slightly. “Something you wanna tell me?”

“Nah. Just worried about who’s gonna watch out for her now that we’re gone,” I say, trying to sound casual.

“Right.” Cade says, a hint of something unreadable in his tone.

He knows me too well, and I wonder if he’s starting to catch onto how I feel about his sister.

The thought sent a jolt of fear through me.

Admitting it, even to myself, scared me.

Cade was my best friend, had been since we were kids, and the idea of anything coming between our friendship was terrifying.

What if he saw it as a betrayal? It wasn’t just about potentially damaging our friendship, it was about changing the entire dynamic, risking everything we had built.

A friendship as solid as ours was rare, and a part of me was terrified at the thought of shattering it.

“Come on, Colt. Let’s go before Em’s out here looking for us. Besides, I’m starving.”

As we climb into the cab, I can’t shake the feeling that tonight, seeing Ember, will be different.

It always is. But tonight, with the weight of tomorrow hanging over us, it feels monumental.

I’m not sure what I’m going to say to her.

I want to make promises to her, promises that when I return she’ll be my girl.

I want to tell her how much she means to me, how I plan on coming back for her.

This last year we had our moments, subtle looks that lingered too long, touches that felt more than just friendly.

I’d definitely given her hints, little signs that I felt something beyond friendship, even if I never said the words outright.

And I’d picked up on her cues, too – the way she’d get quiet when I talked about a girl I was going out with, or how her eyes would flash with something that looked suspiciously like jealousy when other girls hung around me or Cade.

But I can’t say anything. She’s still in high school. She needs to live and have fun. I couldn’t tie her down, I couldn’t put that kind of pressure on her.