“Then run.”

“Huh?”

“Run!”

Vince sat up as the sound of the explosion sucked him right out of his dream.

“Run!” a soldier who jumped over him yelled. He turned one last time, his terrified eyes meeting Vince’s for an instant as more soldiers began running past him. “Fucking run!”

In the next instant his entire area was flooded with gunfire. He barely felt the pain in his leg as he scrambled for cover. The second he had a chance, he ran: ran with every ounce of life he had left in him. With the adrenaline pumping through him, but most importantly Rose’s voice still so fresh in his mind, Vince ran for his life. He ran for every single tear he’d shed that year—ran for every tormented breath he’d taken every time he’d been convinced he’d heard her say she loved him for the very last time. He ran for Rose.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Rose

Staring at the bracelet once again, Rose obsessed about her never-ending theories as to why for the last time. Rose’s latest theory? She now suspected maybe he’d done this on purpose. Maybe this was his way of getting away from her. Maybe her too-eager response about moving in together had scared him. He hadn’t asked her much about her mother when she mentioned she might be moving back, and that conversation had felt so awkward. Maybe he hadn’t believed her. Maybe he really thought she was apartment shopping even though he hadn’t brought it up once since the first time. So when the idea of him leaving was brought up, maybe that was why he’d accepted so easily.

Taking the bracelet off a little brusquer than she’d originally intended, she blinked away the hot tears that had begun to fill her eyes once again. She was so sick of driving herself crazy with all the maybes. The bottom line was he knowing and willingly did something that could cost them time together. That alone was enough to infuriate her. Why shouldn’t even matter.

She was glad that the day she’d found out he went to Iraq she shredded every single one of his letters without even opening them. She wouldn’t put herself through reading even one more word from him. She had to move on. But how much longer would she be crying for Vincent already? How much longer would she be such a mess?

The doctor said no stress. She had to stop this. The symptoms of her deficiency had already begun to lessen. Though it could be her imagination, the symptoms seemed to act up when she cried. It just drained her to the point she could barely get out of bed even with the injections. And this whole thing had confirmed something she’d always sort of known; she’d never make it in the medical field.

The YouTube videos she’d watched had been absolutely informative, and on paper she now knew exactly how to inject herself or someone else. Unfortunately in the videos it didn’t show you how not to be squeamish. There was no way she was going to inject herself if she didn’t even want to look at the needle breaking through her skin.

Luckily Ben’s being pre-med was coming in handier than she’d ever expected. He’d already given her the first two injections, and he promised to continue as long as he was around. If he hadn’t, she’d be looking at wasting hours at the clinic because there was no way she was injecting herself.

She now blamed her diagnosis for everything including her blubbering episodes, especially during that time of the month when she’d cry at the drop of the dime. Of course she did all this in the privacy of her own room, usually at night when everyone was asleep. You’d think with all the time that had passed, she’d be better about not getting emotional anytime something brought back memories of him.

She even cried when she found out Lorenzo was coming to work at the restaurant for the entire summer. She hated that he’d be around so often now because here she was trying her damnedest to forget Vincent, and Lorenzo reminded her so much of him. Thankfully he’d be working at Sal’s brother’s restaurant on the marina, not the La Jolla Shores restaurant that Sal and Grace owned where Rose worked. It’d be torture to be around him so much. He even laughed just like Vincent: that carefree yet sexy laugh she’d loved and heard so often when they’d been together.

It was bad enough she had to brace herself to see him at all with all the memories he brought back, but now she’d have to see him tonight at this stupid party they were having for her, and he’d see her with Ben. All hope of things ever working out with Vincent were long gone, but she knew tonight would seal it. Physically Ben hadn’t changed much since that day at the park, and she was sure Lorenzo would remember him as the jerk that tried to piss Vincent off. More importantly the fact that she’d be introducing Ben to everyone as her boyfriend would stop any more letters from Vincent.

Even though she hadn’t read his letters since the first few, each new one that arrived had been the tiniest bit of consolation, knowing he was still thinking of her after all this time. It had been over a year now since he’d left, and only now did it feel like the real beginning of the end. Vincent would never forgive her for this.

Before any of this happened Rose wouldn’t even consider being with anyone else. Like she’d always assured him, he owned her body and soul forever. She now saw tonight as symbolic way of moving on because, even if she couldn’t move on, Vincent would for sure once he found out about Ben. It’d be a slap in the face, but Rose couldn’t help that things turned out this way.

Grace was pregnant again and had her hands full with the baby as it was. The last thing Rose wanted was to add to her burden by continuing to be a depressed and now ill hermit. But she was in no way ready to put herself out there yet. This would have to do to convince Grace she was actually doing so.