Major Nanny. Paula Graves

off the hook for any more alimony.”

      “I never wanted you to have to pay alimony. I don’t need your money.”

      “I don’t think you ever needed anything from me,” he murmured. “Speaking of the groom, I have to admit I’m surprised. I always figured Ted the Contractor as more a fling kind of relationship than anything long-term, but if he makes you happy—”

      “I’m not marrying Ted,” she said. “I’m marrying Alden.”

      He stared at her. “Alden? Your fifty-year-old shark of a divorce lawyer Alden?”

      “Forty-six,” she corrected. “And he’s only a shark in the courtroom. He’s really very sweet. And attentive.”

      And I wasn’t attentive, Harlan thought. Of course, I was a little busy at the time, dodging bullets and bombs while fighting for my country, but hey. That’s not your problem, is it, sweetheart?

      “How’s your hand?” she asked a moment later. He wasn’t sure if she asked the question just to break the uncomfortable silence or if she really cared.

      He flexed his right hand, where the scar tissue from the shrapnel wounds was still pale and tight, limiting his mobility. “About the same. I think therapy’s gotten me about as far as it can. I just have to adjust to the limitations now.”

      “I’m sorry you were hurt, but I’m glad it got you out of the Marines,” Alexis said, her chin held high as if bracing herself for his anger.

      “Too bad you didn’t wait a few months longer before you slept with the contractor. I’d have had plenty of time to be attentive,” he responded.

      She looked hurt by his words. He almost felt guilty, until he remembered the humiliation of walking into his bedroom and finding Alexis naked and wrapped around the muscular contractor Harlan had hired to build their dream home.

      “I’ve told you I was sorry you found us that way.”

      “But not about having sex with the guy behind my back?”

      “You know as well as I do our marriage was doomed. We’re too different. We want different things out of life.”

      That much was true. He definitely didn’t want to marry a ruthless divorce lawyer. Matter of fact, he didn’t want to marry anyone at all. Ever again.

      Once was enough.

      “You flew all the way to Texas to tell me you were getting married?” he asked. “You could have just called.”

      “Alden’s attending a conference in Lubbock. I thought it would be better to tell you the news face-to-face.”

      He just looked at her, taking in her prom-queen beauty, which hadn’t yet faded with age, and her hopeful expression. She wanted closure. Maybe even absolution.

      Would it hurt so much to give it to her?

      He forced a smile. “I really do hope you and Alden are happy. And that he stays just as attentive fifty years from now as he is today.”

      Her smile in return made her look sixteen years old again, bright and beautiful and everything he’d thought he wanted in life. He’d loved her like crazy once.

      But not anymore, he realized with a little shiver of relief. He might still resent her infidelity and her lies, but he didn’t really care who she slept with anymore.

      I guess that’s progress, he thought.

      “I hope you find someone, too,” she added.

      He felt his rising mood deflate again. “I’m not really in the market.”

      “Just because our marriage didn’t work out—”

      He stood, looking down at her one last time. “Have a good life, Alexis.”

      “You, too,” she said.

      But he was already headed out the door, stepping into the warm midday breeze blowing in over the western plains.

      He looked around him, taking in the friendly facades of the shops and businesses that formed the town square. Old cottonwoods and sprawling oaks lined the streets, giving the place the look of an idyllic oasis in the middle of the arid Texas Panhandle.

      He’d taken the job Bart Bellows offered because it was a chance to start over, to see what life would be like outside the Marine Corps and his shattered marriage. Freedom seemed like a great place to make a new life—just as in most small towns, it was hard to stay a stranger for long in Freedom.

      But Harlan had never felt more alone.

      He checked his watch. A little after two. Half of the day spread out ahead of him, barren and daunting.