Middle Ground Read Free Page A

his arm and laughed. “Maybe I’m a hard woman to replace.”
    He looked up with a half-hearted smile. He wished that were true. He’d cared for Trisha but never loved her, no matter how much he wished he had.  Sometimes he worried that he’d end up like his parents, settling for a marriage with little love and affection. God knew he’d tried with Trish and  several women before her.
    A sad look filled her eyes. “That’s okay. You don’t have to answer that.” She shrugged playfully. “Besides, who can compete with James?”
    He smirked. “No kidding.”
    “I heard you were in a unit together in Iraq. How’d you manage that?”
    “Connections.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Your dad.”
    There was no reason to deny it.
    “How long are you home?”
    “Only for the wedding. We leave on Monday.”
    “That soon?”
    He shrugged and took another drink. He was beginning to regret coming home. So far this entire trip sucked.
    “Look…” Her hands rested on the table and she clasped them together. “I know we didn’t end well, which was mostly my fault. Sure, you couldn’t commit, but you never lied to me.” She shook her head. “Boy, do I appreciate that now after all the losers I’ve dated since. You always said you didn’t love me and I… I figured I could make you change your mind.”
    “Trish…” Even though he’d told her to have her say, he really couldn’t handle listening to her litany of how he’d failed her. He’d beaten himself up over it, enough to last a lifetime and a half.
    “No, it’s okay, Will.” The earnestness in her eyes told him that she spoke the truth. “I wanted something you weren’t capable of giving. Plus, I hated the long stretches of waiting for you to come home.”
    He’d watched his mom sit at home, being a single mother for months at a time. He wasn’t sure he wanted to put someone through that. Especially if he loved her. But leaving the Marines wasn’t an option he considered until James’s bombshell. It was the job he’d spent his entire life training for. If he wasn’t a Marine, what would he do? But now that the door had cracked open, the option intrigued him.
    Covering her hand with his, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
    She smiled. “No regrets.”
    No regrets. It was a great philosophy, but a hard goal to live up to.
    “So, have you got a date to the wedding?”
    His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Are you offering or you setting me up?”
    “Offering… as friends, of course.”
    He hesitated. He was sorting through more emotional baggage than he expected this weekend.
    She lifted her hands in surrender. “No drama. I promise.”
    On a scale of one to ten of bad ideas, this was probably a nine, but he couldn’t stop himself. “How about you come to the reception? I’ll be tied up during the wedding since I’m a groomsman.”
    She laughed. “Probably a good idea. I tend to cry at weddings and I promised drama-free. Where’s the reception?”
    “The Holiday Inn. Eight o’clock.”
    Her eyes searched his face. “I’ve missed you. Will.”
    Had he missed her or the idea of having someone? It was hard to say. “When we were good together, we were great.”
    Her face softened. “Yeah, we were, weren’t we?” She looked over her shoulder at her friends, whose undivided attention was on Will. Shaking her head, she laughed. “I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
    “Okay.”
    She walked back to her table, looking over her shoulder at him.
    Maybe his expectations were unrealistic. Maybe love came with time and respect. Was it fair to Trisha to test that idea out with her?
    “Come dance with me.” Megan stood next to him, her hand extended.
    “Hell, no. You know I don’t dance.”
    “And we know that’s not true. In fact, I have actual video proving you do.”
    His mouth dropped open before he closed it and narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying. If you had blackmail video, you would have used it long ago.”
    She grabbed