High-Stakes Holiday Reunion

Christopher straightened. “I can handle it.”

“I know you think you’re tough. You are tough. But even the toughest soldiers have to step away from the battle sometimes.”

“Sometimes a soldier has no choice but to go back into the fight. They have to reach down inside and find strength, even when they don’t think they have it. That’s what one of the men who once trained me said, at least.” He kept his chin raised and stood at full attention, though he knew Denton would tell him to be at ease.

Denton stared at him a moment before nodding. A smile stretched across his face and he gripped his arm. Denton had been that man who said those words. “I’m here for you if you need me.”

“You always have been. I appreciate that, sir.”

Denton leaned closer. “Listen, I don’t know what your past relationship is with Ashley, but I get the feeling you two were more than friends.”

“Yes, we were. We were engaged, to be exact.”

His eyes widened a moment. “This was the girl you were crazy about while you were in training, huh? I remember the way you talked about her like she was the best thing to ever happen to you.”

“She was the best thing to ever happen to me.” His heart squeezed as he said the words. They were true. Walking away from Ashley had felt like walking away from his heart.

“Don’t let your past get in the way of doing what you have to do.”

“Yes, sir.” He glanced back over at Ashley. Those words would be the hardest to follow through on. Remembering their time together was so bittersweet.

Somehow, he had to ignore the fact that she hated him and realize that God had brought her back into his life for some reason...maybe even just forgiveness and closure? He didn’t know.

But he did know that, in Christ, all things worked together for His good.

Somehow, someway, something good was going to come out of all of this.

The question was...what?

FIVE

Christopher stared at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed. The red numbers stared back at him. Six-twenty, and he was wide awake.

He’d been wide-awake for a long time.

For most of the night, for that matter.

He tossed toward the other side of his bed, trying to grab a few more minutes of rest. Back at home, there was a bottle of sleeping pills lying on his nightstand. He’d refused to take them, despite his doctor’s encouragement. He liked to think he was strong enough to weather the storms of life without the help of any medication.

Even if he’d had the pills with him now, he wouldn’t have taken any last night. He wanted to be on guard.

Between his return home, the unexpected reappearance of Ashley in his life, and the danger surrounding her, sleep had just been a dream.

He should be used to it. He hadn’t had a good night’s rest in months. Too many images from Afghanistan haunted him.

He’d gone to counseling all of four times, and it hadn’t done him any good. All the counselor had wanted to do was talk about things. He was tired of talking about things. He just wanted to move on.

Being back in the States was an entirely different kind of battleground.

Hang on to the good memories, he reminded himself, punching his pillow with his fist.

He was thankful that Jack had given him a job at Eyes as a Training Specialist. He hoped his soul would have time to heal away from the battleground. But now he’d been thrust into the face of danger again, it seemed. But how could he turn Ashley away? He couldn’t.