“Sweet pea, just listen to me,” he began softly.
“No, I can’t.” Honor tore away from him and grabbed the doorknob. Before he could recover enough to reach out and stop her, she’d slammed the door shut behind her.
Gone.
A strange roaring filled his ears. Outside he heard her car start up and drive away.
Too stunned to move, he stared blankly at the closed door, an unbearable pain splitting his chest as though she’d just slashed his ribs open with a KA-BAR and carved his heart out.
She’d just walked away from the promise she’d made when she’d said she’d marry him. She’d walked away from the dream of their future together. She’d walked away from him and all his love, because it hadn’t been enough.
Liam didn’t go after her. He knew there was no point and the tiny amount of pride he had left prevented him from chasing after her like a pet dog she’d abandoned at the side of the road, desperate for her love and the chance to be with her.
The eerie silence of the house settled around him, brittle and cold.
He’d just lost the only woman he’d ever loved. Now it felt like he was dying inside.
He didn’t know how long he stood there, frozen in his foyer as the shock slowly wore off. Finally he made himself cross to the door, every step an effort. His hand shook as he turned the deadbolt home, his stomach churning.
Splaying one hand over the cool wood, he leaned his forehead against it and squeezed his eyes shut as a hot flood of tears stung his eyes. He stood there alone, slowly bleeding to death from the gaping wound where his heart had been only minutes before.
Chapter Ten
Finishing a quick snack in the hangar, Honor rubbed at the back of her neck in an attempt to ease the pounding headache that had become worse as the day wore on. She’d already taken a handful of ibuprofen several hours ago and it hadn’t helped much. Her doctor and Erin had both explained that she’d likely have headaches for a few days or even weeks after the concussion, partially caused by sore neck muscles she’d pulled during her fall.
That wasn’t what bothered her the most though. In addition to the aches and pains, the way she’d left things with Liam made her feel like shit on the bottom of someone’s boot.
“Hey, Ms. Girard,” Smithers called out.
Honor took a swig of water and headed toward him where he stood off to the side cleaning some equipment. When she was within ten feet of him she nodded. “What’s up?”
He shot a look over toward the 60 the crew was working on, then back to her. “You talk to Ipman today?”
“Not outside of shop talk, no. Why?”
He lowered his voice. “Things aren’t, ah… Not all is quiet on the home front, if you know what I mean.”
She glanced over at the soldier in question, then back to Smithers. “His wife isn’t excited that he’s coming home early?”
“Apparently not.” His grave expression made Honor’s heart sink as she read between the lines.
“Wait. Is she cheating on him?”
Smithers winced. “Sounds like it. He thinks so, anyway.”
Ah, hell. Ipman had been up and down since she’d first met him and things had been tough for him when they’d first deployed here, but he’d seemed to be doing so much better. “When did he find out?”
“Think he’s been suspicious for a while now, but it kind of all came to a head when he called to tell her we were coming home early. At least, that’s the way I heard it.”
She grunted, angry on her soldier’s behalf. “I’ll bet that piece of unexpected news put a serious damper on her plans.” The woman had two elementary-aged kids at home and she worked full time. Seriously, when the hell did she even have time for an affair?
Honor blew out a breath and rubbed her neck harder. “I’ll talk to him. What about Andrews? He doing any better?” She spotted him near the entrance of the hangar, talking to one of the Afghan locals who worked as a janitor. The guys rarely talked to her about personal problems unless it was really serious, instead keeping it to themselves or maybe telling Smithers.
The master sergeant made a face. “Same old same old, you know how he is. But this week he’s been pretty good. Well, comparatively speaking.”
Andrews had been an intermittent pain in her ass over the last fourteen months he’d been assigned to her unit. And she couldn’t lie, it was wearing on her to constantly have to deal with his bullshit, so if he was having a good week, all the better for everyone. Her official duties included manager and maintainer, but her unofficial ones included marriage counselor and even babysitter when the occasion called for it.
Luckily, she wasn’t afraid to give one of her people a swift kick in the ass when they deserved it. “How’d his wife take the news about him coming home early?”
“Don’t think she was overly thrilled, but at least she’s not cheating on him. That we know of, anyway,” he said dryly.
“Well there’s a silver lining for you,” she murmured.
Smithers grinned. “Just thought you should know.”
“I appreciate it. I’ll talk to Ipman.”
She waited another two hours, until there was a lull in the job. “Hey, Ipman.” He glanced up at her from the deck of the Black Hawk. “Let’s go grab a bite.”
He set down his tools and wiped his hands on a rag. “Sure, ma’am.”
When they were outside with no one in earshot, she said, “So I hear things aren’t going so well for you at home right now.”
At that Ipman lost his perpetually cocky attitude and lowered his gaze, his shoulders sagging. He expelled a deep breath. “Jane’s screwing some other guy.”
She hid a wince. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Found some suspicious stuff on her Facebook page and when I dug a little deeper I found out she’s been screwing him for the last four months.” He gave a rueful laugh. “Sounds fucking stupid, I know, but the four month part is way harder to take than the whole cheating thing. I mean, if she’d just fucked some guy once while I was gone I think maybe I could’ve forgiven her someday, but to hook up with him for that long? No.” He shook his head. “There’s no way she’d be doing that with someone for that long unless she had feelings for the guy. She said she fell out of love with me a long time ago, and it took meeting him to make her face it.”
Ouch. “I’m really sorry.” There was nothing else to say that wouldn’t sound patronizing or stupid.
“Yeah. Thanks.” He walked beside her in silence for a minute, maybe gathering his thoughts as their boots crunched over the gravel. “She’ll stay in the house and I’ll crash at a friend’s while I’m home. We’ll have to figure out a visitation schedule for the girls, I guess. Whole shitty-ass mess to work out.”
God. Honor prayed the wife wouldn’t have her boyfriend staying with her while Ipman was back in town.
He shot her a sidelong glance, a frown creasing his brow. “Think I should ask her to go to counseling while I’m home?”
Honor concealed her surprise at the question. Most guys she knew looked at counseling as a form of torture, and it could end up in his record. Marital problems were fairly common for military families so the Army had resources for it, namely the Military Family Life Counselors. Still, the fact that he’d even considered it made it clear he wasn’t ready to let the marriage go. Honor’s heart went out to him.
“Would she go?” Because to her it didn’t really sound like Ipman’s wife was interested in trying to save the marriage.
“I dunno.” He sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “God, I never saw this coming, you know? I mean, I expected things to be tough with me gone so much, but I never thought she’d cheat on me. We’re not perfect, but we’re still a family.” His voice cracked a little on the last word and Honor had to look away, her own conscience pricking her.