The door snapped shut behind her.
Gray stood in her entryway, the echo of the door mingling in his mind with a single word.
Stay.
Had he said it aloud? He'd meant to. The fact that he couldn't even speak the word said enough about why Lori needed to walk away.
His every instinct screamed, Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!
She didn't want him. He'd even offered her the ring she expected, and still she'd walked. He'd given her all he could. Just like when he'd been growing up trying to piece his family back together, it wasn't enough.
They should be in the car together on their way to pick up Magda. Instead he stood barebutt naked, smelling like some fruit farm.
Gray padded down the hall back to Lori's room, kicked aside the comforter and scooped up his clothes. What did he intend to do about the mess he'd made of their lives? Inaction wasn't even an option for him.
The way he saw it, he had two choices. Leave for Washington now. Tear up that house listing. Forget about her once and for all so she could find the love she needed.
That answer soured in his mouth.
Or he could track down Lori. He could fall on his sword and beg her to accept whatever he could give her. Even though he knew he would eventually break her beautiful heart.
Neither answer offered him much hope.
* * *
The next day Gray strode across the parking lot at his parents' condo. He wasn't sure what had drawn him there. He scratched his chest, freeing a fresh drift of peaches two showers hadn't been able to wash away. His room on base had been damned quiet, giving him too much time to think and offering up not even a single answer.
Nearing the front door, he saw his mom's car wasn't in its spot.
His father's car was parked in clear sight.
Gray turned to leave … then remembered all the nights his dad had taught him about the stars. Gray's feet slowed as he thought of his night with Lori under those same stars. For the first time in too long, he'd enjoyed the memories of learning to navigate from his dad—without the bitter sting that followed.
He pivoted on his heel. He might as well stop in and say hi before he left. Things couldn't get much worse.
After three unanswered rings, Gray swept around to the back of the condo. He almost gave up, deciding his dad must be off on a walk, when he happened to look through the mesh webbing on the screened-in porch.
He found his father, sitting, staring out over the water. Gray loped up the three steps and shoved open the screen door. "Hey, old man."
His father straightened. "Hi, son. I thought you left for Washington."
"I did." Gray sprawled in the porch swing. "I came back to tie up business here."
"Something to do with Lori?"
Regret stabbed him, followed by a blanketing sense of failure. Damn it, he'd met his every goal in life. Except one. Lori. "That's over, Dad."
His father nodded slowly, his gaze staying fixed on the water. "Hmm."
A grunt from his dad. The usual response.
Gray hooked his arms along the back of the swing. His dad's chattiness at the family picnic must have been a fluke, or maybe he'd made an extra effort because Lori had been there. Whatever the reason, Gray was disappointed—for his mother's sake.
The older man folded his hands over his barrel chest. "I've been seeing this doctor out at the VA Hospital."
Slowing the swing, Gray recalled all the times his mother had asked him to visit recently. Had she needed his professional advice, and he'd blown her off, too preoccupied by the mess he'd made with Lori? Guilt was becoming a familiar companion these days. "Have you been sick?"
"Not the way you mean. Not that kind of doctor."