Chapter 3

3.

I let out a bitter laugh.

The night before Caleb left for West Point, he met me at the training field behind the base.

Under the moonlight, he stood in his brand-new cadet uniform and gave me a perfect salute.

"Grace, I promise you―no matter where I go, you will always be my home."

His eyes were shining. "Grace, when I graduate, we're getting married."

So many people thought our long-distance relationship would fail, but we made it work.

When he was deployed on high-risk missions overseas, I couldn't ask, couldn't even guess what he was doing. All I could do was watch CNN every day for military news.

From second lieutenant to first lieutenant, then to Captain in the Special Forces.

He told me, "Once you finish your research at Johns Hopkins, you can transfer to Madigan Army Medical Center."

We were just a few months away.

Happiness was right there, just one final step.

But today, a complete stranger had just declared me out of the game.

Scarlett sent another message.

It was a secretly recorded video.

Caleb was in civilian clothes, his eyes hazy in a downtown Tacoma bar.

Scarlett's giggling voice asked, "Caleb, tell me, what's your girlfriend like?"

The bar music was loud, but it didn't drown out his answer.

"Let's not talk about her. It's the same old thing every single day."

"Fucking boring."

He looked at the camera with a tenderness I knew so well. "How about we try something new tonight?"

The camera shook violently, followed by the muffled, intimate sounds of kissing.

The screen went dark, reflecting my own deathly pale face.

I ran to the bathroom and dry-heaved, then grabbed my phone and booked the earliest flight back to Baltimore.

As I was packing, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through my lower right abdomen. A cold sweat broke out all over my forehead.

I suspected it was acute appendicitis and immediately got an Uber to the emergency room at Madigan Army Medical Center.

It was peak flu season, and the ER was packed.

I squatted in the hallway outside an exam room, the pain so bad I could barely stand.

At three in the morning, I finally got my ultrasound report.

The doctor looked at me. "Acute appendicitis. You need surgery right away. Where's your family?"

And right at that moment, Caleb called.

I declined it.

He stubbornly called back.

In the quiet exam room, his unique ringtone was deafening.

I answered. His voice was frantic, almost hysterical.

"A friend of mine sprained her ankle. What's the emergency treatment?"

In the background, I could faintly hear Scarlett's soft sobbing.

The last bit of warmth in my heart vanished. I said coldly, "Do whatever you want."

"Grace! You're a fucking doctor! What kind of answer is that?!" Caleb's roar came through the phone.

I curled into a ball, trying to suppress the waves of pain.

I remembered him telling me once, "All my first aid knowledge came from you. For the rest of my life, I'll only ever use it for you."

Caleb was still yelling on the other end. "She's crying from the pain. Tell me what to do!"

My eyes burned. I threw my head back, trying to force the hot tears back down.

The doctor across from me held out a surgical consent form. "Ma'am, if your family can't make it, you can sign for yourself."

Caleb was silent for a few seconds.

"Are you... at the hospital?"

Before I could answer, he said with certainty, "You're working a night shift again, aren't you?"

"Since you're not sleeping anyway, is it that hard to answer a question? What's with the attitude?!"

The tears finally fell. I let out a soft, broken laugh.

"You're right."

"I am in a mood."

"Caleb, we're done."