Cutest Couple by Kate Davies

wishy-washy “can’t make up my mind” crap. Indecisiveness could get you killed.
    But this situation—damn.
    He had no clue.
    Off to the right, a couple of the guys he used to play baseball with were sitting with their wives and/or girlfriends. Beyond their table, he recognized some people from his senior-year classes. But no one he had been particularly close to.
    Or maybe that was just time and distance talking. He’d had friends, good ones, in school and out. This had been home for a couple of years, at least.
    How had it been so easy for him to walk away without a backward glance?
    Someone came up behind him and clapped him on the back. “How are you doing, man?”
    Marc smiled at Rafael. “About as good as can be expected, thanks.”
    Rafael winced. “That bad, huh? Come on, let me buy you a drink.”
    He headed to the bar without waiting for a response. Marc shook his head and followed.
    “Beer?”
    Marc nodded, and Rafael ordered two. Then they took their beers and sat at the nearest empty table.
    “So, about last night.”
    Marc snorted. “We put on quite a show, didn’t we?”
    “I’m sorry, man. I really thought you knew.”
    He waved off Rafael’s apology. “Everyone did. I do wish I’d had a clue before Bree blurted it out like that. Wouldn’t have felt so blindsided.”
    “Understandable.” They drank in companionable silence for a moment. “So, have you met him?”
    “Ben?” Marc nodded. “Great kid.”
    “Yeah, he is. I coach his Little League team.”
    Little League. Marc smiled politely. He could have been Ben’s coach.
    He could have been so many things, if he’d only been given the chance.
    Over Rafael’s shoulder, he could see Bree at her table. Tess had joined her, along with a blonde he knew had to be Kelsey. Next to Kelsey was Nathan, their class’s resident science nerd and all-around brilliant guy.
    Back in high school, that had been his crew. He couldn’t even count how many times they’d hung out together, watching movies in Kelsey’s basement, piling into his car for a late-night burger run, getting group pictures taken at every dance.
    Now it was ten years later, they were still connected, and he was the stranger. It was like she’d gotten all their friends in the breakup.
    But to be honest, he hadn’t fought for them, either.
    He and Bree had ended, and two weeks later he was on a plane to boot camp. And he’d never looked back.
    “So what are you going to do now?” Rafael took a long drink of his beer, eyeing Marc over the bottle. “You moving back, or what?”
    “I already have, sort of,” Marc said. “Stationed at McChord.”
    “Handy.”
    Marc nodded. “I’ve missed nine years of Ben’s life. I have no intention of missing any more.”
    “That’s good,” Rafael said. “He deserves a dad. And hey, you’ve been missed, man. It’ll be good to have you around again.”
    He had a feeling it was going to be good being around, as well.
    Thanking him for the beer and conversation, Marc stood as Rafael left to rejoin his wife at their table. He tossed a casual wave at his former teammates, smiled at a couple familiar faces as they walked by.
    Bree and her friends—his friends, too, or at least they had been—still hadn’t noticed him.
    Beer in hand, he leaned against the post and looked his fill.
    She’d changed outfits again.
    Her hair was slicked back in a complicated style that should have looked severe and schoolmarm-ish, but instead gave her a sophisticated air. She wore a little slip of a black dress, with high heels and hose and, holy hell, she looked hot.
    Right now, he should be walking the other way. He should be too overwhelmed with anger and recrimination to feel anything else.
    Instead, he was fighting off the urge to pull her into the nearest closet and slide one hand up her thigh, like he had on prom night.
    Come to think of it, that had been in this very building, although like the high school it had changed a lot. But he was