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Tom came forward and laid a hand on Josh’s arm “We never, ever had an affair Please believe that”

“Not even when she went to you before her last deployment?”

Josh expected to see guilt on Tom’s face He wasn’t prepared for the pain

“You knew”

“I knew,” Josh confirirlfriends I kneas a lie When she got back I checked the history in her GPS”

Aard silence fell Tom cleared his throat “She caether, permanently, said she’d stay Stateside and—”

“And divorce me” The words were harder to say out loud than he could have iined

“What was I supposed to do?” With a sharp exhale, Toh his hair “If I … if we…” He glanced up at Josh “If we’d slept together, it would have been betraying you and the promise I e I couldn’t do it I’m not proud of how all this shook down but I do have a little bit of self-respect that I try to hold on to So I said no And by turning her away…” He stared off into space “I practically sent her on that last deployment And she never came back”

To down He hadn’t seen that one co

“I wasn’t enough,” Josh adht if we started a faet about you But she didn’t want that She hed heavily “I found her birth control pills She didn’t want me I wasn’t you, you see”

More silence as they both absorbed the truth

Loving Erin had cost them both so much Perhaps too much

“Things won’t be the sa on each other every tiood start”

Josh couldn’t help the smile that flickered on his lips “That’s just because I alin”

“You wish,” Tom replied, and a bit of the old comfort between them came back