Shielded by the Ruthless Military Boss novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Judd's POV

Judd's POV

The general's aide put me through on the fourth ring.

I stood in the kitchen of the guest quarters with the phone against my ear and my right arm still stiff from the sling.

"Colonel Kerrigan," the general said. "Tell me you're coming to Stuttgart."

"No, sir."

There was a pause on the line.

"Three years at the top of a European brigade. It's the post you've wanted for a decade."

"I know what it is."

"May I ask what changed?"

"My wife has a hospital that just asked her back, a house, and a friend who sleeps down the hall." I looked out the window at the street. "A week ago she told me she would pack up all of it and follow me anywhere."

"A good woman."

"Yes, sir. That's why I'm refusing."

He laughed, low and tired, and told me the Army would remember I'd said no.

I told him I hoped it would.

I put the phone down on the counter and stood there a minute.

For a year I had watched a woman through glass and sent her coffee without a name on it.

Turning down Stuttgart was the first thing I had ever done for her out loud.

On Sunday, I took her to the cemetery.

I did not tell her where we were going until the car stopped under the oaks.

"Judd," she said, very softly, looking through the windshield. "This is my father's."

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