His phone vibrated and chimed and he picked it up. 0723. Sarah was asleep. He decided not to wake her. He dozed again and was again awakened by a phone. Sarah picked up her phone and looked at it.

"Time to get up," Sarah said. "Conrad wants to see us at 1100. We're on our own for breakfast."

Pop-Tarts and coffee is all I see. Frosted cherry. They're thorough.

Sarah slid off the bed and stood up, not bothering to put on her robe. Henry briefly admired the body that had been wrapped around him for a couple of hours earlier and wished they had the day to themselves. No such luck, he got up and followed her into the bathroom. They brushed their teeth and showered and returned to their bedchambers to dress.

Henry made coffee and unwrapped a pair of Pop-Tarts and dropped them in the toaster. When Sarah returned he pushed down the slide.

"Black?" he asked.

"Of course," Sarah replied with a smile. "Know anyone who doesn't?"

"Can't say as I do."

The toaster popped and he put the pastries on a plate.

"More than one?" he asked.

"One's good. Have to watch my weight."

"You seem to be doing pretty well."

Sarah was wearing a fresh uniform. She had her hair in a ponytail and looked sexier than she had naked. She sipped coffee and smiled.

"I'm Conrad's chief of staff," she said. "Which means I have about a dozen clerks and gofers to manage. What I do when I'm not on duty Conrad may know but doesn't care. Pretty much everyone in our positions knows everything about everyone else unless we choose not to."

"Pretty much," Henry said. "You don't live here?"

"No. I set it up to stay in the next room while you're here."

"Pretty sure of me."

"Like you said, we all pretty much know everything there is to know about everything that matters about everyone that matters. We've been through a war and it's been a lot of loving the one you're with most of the time. Not knowing if you'll meet again or if one or both of you will survive."

"Yeah."

There were some special women in his life, special in different ways sometimes. Sarah might become another if they spent a lot of time together. Someday when it was all over would they get back to normal relationships? Would it ever be over? He suspected another phase was beginning - not of a war but something else.

"If I knew you had someone..." Sarah said.

"Nothing exclusive. You know how it is."

"Yeah."

Templar Dawn (2024)