By the time he’d finished speaking, Karen’s jaw was almost on the carpet. She’d known it would be something extreme, something bad, to make a man go from a soldier to a complete hermit, but she hadn’t expected that. Especially since, as shallow as it sounded, he looked to be in one piece. No visible scarring, no limp, no prosthetics. In short, he was utterly perfect.
He saw her looking at him and gave a weak smile. “I retain all my body parts. Scarring, yes. But that’s nothing because, unlike my friend, I’m still here.”
Apparently he wasn’t angry with her for wondering, but Karen wasn’t sure what to say next. What did you say to that? “I’m sorry,” she eventually choked out, “for your loss. That you had to go through that.”
“Thank you.” His expression was sad, but sincere. Then, regainin
