The drive from the 10th Mountain Division headquarters to the house on the hill was a transition Victor made in a state of hyper-focus. Behind him lay the logistics of war- the cold, hard numbers of a deployment that felt more like a sentence with every passing second. But as his SUV climbed the winding gravel path, the scent of the world changed. The metallic tang of the base was replaced by the smell of pine, sun-warmed stone, and- as he stepped through the front door, the intoxicating aroma of brown sugar and toasted pecans.
He found her in the kitchen.
Briar was a blur of motion against the backdrop of their new, dark cabinetry. She was wearing a pair of snug-fitting jeans and a thin white tank top dusted with flour, her hair pinned up in a haphazard knot. The walnut table they ha
