Summer of Two Wishes Read Online Free PDF Page A

can we feed this boy?”
    Everyone laughed except Finn.
    “Sergeant Lockhart has a round of interviews tomorrow, a list of which you will find at the bottom of this sheet of paper. I would like to remind you all that we want to keep these interviews as positive as possible.”
    “A round of interviews?” Macy asked uncertainly.
    “Yes. We’ll start with Good Morning America, and then the Today show. After that, we have a Nightline taping, and then Dateline.” Major Sanderson smiled. “We have to keep all the networks happy. There is some talk of an interview with CNN and Larry King, but the details have not been worked out.”
    Finn blanched. What about his life? His ranch, his horses, his dogs? When did he get back to that?
    “Wait,” Macy said, holding up a slender hand. A diamond tennis bracelet twinkled on her wrist. “You said he was going home after the press briefing. You said he was going home right away.”
    “We have just a few more press obligations. The current administration puts a high value on our openness with the media. I know you’re all anxious to get Sergeant Lockhart home just as soon as possible, but we need to spend a day or two here. Trust me, if we handle it here, chances are you won’t be swarmed in Texas. All right then, everyone, if you are ready? The bus is outside, if you will follow Corporal James,” he said, indicating a soldier over his right shoulder.
    “All of us?” Jillian asked, looking at Macy. “Finn, too?”
    “Yes, Sergeant Lockhart, too.”
    That was the best news Finn had heard all day. He stood up. His mom did, too, and linked her arm through his, pulling him away from Macy. Finn glanced back at Macy and saw anxiety in her eyes. He wondered if this is what Dr. Albright, the shrink who’d talked to him in Germany, had meant when she’d said things would seem strange at first, because Finn was starting to feel like something was a little off. Maybe he was just tired. It had been a long flight home, a long time with the press. He just wanted this day to end, to get out of here and try to get back some of the time he’d lost with Macy.
    On the bus, Emma produced a bottle of champagne and some plastic cups. Strange, Finn thought as they toasted his survival, he would have killed for a sip of champagne only a month ago. Now, he didn’t want it. He smiled as they toasted him and sipped from the cup. Macy, he noticed, was clutching her cup. She was smiling and laughing along with everyone else, but there was something not quite right in her eyes.
    At the hotel, they all stood awkwardly in the lobby for a few minutes until Brodie announced he would get them all a dinner reservation somewhere. Corporal James offered to assist and the two of them went off to speak with the concierge. The rest of them stood looking expectantly at Finn until Macy put her hand in his. “Well! If everyone will excuse us, Finn and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
    Finn’s mother pressed her lips together.
    “Come on, Finn,” Macy said with a bright smile as she tugged his hand. “Let’s go.”
    Finn grinned at the rest of them. “Later,” he said with a wink. This was the moment he’d been waiting for, the moment he would be reunited with his wife.
    They rode up the elevator to the fifteenth floor. Macy marched down the corridor, pulling him along. She opened the door to room 1513; Finn held the door open so she could enter first, then locked the door behind them.
    Neither of them spoke for a moment. Finn put his palm against her cheek. “I would have sworn you couldn’t be any prettier than you were in my mind, but damn it if you’re not.”
    Her lashes flickered. “God, Finn…” She put her hands on him, sliding them over his arms, his torso, her gaze following her hands.
    Every stroke of her hands brought Finn a little more back to life. This is what he’d lived for. “Listen,” he said softly, and reached for her hair, stroking it, letting it slide through his