Continued from Part Three

After work, Dave found Naomi in their bed, engrossed in the TV.

He stripped off his coveralls. “Say, you want to go out to eat?”

She jumped. “What are you doing here?”

“I finished early.”

“Six hours early?”

“I worked ahead. Wanna go, or not?”

“I’m not really hungry; I just ate.”

“What about a movie?”

“Sure.”

Dave drove to a park he and Naomi had visited a lot back when they were dating. He scanned the area for their tree. “This way.”

At the old maple, Naomi peered up at him. “What’s this?”

Dave pulled out a flashlight and shined a light on the tree. Engraved in a heart where the letters DJ + NH.

Naomi gasped. “Dave, you were—”

“Fifteen.”

“How did you remember?”

“I never forgot it. Other things just came up. But I’ll take care of you first from now on. Things will be different.”

“I believe you.” Naomi threw her arms around Dave and drew him into the suc-culent sweetness of her lips.

“So, same time tomorrow night?”

“Um, even if you can get finished early all the time, you shouldn’t take the risk of one of the guys from the base seeing you in town. You should try and get a day job.”

“No one hires a janitor to work days. I’d have to go back to school, which would mean even more time away from you.”

“You’ll come up with something.” She kissed him. “I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you, too.”

Continued next Thursday

Tales of the Dim Knight will be coming soon as a new novel released by Splashdown books