“You know that if we get caught, you’ll be dishonorably discharged.”

Kevin sighed. “Melinda, I haven’t seen you in three weeks, and I’m shipping out tomorrow.” He kicked the snow at his feet. “On Christmas Day, no less.” He looked back up into her eyes. “Can’t I see my wife just once before I go?”

Melinda looked above her. “So, why am I standing beneath the boom arm of an obscenely large pickup truck?”

Kevin grinned and chuckled like a young boy. “Because now, we kiss.”

“But why here? Why on the base parking lot?”

He merely pointed up.

“I don’t get it.”

“Well, I don’t have any of the real stuff, so this’ll have to do.” She still looked bewildered, so he leaned over to her and whispered the meaning behind it into her ear. She laughed loudly at his gesture and kissed him.

The two of them stood there in the cold of the night, under the missile tow.