"I rolled my eyes at Brock's attempts at joking but then I guessed he had heard the stories too. He was older than me by a couple of years, a grad of ...he local high school who now worked in construction. Brawny in build, he had a mop of brown hair and perpetual shadow on his face."I think it's safe to assume that we are..."I looked around the living room and noticed the faded photos on the wall which looked like Wewere from the earlier history of the high school which had been founded in the. " Different backgrounds?" Retired army officer most of whose friends are the same. Not a problem that I can see. Country born and bred whereas I'm a townie. I love the country and all that it offers. I never want to go back to being a city dweller. You've got children and I haven't. So what?" She had regained her assertiveness."They're not a lot younger than you, at least Robin isn't." Still so what? They're grown up now and don't need mothering. If Robin wanted advice he'd ask you, not me. If. ”“You know what the worst thing is? When he gets in this state, it means...”“Means what?”“I shouldn’t really say, what with you being his sister and all.”“Oh, I’ve probably heard a lot worse. Come on, spill the beans.”“Okay. It means he goes straight to sleep later and I’ll...”“Have to take care of your own needs?”“Something like that.”Liza shook her head. “I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s always been a selfish git. Even when we were little.”“It’s just not fair!”“I know. But hey, it’s a party,. It was not Mike’s fault and the army was his chosen career. It seemed he was considered to be doing very well to be selected to attend the staff college. He certainly had been delighted and had indicated rather vaguely that having a year plus in one place might be the time for them to marry. On the other hand he had not really made a lot of effort between Afghanistan and Poland to see her even though they were rather less than twenty miles apart. Was his affection cooling? His emails did not.