Denise Sherwood loved her husband, Major Frank Sherwood more than anything but she was tired of being alone. She married him at nineteen and she had known then what she was getting into, but now she questioned if this was really what she wanted her future to be.

Frank's life would always be completely devoted to the army. Duty before family, duty above all else; that had been Frank's motto for their entire marriage. For a long time, Denise understood that and she had supported him through the good and the bad, but she had her own needs that deserved to be met. Recently, she had learned the hard way that life's way too short to simply exist.

Getty and Mac had taught her that. They had also taught her about love, and having hopes and dreams. They showed her that there was more to life than sitting around waiting for Frank's occasional visit stateside. Denise needed to find herself beyond being Mrs. Frank Sherwood.

She had let herself fall for Getty and he was dead. She had fallen for Mac and he left. Everyone she cared for always ended up gone or dead. She didn't want anyone else in her life to suffer that same fate. In an attempt to be happy, Denise had lost her job, her friends had turned their backs on her for the stupid army code, and she had disgraced her husband's career. She had nothing left to live for, but nothing hurt her worse than the night Claudia Joy slammed the door in her face.

Claudia Joy and Denise had been best friends for over twenty years. She couldn't lose her now, not over this. Denise never denied that what she did was wrong, but what did that say about her friends that they were willing to turn their backs on her so easily? She had to wonder if they had ever really been her friend in the first place. She could have looked passed it if it had been Roxy, or Pamela, maybe even Roland, but Claudia Joy, that broke her heart.

Lately, she had noticed her feelings for Claudia Joy changing, evolving into something more. She had never looked at a woman, any woman in a romantic sort of way. She had only ever been with Frank until recently, but there was just something about Claudia Joy. She was different, unlike anyone she'd ever met before. Denise found herself getting lost in Claudia Joy's sparkling brown eyes, and her smile lit up the room.

The sudden change in her feelings for Claudia Joy scared her and now there was nothing she could do about it. Even if she could find the nerve to explain her feelings to her best friend, Claudia Joy wanted nothing to do with her. Her actions had cost her the one person she cared about most in the world, outside of her son.

Once again, she sat in the house alone. Both Frank and Jeremy were overseas. It was bad enough being alone in the house on a good day, but now she couldn't even call her friends. All she had was her own feelings and her emotions. With each lonely night that passed, she grew to hate herself even more.

Soon Frank would get wind of the situation, they always did. That's just how the army worked. There were never any secrets. He'd likely get leave to come deal with his domestic situation and it would be as if her life as an Army wife never existed.

She crawled into her bed that night, broken and alone. All she could think about was Claudia Joy. Her phone sat on the night stand and her finger tips ached to type out a text message to her friend. Sure, Claudia Joy had a lot of her own drama going on right now, but they had never been so distant that they couldn't talk. All night, Denise tossed and turned. She didn't sleep a wink.

Her alarm went off at seven a.m. like it did every day. She rolled over, her eyes bloodshot because she'd never slept for more than five minutes the whole night. She looked at her cell phone again, resting on the night stand, calling out to her to text Claudia Joy. Denise took a deep breath and stood, padding across the floor into the bathroom to shower. As she stripped her robe off, she thought more and more about Claudia Joy and finally walked back to her bed, grabbing her phone and typing the message before she had a chance to talk herself out of it:

I know you hate me because of what I did to Frank and I don't blame you but we've been friends for more than twenty years, Claudia Joy. I can't lose you too. Please don't give up on me! I need you.

Once she put the phone down, she was able to let out a sigh of relief. It was a weight off her shoulders. She made the first move and there was nothing else she could do. Claudia Joy would either respond or she wouldn't. If she didn't, Denise would be crushed, but she wouldn't push it anymore. After she finished her shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel and walked out to the living room. She was craving a good omelet, but stopped when there was a knock on the door. "Who could that be this early?" she asked herself and walked to the door.

She stopped, her face turning white when she saw Claudia Joy standing before her. "Claudia Joy," she said quietly.

"Denise," Claudia Joy began. "You're my best friend, I don't hate you."

"Sure seemed like it the other night when you slammed the door in my face," said Denise. "You're the last person I expected that from Claudia Joy. We've been through hell and back together and you did that. Do you know how much that hurt?"

Denise could see the pain in her friend's eyes and she desperately wanted to wrap her arms around her, but she had to restrain herself. She hesitated when Claudia Joy reached out and took her hands. "You're right," she said. "We've been through hell and back and I shouldn't have turned my back on you no matter how wrong I think your choices were. That's not what friends do. I'm sorry. For whatever its worth, I'm here now."

Claudia Joy was too good. No matter how hard Denise tried, she couldn't stay mad at the woman. She stepped back and allowed Claudia Joy to enter the house, but all she could do was look at her every so often. She didn't know what to say to her, not now, not after what happened.

"Denise, hey," Claudia Joy reached over and lifted her chin so she had to look at her. "Talk to me. Don't shut me out just to pay me back. I'm here, I want to help, I want to make things right with us."

"I don't know if anything will ever be right again," Denise said.

Claudia Joy looked at her curiously. "What aren't you telling me? What's going on? Did something happen to Frank or Jeremy?"

"No, no, nothing like that," said Denise.

"Then what is it?" Claudia Joy asked. "I can tell there's something really weighing on you."

"I'm having really strong feelings for someone that means the world to me and by telling that person I may very well lose them. That's something I am terrified of so I don't know how to tell them," Denise explained.

"Strong feelings as in romantic feelings?" Claudia Joy pushed.

"Yes," said Denise. "I think I'm falling in love with that person and I don't know how to tell them."

Claudia Joy sighed, rubbing her head. "Who is it? Maybe I can help you find a way to tell them the truth."

Denise looked up at her, wide eyed. "What?"

"If you aren't happy with Frank anymore, if Frank isn't the one then we need to do something to change your life. You need to be happy and so does Frank so if he's not the one you need to leave. Who is it that you're having feelings for?" She asked again.

"You."

Claudia Joy gasped. "What?"

"It's you Claudia Joy," Denise said. "I love you."