The truth was he was a better soldier than a husband or father, and he always had been. Hell, there was a reason why he worked so hard. He was good at the army. It wasn't a job to him. It was who he was. It was what he was good at. He knew how to lead soldiers, how to get their confidence up to be the first man in the stack.
As far as I'm concerned, Ms. Scott always manages to bring something different and interesting to the table. Of the many books she has written where soldiers come back home, she has not tackled this particular subject so thoroughly as she does in Homefront.
Gale screwed up. He knew he was screwing up when he was doing it but he really didn't know what else to do. The army was easy and leading his men was his calling. Being a father and husband is a whole 'nother ball game. Gale and Mel were very young when they married, throw in a baby and being separated from each other and it just made for a very bad combination.
He hadn't been a good enough man to hold on to her. And when he was honest with himself, everything he'd done over the last decade and a half had been to make himself a better man.
Mel has her hands full with a teenage Jamie who has some pretty serious issues of her own on top of just being a teenager. It's a lot for two parents to handle, much less a single parent. Mel is tired and barely holding it together. Enter Gale. He's been wanting to get closer to Mel and Jamie for years, in an effort to be involved in their lives and just maybe heal the rift between he and Mel. Gale TOTALLY loves Mel still. To her credit, she realizes that she may have made some hasty decisions due to her own immaturity. Even though fifteen years have passed, their feelings for each other were very close to the surface, so close that they couldn't keep their hands and lips off of each other!
She wasn't sure where things were going but it was such a departure from the way things had been. A good one. Gale the man not Gale the memory of the boy he'd been. There was power in his hands now, confidence in his touch. A smoothness in the way he stroked her body that left her breathless and shaking and wanting more. So much more.
Gale dealing with a teenage girl was touching and downright hilarious at times. It was like diffusing a bomb. Ha! I loved the way Gale waded in and proceeded to mediate between Jamie and her mom. Jamie really needed her Dad, she needed his love, affection and guidance.
This was a touching and raw depiction of second chance romance and I really enjoyed it. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this series.