Lee and I haven’t been married that long, less than a year. And I must say, even as a retired Navy SEAL now teaching NROTC to young cadets, I’ve never had as many adventures as I’ve had with her and the rest of the Alvarez clan. Maybe I should clarify. That would be fun adventures. I’ve been honored to serve my country. And I like to think my tours in Afghanistan and Pakistan help prepare me for life with Lee.

In particular, the adventures in The Drop-Dead Temple of Doom tested me in a lot of ways. It’s been a while since I knocked out three villains, avoided being shot by poison darts, and carried a wounded man through a rainstorm in one day. It was fatiguing. Maybe I’m not the man I used to be. Although, Lee protests whenever I say that. She calls us partners. And we are. I like to think of her as the brains and me the brawn.

Lee is just about the smartest woman I’ve ever met. And I’ve known some pretty smart women. I come from a long line of them. I was raised by one. But Lee, she’s got a knack for piecing incidents together, adding things up, and knowing what’s really going on when the truth seems to get by everyone else. Sometimes I look into her gorgeous, twilight-colored and just want to stay there. But there isn’t time. We’ve got adventures to share. And The Drop-Dead Temple of Doom is just the latest of them.