Fine—like that crazy-eyed cartoon dog sitting as the room burned around him….
The mess was dark when he got there, but a light was shining from the open door of Dunk’s office.
Rio was sprawled—yawning—on the sofa, along with Lucky who was frowning at something he was reading on his phone.
“He here?” Jim asked,hebeing the senior chief—Dunk.
“He’s back in the medical supply closet, with his majesty, King Thomas,” Lucky looked up to say. He was one of a very few people who dared to tease Thomas—he’d first met the young SEAL officer back when the kid was still in high school—but even he didn’t push too hard or far. In a community filled with nicknames—Lucky’s real name was Luke, Rio came from Mario, and Jim got called his unfortunate monikerSpacemanfar more often than he liked—Thomasusually wasn’t even shortened to Tom or Tommy.
He was respected that enormously. Even in a squad made up of the best of the best, Thomas King was recognized as being elite.
“Hey, LT.” Thomas appeared from the back room, carrying a bucket of ice, along with some other gear, including towels and a heating pad.
“Uh-oh, did someone get hurt tonight?” Jim asked.
“Nah, I was gathering this stuff for you, sir.”
“Me?”
“Your team leader asked me to get you set up with some ice—and heat, too, if you want it,” Thomas told him.
His team leader…? When had Ashley…? Ah, Jim had come out of the head to see her talking quietly with the hospital corpsman, soon after they’d arrived back in the mess hall, right after she’d bought that new hat.
“I’m fine,” Jim said again, and it made him think about that word-cloud he’d imagined, and Ashley’sSorry.Hissize-four-hundred-font phrase would beI’m fine.
Jesus.
“Yes, sir,” Thomas agreed evenly. “But your TL thought a little ice might move you fromfinetoa little more comfortable.”
“Then she should’ve asked you to bring me a cold beer, too,” Jim quipped.
Thomas smiled as he pushed a bit of the ice aside to reveal a bottle of Sam Adams nestled in the middle of the bucket. “She appears to be a step ahead of you, sir.”
And for once Jim didn’t have a smart-ass response, so he just said, “She does.”
“I’ll walk you back, sir,” Thomas said.
“You really don’t have to. I can carry my own ice bucket,” Jim tried.
As expected, Thomas wouldn’t take hisno. “I’m going that way.” He started out the door before Jim could tell him that he needed to talk to Dunk.
But it was Lucky who spoke first. “Oh, hey, Space,” he said. “Your team’s at the paintball field in the A.M., right? And you’ve got the O-course after lunch, before our two teams meet for a late session paintball game…?”
Dunk had posted the schedule on a white board that was hanging right there on the wall, so Jim’s response was unnecessary. Instead, he simply waited.
“I’m trying to change Team Three’s schedule for the morning,” Lucky continued. “And I thought I had it worked out with Rio and Team Two, but it’ll only work if you guys—Team One—flip your first two sessions to O in the A.M., and paintball instruction after lunch. You mind if we…?”
“Hell, yeah, I mind,” Jim said. “My TL earned herself the easier morning.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, you’re right, she did.” The blond-haired SEAL immediately backed down.
Rio, however, spoke up, telling Jim, “Syd sent him aWe need to talkemail, but her only free time tomorrow is at eleven-hundred, pacific time, which is fourteen-hundred here, and cell signal up at the range is for shit. That’s where Lucky’s currently slotted. So if you flipyourtimes, and I flipmytimes, then he can be at the O-course in the afternoon, where the cell signal is great.”
Despite never having been being married, Jim knew that a formal request for serious conversation from one’s wife was never good. He looked from Rio to Lucky, who was shaking his head.
“It’s really not as dire as it sounds,” Lucky said. “We’re good. We’rereallygood. But Syd’s at this writer’s conference—that’s why her schedule’s so tight—and I’m guessing she’s been offered another ghost-writing assignment that’ll require some insane amount of travel for some ridiculously tiny amount of pay.”
Thomas came more completely back into the room. “She can’t talk right now, sir? It’s notthatlate in California.”
