“Your girlfriend is hot—those long legs—must be pretty good.” Harrison walks by with a load of gear. I’m cleaning up the Humvee. Moving as fast as I can so I can get on the road to Jess’ house.
I don’t look up, but my grip on the hose tightens. Listening to those guys on the way back to base was about all I could stand. I keep wondering if I ever sounded like that. They weren’t stupid enough totalk about Jess and Jaz that way in front of me. One guy asked me for Jaz’s phone number. I’m not giving it to him.
“So is she?” Harrison stops in front of me so I can’t ignore him.
I don’t answer.
“Must be pretty good for you to drive 300 miles just to be with her.”
I set the hose down and turn it off—slowly.
“C’mon, Ricks,” he starts again. “You never give details. You have to give us something. Help out guys like Vincent over there who are going through a dry spell.”
Bryan glances up from the forms he’s filling out. “Shut up, Harrison. You’ve got work to do so we can all get out of here.”
“Yeah, right, I got it.” He walks a couple of steps and turns around to face me. “You ever get tired of her, send her my way.”
I don’t even realize I’ve moved until I feel his nose explode against my fist. When I pull back, my hand is wet with his blood. I’m ready to throw another one, but two guys have me from behind. Harrison lands one punch on my jaw. Another couple of guys pull him back.
“Cool down, Ricks.” Bryan is holding onto me. “Stop struggling. We aren’t going to let you hit him again. I don’t think you want to spend tonight answering to the MPs.”
He releases his hold on me. “Harrison, go get yourself checked out and cleaned up. You might want to start with your mouth.”
“This isn’t over,” Harrison mutters when they let him go, blood dripping between his fingers as he holds his hand against his nose.
“Yes, it is,” Bryan says. “For both of you. I don’t want to get anyone else involved in this, but I will if I have to.” He moves away from the group. “Sergeant Ricks, you’re with me.” Bryan only uses my rank in official circumstances. He must be pretty mad. “The rest of you finish up here.”
As soon as we're out of earshot, he says, “Listen, Jake, I’m not saying that he didn’t deserve that, or that I wouldn’t have done the same thing, but you have to keep things clean right now. You’re going before the promotion board in a couple of weeks, and from what I’ve seen, you’re going to need that pay advancement.”
I stop walking and turn to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Looks to me like you’re in love.” He cracks a smile. “If I were you, I wouldn’t wait much longer.”
“Much longer for what?”
“Do the math. We’ve been here almost four years. We’re not going to be at Fort Lewis forever. My guess is you don’t want to leave here without her.”
sixty-six
Frankie
She’s been a good sport about this. Bought pizza for us and brought it out to the shed. Stuck around even though I know this is boring for her. It’s nearly midnight. Way past her nine o’clock “Jake is mine” curfew, and she’s going back to school tomorrow.
She brought a blanket and a beanbag chair from the house. She’s been curled up on the floor, reading. Now it looks like she’s fallen asleep. I watch her breathing; it makes me want to curl up beside her, wrap my body around hers, kiss her awake.
Tyler’s voice shatters my thoughts. “I need you to hold this while I bolt it in place.”
I lean over to help him.
“We’ve almost got it. I can feel it. Frankenstein is about to rise.”
“Frankenstein?”
“Or Frankie. The Nag doesn’t seem to fit anymore. We built this thing from dead car parts, so I think that works. I’m thinking about painting it green. Not lime green like yours, but a dark metallic green.”
“You’re getting way ahead of yourself.” I shake my head. “It has to run first.”
“It’ll run.” He finishes tightening the bolt. “In fact…” He steps back and slams the hood shut.
