She inserted herself back into the conversation. “Forest doesn’tshitpeople, Lyons. I guess if you want an impromptu jam session with the band”—she waggled her fingers in Forest’s direction—“you’ve got insider access.”
“Shit, T,” Lyons exclaimed. “You have no idea what this means.”
She loved how the deep green of his eyes lit with excitement. Lyons cut it up with the other men on the team, trading jokes and insults, but he was seldom filled with honest joy. The way his entire demeanor changed had her seeing him as something other than a man she worked with.
“What do you do for fun around here?” Forest asked. “How about you show me what you have?”
“Forest,” Tia said, “we’re not assigned to Bagram. We brought wounded in and are headed back to…well, places we can’t talk about. Lyons doesn’t carry a guitar in his ruck. It’s not like he can break out in a jam session.”
“Oh,” Forest said with a rumble. “Sorry, I just assumed.”
Warren, who’d been silent during the majority of the conversation, chimed in. “Oh, I’m sure someone here has a guitar. Give me ten minutes, and I bet we can figure something out.” He shut the lid to the laptop and stood. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back.”
Forest tracked Warren’s exit from the chow hall. “I’m guessing you don’t carry laptops with your gear either?”
“No,” she said with a soft laugh. “Warren’s resourceful.”
“Like Radar.”
“Radar?”
“You know, from the TV showM.A.S.H.? The guy who was always able to get his hands on whatever was needed.”
Lyons slapped the tabletop. “Shit! Warren is Radar! Never occurred to me before now.”
Forest’s lips lifted up into a smirk. “You up for this?”
“Fuck yeah,” Lyons said.
“Cool. I need to find my escorts and see what we can do.” He stood and straightened to his full height. “Tia, you wanna come with?”
No question about it, she wanted to spend more time with Forest, but her gaze cut to the laptop Warren had left behind.
“Can you give me a few?” She popped open the lid to the computer and brushed her fingers across the keys. “I want to make a call.”
“To your fiancé?” Forest asked. “Any chance for an introduction?”
“I haven’t talked to him in months. Email is spotty. This is the first chance I’ve had to Skype him this deployment. How about next time?”
Forest stared out over the lunch crowd. “And you think the middle of a crowded chow hall is the best place to do that?”
“It’s as good as any.”
Warren had picked this spot for a reason. Tucked into a far corner, her back was to the wall. No one could see the screen unless they were sitting beside her, and the volume of the place was sufficiently loud that her conversation wouldn’t be heard. It was perfect.
She picked up the earbuds Warren had been using and tucked one into her ear. “Go find your colonel. Come back and get me in…half an hour?”
He gave a nod. “Will do.” Turning to Lyons, he asked, “You wanna come, lover boy?”
She about gagged when he used that word, but Lyons unfolded his muscular frame and stood. “You gonna be okay, T?”
“I’ve got this,” she said. Although she hadn’t used Skype before, the controls appeared easy enough to figure out, and she knew Scott’s number by heart.
Lyons’s lips thinned into a hard line. “I’ll be back,” he said.
She ushered them off with a wave of her hand. A crowded mess hall was the perfect place to say a quick hello to Scott but only if Lyons wasn’t hovering over her shoulder.
“Go, guys. I’m good.”
