He didn’t turn back. “I don’t know why I thought you’d be different.”
Thirteen
before
Shiloh hadn’t answered the phone when he called from San Diego, and there wasn’t really time to send her a letter. Cary had to be in Orlando in four days. If he was going to trade in his plane ticket, he had to do it now.
He did it.
He’d stop in Des Moines. And if Shiloh could see him, she’d see him—and if she couldn’t, or if she didn’t want to, or if he chickened out when she answered the phone, he’d take the bus to Omaha. His mom would be glad to see him. His stepdad wouldn’t be, but he’d live. They’d all live.
“Hello?” It was her.
“Shiloh?” He sounded too eager. He cleared his throat.
“Yeah?”
“It’s Cary.”
“Cary!” Shiloh sounded happy. Really happy. “Hi! I thought it might be you, but I wasn’t sure. It’s been— You haven’t called.”
“I couldn’t call from boot camp.”
“I got your postcards,” she said.
“I got yours. Your letters.”
Shiloh had been one of the only people to write to him in boot camp. He knew she liked sending mail. She used to send him postcards sometimes even when they’d only lived a few blocks apart.
“It’s good to hear your voice,” she said. “How are you? Are you done now? Are you a full-fledged soldier?”
“Sailor. And no. Yes and no. I’ve still got training. ‘A’ School in a few days. But I’m done with boot camp. I graduated.”
“You graduated? Do some people not graduate?”
“Yeah... some. It’s kinda intense.”
“Intensehow?”
Cary didn’t want to talk about how hard it was. Not at the moment. Standing at a pay phone. “Hey,” he said. “I was thinking—maybe I could stop and see you on my way to training?”
“Yeah... that’d be cool. Am I on the way?”
“It’s San Diego to Orlando. Everything’s on the way.”
Shiloh laughed. Cary’s neck went soft. He rested his head against the top of the pay phone.
“When are you coming?” she asked.
“I was thinking... today?”
“Today?”She sounded surprised. Not necessarily in a good way.
“I didn’t get much warning before I left—I tried to call a few times from San Diego. You don’t have an answering machine.”
“I know,” Shiloh said. “Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I mean, it’s okay if this doesn’t work out.” It had always been a long shot. “I’ll go home. It’s a short bus trip.”
