Jayne sipped her coffee and grimaced while
her
sister, Marti,
laughed. Jayne ought to apologize, but
the burnt coffee
smell—accompanied by the charred
scent of over-baked
gingerbread cookies—was horrid
enough to make
anyone’s taste buds forget that
Christmas was right
around the corner. Marti couldn’t
boil water, let alone brew a decent cup of
coffee.
I should talk.
Since Johnny’s death, Jayne barely cooked.
Her
kids ate well, but
she rarely found the strength to
visit the
supermarket or cook a wholesome dinner. A
deep weariness had
replaced the bouts of depression
that tainted her
bereavement.
Not much of an improvement, she thought.
“Sorry. I appreciate the effort.”
“Just wanted to impress you with my newfound
culinary skills.”
Marti smiled at her joke. She ran long
fingers through her
short, dark red hair. Her digital
camouflage ACU did
little to enhance her skin tone,
or her figure. The
bulging pockets of her trousers and
the washed-out
green-gray of the weather resistant
fabric detracted
from Marti’s pale skin. Only the tiny
freckles that
peppered her petite nose heralded their
Scottish ancestry.
“Don’t worry, sis,” she went on. “Our local
commissary has
everything we need for a great
holiday dinner.”
They both laughed.
Marti pulled open a cupboard door and
grabbed a
large jar filled
with a candle. After she lit it, she
placed it between
them on the table. The scent of
pumpkins and
cinnamon wafted up, obliterating the
evidence of her
attempt to cook.
“Jayne, I’m glad you came for the holiday.
We’ll
have fun at my good
friend’s wedding on Christmas
Eve.”
“God. Christmas will be here before we know
it.”
“Your nephew and I feel more alone during
this
holiday than any
other time of year. Can’t I talk you
into moving in?
Permanently?”
“I do miss living on an army base, but
Johnny’s
gone and—”
“Sorry. I forgot. However, things change,
sis. You
finally graduated
nursing school. No more nights and
weekends filled with
homework and studying. Maybe
you’ll meet another
great guy. Think about it?”
Jayne sighed. She’d love to get back into
army
life. When her
less-than-stellar marriage faltered
after the birth of
their second daughter, she and
Johnny received a
needed break when he deployed
overseas. The kids
missed their dad, but thrived
under her care. The
stress-free home life was like a
breath of fresh air.
With no one breathing down her
neck to get dinner
on the table, ordering her to run
errands, or treating
her like a thorn in his side, things
had started to look
up.
Then her world imploded the morning two officers
knocked on her door.
Since losing Johnny, she
and the girls had
lived through two years of hell;
leaving the base,
finding a new home, hiring sitters,
and completing her
degree in nursing. Worse, the
man she truly loved
remained a distant memory. A
memory she had never found a way to shake.
Staff Sergeant Christopher Hawkins marched
alongside his
platoon. Along with two other drill
sergeants, their AIT
soldiers finished lunch in record
time. This group had
survived basic combat training
and now neared the
end of their advanced individual
training. Chris
looked forward to filling their heads
with intense
survival instruction before sending them
off into the world
with their new skills.
Glancing up, clear blue sky filled his
vision. Diesel
exhaust mixed with
pine scent from the North
Carolina forest
surrounding the army base. He swore
he smelled the tang
of the sea, though it was over
one hundred miles to
the east.
Several of the men chuckled as they marched.
The
frigid weather under
clear skies had put everyone
in a good mood. Too
good. Perhaps a ten-mile hike
would give them all
a good night’s sleep.
Nowadays, sleep came hard to Chris.
Nightmares
filled with gunfire
and blood had gotten to be a habit.
He’d awaken covered
in sweat with a curse on his
lips. This proved
tiresome. With Afghanistan a recent
memory, he woke
today determined to enjoy a march
on paved roads under
an American sky. No guns, no
blood, no bodies
laying dead and dismembered in the
sand.
“Wake up, fool. You’re safe,” he mumbled.
“What’s that, Sarge?” his second-in-command
asked.
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud. Quiet
today. No
traffic.”
“Why drive when you can march? The sun is
real
bright.” Chris’s
sergeant closed his eyes, leaned his
head back, and
smiled. “I could get used to this.”
“Open those eyes. You’re on traffic detail.
Can’t
have my boys run
down.”
“Yes, Sarge.” Tipping his cap, he swung his
M-
16A2 rifle off his
shoulder, and trotted into the next
road. The platoon
marched in place until waved by.
Several clapped
their hands together for warmth as
their hazy breaths
danced in the chilly breeze. Noses,
on several of the
men, had grown rosy from the cold.
Chris sighed.
Training soldiers on a secure army
base was easy and
safe.
And boring.
If I had bothered to get me a wife and a
couple
of kids, I’d have
something to look forward to each
day, he thought as he
caught up, and then trotted to
the front of the
platoon. An image sprang up, clear as
day.
Jayne.
UNWRAPPING CHRIS, by Nancy Lee Badger, was released by Whispers Publishing and is a contemporary military romance. Ring in the holidays with excitement and spice!
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