Chapter Nine #2
“Iraq.” His eyes took on a faraway look.
“My unit, we’d been away from base for a few weeks, trying to track a group of insurgents.
Word had come through that they’d been seen in a small village in the Diyala province.
When we got there, they knew they were cornered.
” His mouth twisted, his expression bitter.
“They knew their only chance to evade us was to provide some sort of distraction. They set fire to the houses. Most of them contained women and children. What were we meant to do?”
Even though I knew it was a rhetorical question, I shook my head. Justin seemed so lost in his own thoughts I doubted he even noticed.
“We got as many out as we could. Some, we just couldn’t…
” He paused to take a huge gulp of water.
“The houses farthest away, the ones they’d set fire to first, there was no way in.
I don’t know what was worse, the sound of the screams, or when the screams stopped, and we knew they were…
” His eyes focused back on mine. “I’m sorry.
You probably don’t want all the gory details.
I don’t normally feel the need to overshare this much, especially on a first date. ”
I reached across, laying my hand over his, wanting to comfort him in some way. “It’s fine. I asked. I didn’t expect it to be a happy story.”
He stared down at our two hands for the longest time.
I almost expected him to snatch it away, but he left it there.
He took a shaky inhale of breath. “We’d managed to pull a few people out.
I could hear a child’s voice. It was really faint, but I could hear it.
They were shouting ‘Alikari! Alikari!’—that’s Kurdish for help.
I didn’t pick up much of the language, but even I knew that.
I could barely see inside the house. There was so much smoke, I just followed the sound of the voice.
I almost stumbled over him, this small skinny boy.
He was so scared. I picked him up. Tried to remember the way back.
We almost got out of there. But then there was this almighty groaning sound.
” His hand trembled underneath mine, and I tightened my hold.
“I thought it was thunder. I remember thinking no one had forecast a storm, being angry at command because they were meant to tell us about shit like that.” He smiled, but it lacked humor.
“It wasn’t thunder. The whole house came down.
It was the last thing I remembered. Guess I was lucky to a degree that I got knocked out.
When I regained consciousness, I was in hospital with a head injury and severe burns.
They told me how lucky I was. The sergeant had seen me go in there, had seen the house collapse.
I was close enough to the entrance that he’d been able to find me and drag me out. I didn’t feel lucky.”
“What about the boy?”
His smile that time was genuine. “When I fell, I’d apparently fallen on top of him. My body sheltered him from most of the flames. He had one small burn on his left leg, but apart from that, and apart from needing treatment for smoke inhalation, he was apparently fine.”
“Apparently? You never saw him…after?”
“No. They flew me straight back here for treatment. I was in hospital for months. Then I had two years of constant out-patient visits.”
My eyes travelled over the scarring on the left side of his face, to where it disappeared below the collar of his shirt. “Is it just…your face. Or is it, you know…more?”
He gazed at me steadily, clearly debating how much more to say.
He looked away, his gaze fixed on a point over the other side of the restaurant.
“It’s the whole left side of my body, from face to ankle.
” He pulled his hand out from where it still rested beneath mine, waggling his fingers “This is the only part of that side of my body which wasn’t burnt.
The doctors think it was trapped underneath me.
But, hey…I’m alive. I’ll admit that at some points during all the skin grafts, I almost wished I wasn’t. ”
There was a long silence while I tried to contemplate the right thing to say. I missed the warmth of his hand, but he’d tucked both under the table, out of reach. I stared at the table, my fingers absently playing with the edge of a fork.
“Are you planning your escape?”
I jerked my head up. “No. Of course not. I just don’t know what to say.” I tried for a bit of levity. “I’ve never had dinner with a hero before.”
He snorted. “I’m hardly that.”
I frowned. “Of course, you are. You saved the boy’s life. Not to mention the other people you pulled out.”
He grimaced. “Unfortunately, not how our commanding officers viewed it. More like we failed to do our job by letting the insurgents go. Luckily, my forced medical retirement meant I didn’t have to face the flak, unlike the rest of my squadron.”
“God…that’s—” I was saved from having to find a suitable response which adequately empathized with the sheer injustice of the situation he’d faced by the timely arrival of the waiter with our food.
When he left the table, we both seemed content to switch to far safer subjects.
I was deep into detailing a number of failed acting auditions, managing to make some of them sound far more comical than they’d actually been, when I saw his eyes flick to my wrist. His eyes widened momentarily before quickly looking away.
I glanced down. My jacket sleeve had ridden up, revealing the angry-looking red welt left by a certain pair of handcuffs.
It figured that having spent a week managing to successfully hide them at work, as well as from my brother and Georgia, they had to be seen at the most inopportune time.
I smoothed my sleeve back down, casting about wildly for a suitable explanation.
There was no way he would be able to tell what had caused it.
I just needed to think of something plausible that could cause an injury like that, something that wasn’t handcuffs.
Thank God, he hadn’t seen that the right wrist contained a matching mark. “It’s—”
Justin held his hand up. “You don’t need to explain anything to me.” He sat back in his chair. “So, that’s why you wait tables then? To make money between acting jobs?”
I nodded, confused at Justin letting me off the hook so easily. “Yeah. The acting jobs have been few and far between, unfortunately. I did film a drama though! It’s going to be on TV at some point over the next year.”
Justin smiled at my enthusiasm. “You’ll have to let me know when. I’d love to watch it. I can tell everyone I know you.”
Meal finished, the waiter deposited the bill on the table. I took a quick glance. More expensive than I’d have liked, but I had enough money…just. It was a shame the evening was coming to an end. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so at ease with a near stranger.
Justin already had his wallet in his hand. “I’ll pay.”
I shook my head vehemently. “No. We’ll split it. And there’s no point in you arguing. I’m not going to change my mind.”
He conceded defeat graciously, placing enough notes on the table to cover the cost of his half of the meal.
I opened my own wallet to find an empty notes compartment.
There should have been money in there. A sudden recollection came to me.
I’d needed petrol that afternoon. I’d used the money to pay for it.
I’d turned up to a date without any money.
I had a debit card, but I was already overdrawn.
Any money I made seemed to be immediately swallowed up by rent, bills or unexpected costs like having to replace the damn washing machine or issues with my car.
If I tried to pay with my debit card, it would probably be refused.
Mortified, I continued to stare at my wallet, rapidly running through possible solutions.
I could ring Georgia, but even if she did have money, she could hardly get to the restaurant in the next five minutes.
My brother would be a safer bet, but then again it would take too long.
“Is everything okay?”
I steeled myself to lift my head and face him. When I did, I was met with a look of concern. For some reason that just made it worse. “Erm…I thought…that is…erm…I had money in there this afternoon…and I forgot that I got petrol. I can’t—”
Seeing my discomfort, Justin interjected quickly.
“Hey. No problem. I wanted to pay anyway, remember.” He added more notes to the pile in the middle of the table before quickly changing the subject.
I was left with a strange mixture of gratefulness and embarrassment.
I was beginning to wonder whether this date had been an absolute nightmare or a roaring success.