Chapter 14
The humid heat of North Carolina hit Damon like a brick wall as he stepped out of the airport to catch the bus that would take him to base.
It's September, why is it still so blasted hot?
Washington was hot, but not this hot. Humid heat was more oppressive than dry heat.
Damon knew he should enjoy the ninety-degree temperature, because in seventy-two hours, he'd be in Kuwait complaining about the dry-your-mouth-out heat.
As soon as he was seated on the bus, he pulled his phone from his pocket. He'd drafted several texts to Grace between cat naps on his flight, but he'd deleted them all, because he sounded like a sappy, lovesick teenager in each of them.
Just because he felt like one, didn't mean he needed to act like it.
Damon: I finally made it to N.C. I didn't sleep much on the flight, because I couldn't stop thinking about you.
Nope. Too sappy.
He deleted that last sentence and tried again.
Damon: I enjoyed spending the day with you yesterday. I hope you were able to finally get some rest.
He paused for a moment then added: Miss you already.
Instead of waiting for Grace to respond, he opened his email. There were several things he needed to take care of before deploying and he had ignored them to spend time with Grace.
Walking onto base after Block Leave always felt a little like coming home. Home away from home, at least. Not anymore. Home was with Grace.
The Army had been his life for the past twelve years, but now, it felt like a job. An obligation he needed to fill until it was time to go home again.
Grace said she'd never ask him to leave the Army, but just like the thought of being with Grace felt right, ending his military career felt right too. He wasn’t getting any younger. Besides, the last thing he wanted was to have his luck run out, like Charlotte.
Good thing I have six months to figure out what to do next.
The cool air inside the barracks was welcoming but it was tainted with the smell of Chevy's stinky boots. The stench always seemed to hang in the air, even when Chevy and his boots weren't in the barracks.
"Yo, Lancelot," Flores closed his trunk and straightened. "You just getting back too?"
"Unfortunately." Damon dropped his bag on his bunk that looked exactly like he left it two weeks ago. It felt surreal. He'd changed over the last two weeks. Drastically. But he was expected to slip back into his old life like his world hadn't been turned upside down.
"Gets harder to come back each time, doesn't it?"
"Tell me about it."
His eyes caught on Charlotte's bunk that had remained empty for the past year, since Webb got sidelined by the IED. Something had changed there. Photographs covered the front of the small closet to the right of the bed.
"Did they bring in someone to replace Charlotte?"
"Yeah, Romeo texted me about it the other day. Second Lieutenant Dax Durrant, goes by nickname Doc D."
Damon snorted as he opened his duffel bag. "Sounds like a movie star."
"Looks like one too, or so I hear." Flores shook his head in disgust. "And get this. He's a medic, which means he's got the looks and the brains. Some guys have all the luck."
"Come on, Flowers, you're the best looking one in the unit, everybody knows that."
He was certainly the best smelling one.
"Not hardly." It was Flores' turn to snort. "You and Romeo are the ones that always turn the ladies' heads."
"You don't need to worry about turning heads, you've already turned Rachel's."
"Not anymore."
"What?" Damon dropped onto his bunk and stared at Flores two beds away. "You guys have been together for almost three years."
"She said she couldn't do another deployment, especially over the holidays."
Damon was trying not to think about being gone for the holidays.
Flores wasn't the first buddy to be dumped before deployment and probably wouldn't be the last. Some women loved dating soldiers, but when they were facing months of being alone, many of them decided they wanted a different kind of stability.
"I'm sorry, man."
"Thanks." Flores eyed him. "Guess you're the smart one for staying unattached. Can't get your heart broken if you never give it away, right?"
Damon wasn't sure how to respond to that, because he'd given his heart away to Grace. She had the power to break it if she wanted to. But he had to believe she wouldn't.
Giving a stiff nod and a tight smile, he rose and opened his closet, intent on unpacking. An avalanche of packing peanuts spilled out. Damon jumped then stepped back and swore.
"I'm going to kill Howie one of these days."
Flowers was beside him in a heartbeat. "I think he missed us. I found my footlocker full of confetti."
They discussed ways to get back at Howie as they cleaned up the mess.
The last thing they needed was a surprise inspection.
Howie was careful though. He always kept a lock on his closet and boot box.
They did too, but Howie knew how to pick a lock.
At least the prankster didn't get the satisfaction of witnessing Damon's reaction.
After they threw the last two garbage bags into the dumpster, Flores pointed at Damon's head. "You going to get a haircut before your leave runs out?"
Damon raked his fingers through his hair that almost reached his collar. He'd planned to do that before leaving Washington, but spending time with Grace had taken precedence.
"I'd better before Captain Kerns sees me, huh?" He returned to the barracks to finish putting his clothes away then wandered down to the Barber Shop near the Base Exchange.
His mind bounced back and forth between Grace and Flores' broken heart while he waited for his turn to get buzzed. He thought Flores and Rachel were a sure thing, just like he thought he and Grace were a sure thing. But Grace was right; it had all happened so fast.
Will she change her mind? And what is she keeping from me?
He still had no clue why she shut down yesterday at the lake. Even though he spent almost every day of the last two weeks with her, there were still things he didn't know about her. If three years wasn't long enough to truly get to know someone, then two weeks definitely weren't.
Stop it.
He shook his head to clear the doubt as his name was called. It wouldn't be easy, but he and Grace would be fine. They had the rest of their lives to get to know each other.
He tried not to think about how much he loved having Grace play with the hair at the nape of his neck as it fell to the floor. His phone vibrated with what he hoped was a text from Grace, distracting him. He pulled it from his pocket the moment he stepped outside.
Grace: I didn't wake up until noon. Lol.
I slept right through church services. I felt bad for sleeping so late, thinking my mom might have needed me, but she was still asleep too.
I managed to get her to eat a few bites of toast and a few swallows of tea, but then she insisted on going back to bed.
Damon's stomach clenched. That didn’t sound like the Marisol he knew.
Damon: Sounds like it's going to take her a while to bounce back.
Grace: I just hope she recovers.
Damon: Me too.
They texted a bit more, then Damon asked if he could call her.
Grace: Call me tonight. Your Aunt Faith invited me over for lunch, and I'm having dinner with your family this evening. I'm going to put on weight if they keep this up.
Damon thought of Grace's figure. A few pounds wouldn't hurt her. They would just add to her already alluring curves.
Oh boy, do I have it bad.
He sent her a thumbs up and attempted to push her from his mind as he talked with his buddies who returned to the barracks one by one. The same old camaraderie was there but it felt different to Damon. He felt different.
He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to be with Grace.
Hours later, they were taking a water break after playing soccer on the quad when Romero picked up Damon's phone off the bench. "Yo Lancelot.” He tossed it to Damon. “Someone named Grace is calling you."
"Who's Grace?" Howie and Chevy asked in unison.
"No one." A surge of regret hit him as soon as the words left his mouth.
Grace was not no one. She was everything.
"I'm out guys. You'll have to play without me." He headed to the shade of a nearby tree.
"You can't leave us now," Chevy said in a whiny voice. "We were about to win."
Damon waved a hand as he continued to walk away. He was aware of the glances and stares aimed his way as he talked to Grace. They didn't discuss anything of great importance, but just hearing her voice soothed the unrest inside of him.
It was growing dark by the time he ended the call and entered the barracks. Most of the guys lounged on their bunks, some half clothed, others dressed for bed.
Howie jumped to his feet. "So, who's Grace?"
Damon clenched his jaw and drew in a deep breath. "She's...my cousin's new sister-in-law."
"Judging by the smile she put on your face and the way you hid yourself away to talk to her, I'd say she's a lot more than that." Howie's brows lifted as he smirked.
"She...we became good friends."
"Looks like Lancelot broke his own rule about leaving a girl behind. Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Howie made a crude gesture. "Sounds like he got lucky with his cousin's new sister-in-law."
A series of chuckles rippled through the room.
"Knock it off." Damon pushed past Howie and headed to his bunk.
"So do we get to see what this Grace looks like?" Romeo was off his bunk now, blocking Damon's path.
Damon's shoulders sagged. He knew this would happen. He just didn't think he'd have to deal with it so soon.
He pulled his phone out and sent the picture of him and Grace in the elevator to Howie. He'd keep the other pictures with better lighting, including the ones at the wedding, to himself. "That's Grace. The stranger I kissed in the elevator." He dropped his phone back into his pocket.
Howie let out a whistle as he studied his phone. "She's a hottie. But you were supposed to kiss a stranger, not your cousin's new whatever."
Irritation made Damon's shoulders hike up.
"She was a stranger when I kissed her. I wasn't introduced to her until the next day."
Romeo pressed his shoulder against Howie's to get a good look at Grace. "Oh yeah, I'd kiss her in a heartbeat."
"I'd do a lot more than that with a babe like her." Howie's grin turned to a leer as he continued to study Grace's picture on his phone.
And that's why Damon didn't want the guys to know about Grace. He closed the distance between him and Howie in two long strides. Grabbing the front of his shirt, he shoved him against the wall.
"If you ever talk about Grace like that again, I will break your nose, do you hear me?"
King and MacDonald were on him in an instant, pulling him off Howie.
Damon's eyes never left Howie's face that had turned beet red as he let the others drag him backward.
McDonald stepped into his line of sight. "Go take a shower and cool off, man."
"Yeah." He shot another scowl at Howie before grabbing his Dopp kit and walking out of the room.
Before the door closed behind him, he heard King turn on Howie. "When are you going to grow up?"
"How's your mom doing?" Damon watched Grace's face on his phone to see how she was coping with what her mom was going through.
"Not great." A frown marred her features. "She got out of bed and visited with your mom for a few minutes yesterday, but then she went right back to bed."
"Did she eat anything?"
"Very little."
They continued to talk about Grace's job and his family while he waited for his CO’s order to load up. The knowledge that he'd soon get on a plane and fly almost ten thousand miles away from Grace constricted his chest to the point he could hardly breathe.
Desperation filled him as the first of the soldiers walked onto the plane. "Promise me you won't fall in love with someone else while I'm gone."
She laughed. "For an Army Ranger, you have low self-esteem."
"My self-esteem is fine. I just don't want some guy to turn your head and make you fall for him."
"Like whom?" Grace's giggle made his heart skip a few beats. "There aren't exactly a lot of single men around here."
"Zack Hastings is recently divorced and on the prowl, from what I hear."
"On the prowl?" Grace quirked a brow at her phone. "Who is Zack Hastings?"
"A total womanizer. He was an all-star forward in basketball in high school. Paige had a crush on him."
"All-star, huh?" Grace's expression brightened and she suddenly looked interested. "What did you say his name was again?"
"Knock it off." A little growl erupted from Damon's throat. "This is why I've never dated seriously. The thought of leaving you alone and flying to the other side of the world is driving me crazy."
"I'm not alone. And don't worry, I'm not interested in dating anyone else." Then a teasing glint filled her eyes. "Although some guy named Travis Brooks hit on me at the grocery store yesterday. Do you know him?"
"Stay away from him." Damon's gut clenched at the mention of Travis Brooks.
"He offered to take me on a hayride."
Damon snorted. "Don't you dare go on a hayride with Brooks."
"But it sounds fun."
"Travis' idea of a hayride doesn't have anything to do with a wagon and horses."
Her brows dipped, her face growing serious. "What do you mean?"
"Trust me, the only thing Brooks wants to do with hay is...roll in it...with you."
"You mean—" Now her brows jumped to her hairline as her jaw dropped.
"Trust me, he's not talking about the kind of ride you're thinking of." He went on when a pink tinge colored her cheeks. "Travis has a drinking problem. He tried to break into a woman's apartment last year."
"Seriously?" Her eyes widened as she gasped.
"My friend Rudy at the Sheriff's Office caught him before he could hurt her, but not before he managed to break down her door."
"She must have been terrified."
He stared intently into his phone. "Please be careful around him."
"I will."
"And call Robert if he bothers you at all."
"I will." She grinned, making his heart beat a little harder in his chest. "You have nothing to worry about, believe me. Between work and taking care of my mom, I don't have time for a social life. And even if I did, it's too late. My heart belongs to someone else."
She hadn’t said the words he wanted to hear, but Damon hoped she was right. He couldn’t focus on his work if he was worried about her dumping him. And that could be dangerous.