The Troll Bridge #5
“Just drop your bag inside.” He opened the door for her. “We don’t have time to go in.”
Lia did what he said. Troll closed the door again, took her hand, and hurried them off. “You really are hungry,” she said.
“I missed breakfast helping the Z Man put together a trike for his kid. Who knew it would be that hard and take that many hours?”
“The Z Man?” She was slightly out of breath from trying to keep up with his long strides, but she didn’t ask him to slow.
“One of my buddies.” They reached another metal building and Troll pulled the door open. “Made it.” His smile gave way to a soft groan. “A long line this late isn’t a good sign,” he explained when she looked at him.
They stood in it anyway. He asked the group in front of them if they knew what was going on, but they didn’t.
A few minutes later, Troll spotted someone.
“Sasha,” he called. A pretty blonde woman came over holding a tray and Lia felt her heart jam in her throat when Troll leaned over to kiss her cheek.
“The team’s back?” Sasha asked and she sounded hopeful.
Troll shook his head. “No, I was pulled for another assignment. Sorry. What’s going on with the line?”
“All the ovens, stoves, and anything else that could heat food crashed. Another of the infamous J. Nine tech glitches. It’s a chicken sandwich or nothing.” She nodded towards her plate and then looked at Lia. “Hi, I’m Sasha Cantore and you’re . . .?”
“Lia Stanton,” she said, but her voice was choked.
“Troll, you get Lia’s lunch,” Sasha told him. “She can wait at a table with me while you stand in line.”
“I’ll stay here,” Lia said.
“Go ahead. Sash will take good care of you and it’ll give you a chance to meet the team wives. Y’all are together, right?”
Sasha shook her head and said dryly, “No, I had a session that ran over schedule. Since we don’t travel in packs like the team husbands do, I can only guess that the other team wives have already eaten and are either working or with the team children.”
“Smart ass,” he said amiably. “Sasha is married to Flare, the team’s warrant officer. She’s also a shrink, so be careful what you say.”
Relief washed through her, but Lia refused to consider why it made her feel better to know this woman was tied to Troll’s friend and not someone he’d had a romantic relationship with.
His warning registered a moment later – she’s a psychologist, so don’t mention time travel.
“Got it,” she assured him. Sasha started to walk away, but Lia hesitated. “You trust me not to run off?”
“I trust you, period, Lia.” He gently tugged the ends of her hair. “And there’s no point in both of us waiting when you don’t have to decide what you want for lunch, right?”
“I suppose,” she said reluctantly and went over to where Sasha stood. As soon as Lia got there, the blonde turned and headed deeper into the mess hall.
“So you’re Troll’s woman,” she said as she wound her way through the tables.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I would,” Sasha disagreed. “Troll letting you come with me is almost as good as him bringing you home to meet his family and about as close as he can get to that on Jarved Nine.”
Lia shook her head. “We just met.”
“It happens that way sometimes. I knew the first instant I saw Flare that he was going to be important to me. We hit a few obstacles along the way, but we’re together twenty years later.” Before Lia could comment, Sasha said, “There’s an open table.”
The doctor waited until they were seated to begin quizzing her, but it was done with such good-natured interest that Lia found herself sharing more than she intended.
The colonel-from-hell could learn a thing or two from this woman, she decided, but she liked her.
Some of Lia’s answers were odd, she knew it from the confusion she’d see cross Sasha’s face from time to time, but the psychologist didn’t look at her like she was off-centre and she liked the easy acceptance.
What was taking Troll so long? Lia swivelled in her seat and studied the line until she spotted him. He’d nearly made it to the food. She turned back in time to see Sasha’s smile. “It doesn’t mean anything,” Lia blurted.
“No? I don’t think you realize how many times you’ve glanced over to check where Troll is, or how your tension level has risen the longer you’ve been separated from him. Like it or not, you’ve developed a bond with him.”
Lia opened her mouth to explain again that she’d just met the man, but it had gotten her nowhere with Sasha earlier and Lia doubted repeating it would make any difference. The doctor had her mind made up. With a silent sigh, Lia let it go. What did it matter anyway?
She didn’t believe in love at first sight, and no matter what this woman thought, Lia hadn’t fallen for a blue-eyed stranger with a sexy smile. Destiny be damned.
Troll held Lia’s hand again as they meandered slowly through the city.
Dusk was settling, but it wasn’t dark enough yet for the lights to come on.
He felt a pang of guilt over having fun today while his team was searching for a spaceship that didn’t exist, but it wasn’t like he could tell the Colonel anything, not without getting into explanations he’d rather not make about things Sullivan would never believe.
The drawing of Lia was tucked safely inside his wallet, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
From the moment Gram had given it to him, Troll had known this day would come.
No psychic was ever accurate all the time – free will caused things to change frequently – but it hadn’t mattered. He’d simply known.
Maybe that was why he’d played so free and loose with women when he’d been younger. No point getting attached to one when Lia would arrive someday.
Despite this, he’d still needed a good ten minutes after seeing her this afternoon to corral the fear. He’d walked away from the infirmary and paced until his hands had stopped shaking and his breathing had slowed to normal.
Free will. He had it, too. Just because Gram had said the woman in the drawing was The One, it didn’t mean he had to go along with that.
If he wanted, he could do his job and walk away at the end of it without a problem.
Troll had long ago mastered the art of remaining disengaged on any meaningful level.
And then he’d touched Lia’s hand.
As easily as that, the apprehension had evaporated as if it had never existed and he’d seen the future.
One possible future. He and Lia had been playing together, laughing, and he’d felt the depth of the emotion between them.
It had decided things for him and brought up a new concern – could he convince her to give it a chance and see where things went between them?
“You’re awfully quiet,” Lia said.
“Sorry. I was thinking about how much I’ve enjoyed spending the day with you. My teammates are going to give me shit for pulling this duty while they’re roughing it outside the city walls.”
“Why would they do that? It wasn’t your decision.”
Troll grinned. “Because I plan to rub their noses in it. If they didn’t give it right back to me, I’d be worried.”
Her laugh travelled through his body and left his cells buzzing.
He hardly knew her, not really, and even if she was The One like Gram said, like his own vision seconded, it didn’t mean they were meant to be together in this life.
The idea made him want to learn everything he could about her just in case this was all he had.
“If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be?” Troll asked, picking one of the dozen questions jumping in his mind. “I mean, in whatever time you’re in or whatever world you’re on.”
“You want to know my big dream, huh?”
“I want to know all your dreams.”
Silence. He could sense her reluctance and decided it would help if he went first. “You know what I’ve always wanted to do?
Buy a sailboat and travel around the world, go from place to place and stay as long as I like.
Maybe dock her and head inland when the urge struck. It’ll never happen, though.”
Lia looked at him. “Why not?”
“The war for one. Even after it ends, it won’t be safe.
There are mines, old hatreds,” he explained when she appeared confused.
“Bunch of other issues. Money is another factor. Boats aren’t cheap, not ocean-going vessels – and supporting myself while I sailed?
” Troll shook his head. “The logistics aren’t workable, not for a man earning army pay. ”
“But if you really wanted to . . .” She trailed off.
“Maybe that’s it. I don’t want it badly enough.” He shrugged. “Definitely not badly enough to leave Spec Ops.”
They walked without speaking for a few minutes before Lia asked, “Have you considered that Special Ops is your dream?”
That stopped him in his tracks and Troll thought about it. After a few moments, he nodded slowly. “You could be right. It’s never been something I sat and thought a lot about, though, not like the boat.”
“The boat’s your fantasy, a way to leave behind the stress of life for a little while. Fantasies and dreams are different.”
She said that with such authority that Troll smiled. “So your fantasies about climbing on top of me and having your wicked way are different than your dreams?”
Even in the fading light, he could see the blush stain her cheeks. “You can’t know – I never said –” When his grin grew bigger, her eyes narrowed and she groaned. “Damn, you were fishing . . .”
Troll released her hand and put his arm around her shoulders instead. “Yep. So now that you probably can’t get much more embarrassed, why don’t you share your dream?”
“You’re more diabolical than I thought.”