Page 11 of Wrong Number, Right Soldier
“Hey,” he says, evidently recognizing me right away. “You’re that girl. Sailor.”
“Saylis,” I remind him.
“Yeah. You never called.”
“No, yeah, I did. I must have gotten one of the numbers wrong.”
He precedes to tell me the number out loud.
“No I know,” I tell him, aiming for polite. Possibly failing a little bit. “I dialed a four instead of a nine.”
“Oh.” He gives a short nod. “What’re you drinking?”
I glance down at my glass of vodka-cranberry, and shake my head. “No, that’s okay. I kind of, have a boyfriend now.”
He lifts a blond eyebrow. “Kind ofhave a boyfriend?”
“I have a boyfriend,” I state more frankly.
“Gotcha. Well, good luck. He should treat you right, give you everything you deserve.”
Derek turns on a heel to leave, andpoof!, in comes Cleo. “He seems like a nice guy,” she observes. “Heisgood looking.”
“Andhere,” Stasia throws in, apparently also materializing from thin air.
“But that doesn’t matter,” Kim says plainly, a gleam in her eyes. “She’s in love.” She looks at me. “Have you told him yet?”
“Who, Trey?”
“Mmhm.” Kim’s smile is coy, too coy.
“Do I look like a crazy person?”
“To be fair, babes. You don’tnotlook like a crazy person,” Stasia says, and Cleo can’t hide the fact she agrees.
Oh…what the hell am I doing? Falling in love with a person I’ve never met? That is pretty crazy.
Not telling someone I love them, that I love them?
That’sinsane.
#
And so, later that night, early in the morning for Trey, I decide I am going to do it. I am going to just come out with it.What have I got to lose?
“Trey. I have something to tell you,” I say to him.
“I have something to tell you, too.”
“Oh. Okay. You go first.”
He holds in a breath, his dark eyes going wider and wider with the anticipation of delivering his news. Which must bebignews, because I’ve never, ever seen him like this.
Then, finally: “We’re coming home!” His smile is humongous and beaming. It’sall the way back, and then some.
Meanwhile my brain short-circuits. I have no idea what I was going to tell him or why it matters.He’s coming home.
HE’S COMING HOME!
