Page 44 of We Thought We Knew It All
It wasn’t quite like it used to be. We were all very different from those kids who had found their separate paths, but we were finding our way back.
16
Jamie
My finger hovered over one of the links in the email. It was from Sergeant Carlson.
Fort Benning is retooling our weapons training and you’re the best weapons expert I’ve ever seen. The contractor who has the contract is looking to hire ex-special forces for the job. The guy leading the project was a Ranger himself. I sent them your name.
I could go back. The job was at Fort Benning. I’d live there for the duration - probably a year or so. I’d be around the guys again, my unit. Only, they weren’t my unit anymore.
Carlson sent me the link to C-corp, a government contractor who was handling the project. He’d also sent me a few other job opportunities.
Looking around Colby’s apartment, I was very aware the place wasn’t mine. I’d been here for over a month and didn’t want to wear out my welcome.
Could I leave?
My eye caught a picture of Callie on the end table, her hair blowing in the wind as she stood next to her board on the beach with Colby next to her.
That was my answer. Ten years ago, I’d made a decision. I’d left for the army. It was right at the time. We were kids, and I needed to figure out a lot about myself. This time it was different.
The front door slammed open and Morgan pranced into the room. She jumped over the back of the couch and landed next to me.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“So much for knocking.” I laughed.
“Oh please.” She snatched my phone. “What has you so tense?”
“Dammit, Morgan.”
“Chill. What is C-corp?” She scanned the rest of the email. “Well shit. Does Cal know?”
“There’s nothing to know.” I snatched my phone back. “My Sergeant is just trying to do me a solid.”
“You going for the interview?”
I hesitated for just a second too long. “Of course not.”
She watched me carefully. “Colby told me you were shot.”
I nodded.
“Is that why you’re here and not with the army.”
“It’s more complicated than that, but yes.”
“But you want to go back?”
“I can’t go back.”
She pursed her lips, and I needed a subject change. The only way to get Morgan to back down when she smelled blood was to get her talking about herself.
“Shouldn’t you be going back to Europe soon?”
Her face blanched, and she sucked in a breath. “Maybe I’m like you.” Her voice was quiet. “Maybe I can’t go back.”
I studied her, thinking back over the past couple weeks. She’d been trying so hard to be the Morgan we all knew and loved, but I saw now that there was a darkness behind her smile, a sad crinkle to her eyes. I recognized it because I saw it every time I looked in the mirror.
