Page 82 of The Husband Hour
“Well, documentary film is journalism,” he said. “And you’re helping me.”
She nodded, and their eyes locked. He reached for her hand. The touch lasted just a few seconds before she pulled away. But it was enough to set her heart racing, so much so that when the first firework flared seconds later, she barely noticed it.
It had been an impulse to reach for her hand. As soon as Matt saw the surprised look on her face, felt the quickness of her pulling away, he regretted it. He considered saying he was sorry but thought that would make a big deal out of it. Better to just move on. Mercifully, the fireworks started as if on cue.
Lauren stared at the sky with childlike wonder. It surprised him how happy it made him to see her smiling, enjoying herself.
After the fireworks peaked, a dizzying climax of sparks and booms that made it impossible to talk or think beyond the sensory overload in the sky, Lauren said, “I used to hate the fireworks. Stephanie would always tease me.”
“I’m surprised more kids don’t get freaked out. It’s loud. In New York, we’re farther away from the action, so it’s less intense. It’s really immediate here.”
The tide of people began walking back to the streets, streaming off the boardwalk in all directions. She looked at her phone. “I should get going.”
“It’s still early,” Matt said. It wasn’t that early, actually. He just wasn’t ready to say good-bye; he gave himself a pass for having that feeling, rationalizing that it was for the film. The more she talked to him off camera, the more she would be comfortable talking to him on camera. Still, he couldn’t think of one logical way to prolong the evening.
She leaned over the railing, staring at the ocean. He stood next to her quietly, wondering if there was a way to suggest they go for a drink without sounding like, well, like he was asking her out for a drink. There wasn’t.
“I can walk you back to your house,” he offered. After that, he would probably hit Robert’s for a round or two. The place would be packed, and the energy would help him let off enough steam to get to sleep.
“Tell me something,” she said suddenly. “What was it like over there? In Iraq?”
Surprised, he turned to face her, his back pressing on the rail. She didn’t look at him, her eyes fixed on the distance, as if the answers to her questions were out there. “Probably exactly the way you imagine.”
“I don’t want to imagine. I spent enough time trying to imagine. Rory’s letters made it sound like it was a lot of hours patrolling neighborhoods, not much happening. I always felt like he was sugarcoating it for me. He didn’t want me to worry. I feel like I missed the last chapter of his life.”
“Well, every person’s experience over there is different.”
“Did you talk to any of the guys who were over there with him?”
Matt nodded. “I interviewed a few guys from his battalion.”
“Did you talk to Pete Downing?”
“I did.”
“I need to see the interview,” she said.
“We can do that at some point.”
“Now,” she said. “Tonight.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
She stood next to Matt’s desk while he booted up his laptop and she felt herself shaking. Pete Downing had been one of the last people to see Rory alive. Pete Downing’s voice might have been one of the last Rory heard on earth.
Above the desk, dozens of index cards were taped in even rows. On the top left, the card read Opening image. A blue Post-it note covered the wording on the next card, but she saw one that read Theme stated and one with the name of the coach of the LA Kings.
“What’s all of this?” she asked, pointing to a small binder filled with plastic sheets and small squares that looked like the games in Ethan’s Nintendo DS player.
“Those are drives holding all my interviews. I save them to my laptop but I keep the originals just in case.”
Matt dragged a rustic wooden bench from the window to the desk so they could sit side by side.
He hit Play. A face she hadn’t seen in four years. At the bottom, the words PFC Pete Downing, 2/75 Rangers. She braced herself to hear his voice, the voice that had tried valiantly to comfort her in the days following Rory’s death.
Off camera, Matt said, “Can you tell us, in general, the duties of a U.S. Ranger?”
“As a U.S. Ranger, we engage in combat search and rescue, airborne and air-assault operations, special reconnaissance, intelligence and counterintelligence, personnel recovery and hostage rescue, joint special operations, and counterterrorism.”
