by Rye Hart
“Oh, don’t do that. You’ll run out of guilt to dish out over the dinner I’m apparently buying.”
“That’s the spirit! Where we headed tonight?”
I shook my head and giggled at Gwen before I wrapped her up in my arms. One of the things I loved about her was the fact that she always told me what I needed to hear. It was never what I wanted and she was never there to stroke my ego. She was always a refreshing dose of humor and reality, all rolled into one.
“You know, if this business thing falls through, you might be able to have a career in comedy,” I said.
“Get me an audience that likes some tough love humor and I’ll show them a good time,” Gwen said.
“Barbecue and sweet tea?” I asked.
“My stomach’s already growling. And Whit?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s gonna be okay. It doesn’t seem like it now because you’re scared. You went on a vacation and experienced something not only traumatizing but new and exciting. You’ll settle back down and then you can answer the hard questions.”
“Promise?” I asked.
“I promise.”
CHAPTER 31
LIAM
She looked beautiful in her flowing white gown. Her bright white smile and the hanging bouquet of flowers. Butterflies surrounded us, all nestled in the bushes, while Paxton walked her up the aisle. I took her hand and, suddenly, we were screaming. Pushing and panting while sweat ran down her neck. Whitney’s legs were pushed to her chest and she was bearing down with all her might. Grunting about how I could never touch her again while I pressed kiss after kiss on her forehead.
I was taken by her strength while she held our little boy in her arms.
Then, suddenly, we were in the backyard. The snow was falling and gathering on our picketed fence while two boys and a silly little girl ran around in the yard. There were snow angels and promises of hot chocolate. There was a pie I could smell somewhere while a small hand slid right into mine.
I looked down and saw Whitney’s eyes twinkling up at mine and I could’ve sworn I could swim in them.
Suddenly, that was what I was doing. Swimming in the blue of her eyes while we all played in a pool. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but grass, trees, and hope. The kids were literally growing in front of our eyes and I could see Whitney’s hair changing from blonde to gray to white.
White, like her wedding dress.
White, like her smile while I held her hand on her deathbed.
“I love you,” she said to me.
I opened my eyes and a small tear slid down my cheek. My cheeks hurt from smiling and I could still feel her hand in mine. Her words echoed off the chambers of my mind while I slowly pulled myself from a sleep I never wanted to wake from and I knew what I had to do.
I had to chase after the one thing that still breathed life into my soul.
I was determined to get her back, no matter what form she took. I needed her by my side. I needed her in my life. I felt the cold, empty side of the bed next to me and I knew I never wanted to feel that again. I no longer wanted to wake up in this lonely cabin on the side of the hill and regret the decisions I’d made with my life.
I didn’t know if I deserved it and I didn’t know if things would pan out. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to her if she picked up the phone for me but all I knew was I had to try.
I had to give it another shot.
Rolling over in my bed, I picked up my phone and called her number. That beautiful nine-digit number she’d saved into my phone after worrying over my going out into the snow. She’d showered me with affection I didn’t even think she realized she possessed and, as I listened to the phone ringing in my ear, I took the time to reflect on that dream.
How beautiful she looked in her wedding dress and how fierce she looked giving birth to our children. How wonderful she looked surrounded by all that snow and how radiant she looked in her old age.
Images of those two buildings came flooding back to my mind the moment I heard the phone pick up. I prayed she wouldn’t think I was crazy. I prayed she would just hear me out. I hoped with my entire soul that she wouldn’t walk out on me the way I’d walked out on her because, if she simply listened, I would make sure I promised that it would never happen again.
I would never turn my back on her like I had that day.
“Liam?”
Her voice washed over me as I jolted upright in bed. She had picked up.
“Liam, are you there?”
“Whitney,” I said.
“It’s you.”
“It’s me. Listen, I… do you think that maybe…?”
Groaning, I ran my fingers through my hair. I noticed how dry my hair was. How dry the back of my neck was. I noticed my pajamas weren’t sticking to my chest and I couldn’t smell myself drenched in sweat.
This was worth it.
All of it was worth it if she agreed in the end.
“What is it, Liam? Are you okay?”
“You’re incredible,” I said breathlessly.
“What?” she asked.
“Listen, Whitney. I don’t know where you are right now or what’s going on—”
“I’m in Memphis.”
“Memphis?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s where I live.”
“You live in Memphis?”
“Yes,” she said.
“So, you’re not here?” I asked.
She was six hours away from me and I felt my entire plan slowly crashing down around me.
“Is there any way I could convince you to come back?” I asked.
“What?”
“To Gatlinburg. What would I have to do to get you to come back?”
“I… um… why?” she asked.
“Because I want to sit down and talk with you. Maybe over coffee?”
The silence on the phone was deafening and, for a moment, I thought the call had dropped.
“Whitney?”
“Yes? Sorry. I’m just… I mean… even if I got on the road or took a flight, I still wouldn't get there until tonight.”
“That’s fine. Anything’s fine. Whatever’s better for you is fine. Or I could meet you halfway. But there’s this place in downtown Gatlinburg that makes a wonderful cup of coffee.”
“I thought you never went into town?” she asked.
“Well, I did yesterday,” I said.
Silence fell on the conversation again. I knew I was asking a great deal from her. I knew I was tugging on ropes I had no business tugging on. But I didn’t have any other choice. The dream was swirling around in my head while visions of those two shops standing side-by-side rattled my mind and I was willing to do anything to get her back out here.
“I’ll pay for your trip,” I said. “However you decide to take it.”
“That’s not necessary. I mean, I guess I could come back. I don’t have a job yet or anything.”
“I promise you, it’ll be worth it,” I said.
“What’s all this about?” she asked.
“A future.”
I could hear her breathing before some shuffling started happening on the other end of the line. I listened carefully as I stood from my bed, pacing my room while Whitney did whatever it was she was doing. I felt my hands shaking while my heart pounded hard against my chest. I was more nervous than I could ever imagine in my life and, soon, I was wiping sweat from my brow before she spoke again.
“I have no idea why I’m doing this but I’m in my car now,” she said. “I’m about six hours from you, so I won’t even get into downtown Gatlinburg until around three.”
“So, you’re coming?” I asked.
I heard her car crank up and I couldn’t help the smile that sprang to my cheeks.
“I’ll see you at three. What’s this place called?”
“Coffee and Company.”
“I’ll pull it up on my GPS and get there,” she said.
“And Whitney?”
“Yeah?”
/> “I’m sorry,” I said.
“I am, too. Look, we’ll talk more when I get there. Let me get on the road.”
“I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Hanging up the phone, I started cleaning myself up. I groomed and picked out an outfit, then got some stuff done around the cabin. By the time two-thirty rolled around, I was getting into my truck, anxious to meet up with Whitney and talk with her face to face. I wanted to make this drive worth her while, so on the way to the coffee shop, I formulated my argument. I laid out all the numbers in my head and repeated them to myself, then made a decision I should have made days ago.
I needed to open up to Whitney finally.
The coffee shop was right across the road from the vacant buildings. I went inside and waited for her, sipping on my coffee while my leg shook. Every time the door opened, I’d whip my head up, but the moment I saw Whitney, I froze. She looked tired. Like maybe she wasn’t eating well or sleeping. I stood up and watched her walk up to me. Then I immediately gathered her in my arms.
“How was the drive?” I asked.
“Long,” she said, sighing.
“Before I launch into the speech I’ve prepared, I have something I want to share with you.”
“Can I get some coffee first?” she asked
“Of course. Get whatever you want. It’s on me.”
I watched her while she ordered and I surveyed every movement she made. Every time her body swayed and every time her leg trembled. I had no idea what in the world was running through her mind but I knew I wanted to take it all away. I wanted to help her in any way I could, even if it was just as a friend.
Though I hoped by the end of all this, she’d be more than that.
“Okay,” she said as she sat down. “Hit me.”
“My nightmares,” I said. “You need to know about them.”
“Liam, you don’t have to talk about them if you don’t want to. It was wrong of me to push that.”
“But I want to. That’s what I was battling. I was going between wanting to tell you everything and wanting to protect the man you saw me as.”
“Why would I think any differently of you after you’ve told me all this?” she asked.
“Because I was a coward, Whitney.”
“I highly doubt that,” she said.
“On my last deployment,” I began, “I was captured.”
“Wait, what?” she asked.
“I was captured and held by the enemy. A prisoner of war.”
“Holy shit, Liam,” she said, incredulously.
“My entire unit was captured. We were ambushed on a small patrol boat and boarded. My unit and I, we were all taken to shore. I was forced to help them and heal their wounded unless I wanted to die myself.”
I could see the shock rolling over her face but I didn’t want to give her the chance to speak until I’d told her everything.
“It was me and three other men. Callen Paxton, who survived with me, and two other men. I was forced to heal the enemy’s wounded but they threatened my life if I tried to help my own. I watched them die, right there. The only reason they let me help Paxton was because I convinced them he was necessary to what they wanted from me.”
I watched as Whitney’s hand reached out and came down onto my forearm.
“I should’ve been willing to die. I should’ve been willing to accept the sacrifice for my country but I didn’t. I was a coward and, instead of healing my own men, I watched them die while healing dozens of enemy fighters.”
“That doesn’t make you a coward, Liam. It makes you a survivor.”
“I don’t expect you to understand—”
“Liam, look at me.”
I raised my gaze to hers and I could see the sternness that had set in. She squeezed my forearm and made sure I was looking at her. Then she drew in a deep breath and began.
“You were captured and you survived. You did what was asked and, in the process, saved one of your own. You fought tooth and nail to get back to a country you loved. A country you were dedicated to. That Purple Heart in your bedroom doesn’t go to cowards, Liam. It goes to heroes. To soldiers that our children look up to. To people who lay their lives on the line and climb through the mire to rise above everything that’s been thrown at them. You saved the life of that man, Liam, and you saved your own. Taking the easy way out in that kind of situation would’ve been the cowardly move. There were people who vetted you for that medal, who wanted you to have that honor because they knew you deserved it. You are not a coward, Liam. You’ve only convinced yourself you are.”
Her words battered against my ears like waves against a rocky shoreline. I wanted to believe her. I really did. And I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to convince myself she was right. But I could feel the warmth of her touch radiating up my arm. I could feel her voice cleansing the thoughts in my mind and her innocence penetrating my soul again.
And all because she was there. Right there. In front of me.
“Here’s what I do know,” I said as I took her hand. “You have brought a light into my life I haven’t experienced since that deployment. I hadn’t experienced one nightmare since that first night we spent together. Your presence chases out the darkness I feel caving in around me sometimes and the light you shone into my world helped me to see new possibilities for myself. So, if you’d give me the chance, I’d like to show you a possibility for your own.”
I could see the confusion on her face but, instead of pulling away, all she did was tighten her grip on my hand.
“Just hear me out before you interject because I know it sounds nuts. If you turn around, you’ll see two vacant pieces of property right across the road. Don’t do it now, just wait until I’m finished.”
“Okay,” she said.
“They both have a decent amount of space to them, which is surprising for how they’re laid out in the front. They’ll need some work but most of it I can do on my own. For both buildings. It’s the perfect place for two things I can think of that we briefly talked about during our time together.”
I could see the curiosity and intrigue rolling over her face.
“They would be perfect buildings for a legal practice and a medical clinic,” I said.
“Liam,” she said breathlessly. “That’s…”
I watched her turn around to survey the buildings, her eyes taking them in while her back was turned to me. I sat back in my chair and allowed her to process everything I’d already thrown at her. The nightmares. The reason behind them. Why our time together meant so much to me. The buildings. She had enough to chew on and, if she wanted more information, I knew she would ask for it.
“How in the world could we do something like that?” she asked.
Not the question I was expecting but it was better than I figured I would get.
“Well, it’ll take me a couple of years to get my clinic up and going. I did a one-year internship rotation at the Naval Hospital, so I’d need to complete one more residency year at a civilian hospital to narrow down what I’d want to focus on. I’m sort of bouncing between a pediatrician and a general practitioner. I’m not sure what the area needs just yet. But once that rotation year is done, I’d be able to legally practice medicine in the civilian world. What would you need to do?”
She looked at me as if I’d grown a second head but she didn’t turn down the idea.
“I’d have to figure out what branch of law I wanted to practice,” she said. “My specialization is in corporate law and I can’t imagine many corporations in Gatlinburg could use an on-staff attorney.”
“Did you not like corporate law? Or did you just not like the people you were working for?”
“I’ve always enjoyed corporate law. I just hoped to help people settle disputes. Merge acquisitions. Help businesses expand without being blindsided by anything. Help with divestitures and counsel them in-house on legal matters that might arise with disgruntled employees. I always thought businesses got thrown under the bus
in the media for that kind of stuff and I wanted to help them get out of those types of situations if it was possible. I didn’t want to help cover up issues. I wanted to help resolve them.”
“Gatlinburg is booming with business,” I said. “It’s growing at an exponential rate and with that type of growth comes a need for services like that. From boutiques to mom-and-pop shops, all the way up to places that might want to hire you as in-house counsel. The pool is here. It’s just a pool that isn’t filled with blood-thirsty sharks.”
“We’d also need a business license in the state of Tennessee,” she said. “Both of us. And you would need malpractice insurance.”
“And we’d also need insurance for our business as well,” I said.
“Liam, this is crazy,” she said breathlessly.
“Look, both of our dreams are to help and serve those in need, right? I want to help people medically and you want to help people with their businesses. We could make this work. We could design and tailor our practices to provide the best service for the locals of this town and we could make it affordable.”
I saw the untamed look in her eyes and then I watched them fill up with tears. A smile crossed her face as she sat back and laughed and, in that moment, I knew I had her. Bringing her hands up to her mouth, she shook her head—like she was in disbelief of all the things that were happening around her. And I didn’t blame her. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the entire idea myself.
But the fact that she was smiling was a good thing.
“We could help people,” she said.
“Yes.”
“With our own businesses,” she said.
“Exactly.”
“The two of us. Side by side.”
“Side by side,” I said, grinning.
She scoffed before she picked up her coffee and chugged. Then, she set it down and looked me dead in my eyes.
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay, as in, you’ll think about it?” I asked.
“Nope. Okay, as in let’s do this.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Really,” she said. “Let’s do it. Let’s open our side-by-side businesses and save the world together.”
Leaping out of my chair, I pulled her against my body and swung her around. I couldn’t believe she was actually agreeing to this. I couldn’t believe she actually said yes. She was giggling into the crook of my neck while tears of happiness sprung to my eyes.
