Broken Soldier: A Novel

by Clara Frost

  Chapter 31

  CHRISTA hung her purse over the back of chair, but didn’t pull it away from the table. “I’ll be right back,” she said.

  “Everything okay?” Emily asked. It wasn’t like Christa to be late to a lunch date, and Emily had already been waiting on her for ten minutes.

  “Yes. I’ll explain in a minute. Just get me a water.”

  “Okay.”

  Christa slipped off across the restaurant, moving through the lunch crowd toward the restroom. A line was already forming at the hostess stand, men in suits and women in heels.

  Emily flagged down the waitress and asked for a water for Christa along with an order of spinach artichoke dip for them to share.

  “Sorry about that,” Christa said when she came back. She snagged a chip and scooped half the sour cream dollop from the top of the dip.

  “Tough day at the office?” Emily asked.

  “The usual. Henderson is still out on vacation and I’m doing his job, too.”

  “Sorry to hear that.” Emily sipped her soda. “So I was thinking about going out to look at churches. I need to get an idea of what’s available and what the cost will be. Can you go with me this weekend?”

  “Sure. What day?”

  “Well, I’m assuming Saturday since the churches are going to be a little busy on Sunday.”

  Christa frowned. “You better make it Friday then. They won’t even be open on Saturday, probably.”

  “You think?”

  “Yeah, my cousin Jeanie complained about it at her shower. Paul and I just used his parents’ church, so we didn’t even have to look.”

  “Rafa and I still haven’t nailed down whether we’re going to have it here or Denver or Madrid, so...”

  “Madrid?” Christa’s chip clattered to the table.

  “Yeah, Madrid. His mother is pushing him pretty hard on it.”

  “And what do you think about that?”

  “It’s nice of her to offer, but I think it would be easier if she’d just let me handle it.”

  “It’s funny how you go to college and the family lets go a little, but as soon as you start planning a wedding, they want to gallop back in and run the whole event.”

  Emily shrugged. Her mom wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t even that Maria was a problem. She just wanted them to have the wedding in the cathedral in Madrid, and on the face of it, it wasn’t that unreasonable. She’d offered to arrange it and pay for it, to ease Emily’s mind, except Emily’s conscience wouldn’t let her foot the bill.

  “I guess. So what was up?”

  “Well...” Christa’s face split into a wide smile. “I was the doctor’s office this morning and...”

  Emily’s heart caught in her throat as Christa drew out the pause.

  “I’m going to have a baby.”

  “Oh, Christa! I’m so excited for you.” Emily grinned so wide her cheeks hurt. “How far along are you?”

  “About eight weeks.”

  “So you’re due in July?”

  “July 27, she thought.”

  “Wow. I guess it’s too early to know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  “Yeah.” Christa washed down a chip with a sip of water. “So I’m trying to eat fairly healthy for a while. No more soda or daiquiris for me.”

  “That’s a good plan. What about coffee?”

  “Nope.”

  Emily shuddered. “You’re a braver woman than I am. So if you don’t feel like looking at churches, let me know, okay? Mom and I can go by ourselves.”

  “Em, if you think for a second I’m going to let you have all the fun of wedding planning without my help, you’re crazy. Of course I’ll go with you. Anything I can do, you let me know.”

  “Thanks Chrissy. And if you want me to come help paint the baby room, you know you can call me.”

  “Ha, you know I will.”

  The waitress came and delivered their sandwiches, and Em and Christa chatted more about work and family and kids. While they chatted, Emily thought about the wedding dates. It was a good thing they’d ruled out the summer. The last thing she wanted was for her friend to go into labor in a foreign country, never mind on an airplane.

  “So how’s Rafa taking all this?” Christa asked, setting her fork into her empty salad bowl.

  “He’s doing fine. The whole business with Madrid and his mom is hard on him, though.”

  “You two have a date in mind yet?”

  “We’re thinking Thanksgiving right now.”

  Christa mulled that. “The baby will be about four months old. If you do decide on Madrid, we could make it.”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t want to do it there. I have too many people here that want to go and can’t make it if it’s in Europe.”

  “That’s tough,” Christa said.

  They settled their bills, and Christa made another trip to the Ladies’ Room.

  “I’ll clear my schedule for Friday afternoon,” Emily said as they were leaving the restaurant. “Does that work for you?”

  “Should be fine, I think. Henderson won’t be able to complain about me skipping out early, at least.”

  “Okay,” Emily said. “I’ll talk to Mom and give you a call. She’ll have to take a half-day, too, and I’m not sure when she’ll be available.”

  “Sounds good, Em.”

  Christa headed toward her car, leaving Emily to push through the crowd toward her Lexus.

  Chapter 32

  EMILY'S mother shifted a marked-up page from her lap to the sofa beside her. Emily paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, too restless to sit. She knew the conversation about their wedding location wasn’t going to be easy, but she’d at least expected her dad to be there for it.

  “So Mom, what are your plans for Friday?” Emily asked.

  “I have school, dear.”

  “Christa and I are planning to go look at churches. Can you take the afternoon off and go with us?”

  Her mother frowned. “I have an assembly in the afternoon, and a home basketball game at 4:00.”

  “Well crap. Alright, I’ll see if Christa can reschedule.”

  Rafa sat in the recliner across from Emily’s mother. “I talked to my mother last night,” he said. “She said she had a list of at least a hundred people.”

  Emily’s mother shifted her attention to Rafa. “That’s a lot of people.”

  “They don’t all really have to come, Mom,” Emily said. “We were looking at churches for under a hundred total.”

  “I would not be so sure,” Rafa said. “You have met my mother. She’ll book the cathedral and invite half the city.”

  Emily shook her head. She thought they had agreed on a date and on doing the wedding in Colorado, but after Rafa had talked to his mom, he’d been going on about Madrid again.

  “Cathedral?” Emily’s mother asked. “Madrid? What happened to having it Denver?”

  “I know, Mom.” Emily sighed. “It’s just that...”

  “I talked to Yaya,” Rafa said. “Her and Mamá, both. They really want to have the wedding in Madrid so they can have the whole family there.”

  “Rafa is the only grandchild on his mother’s side.” Emily made the defense half-heartedly, still not wanting to concede on moving the wedding--her wedding--from America to Spain.

  Emily’s mother’s phone buzzed. She scooped it off the end table beside the sofa and checked her messages. “Your father should be home in half an hour or so.”

  “It would not be so bad,” Rafa said. “If you only had 50 or so people here in Denver that wanted to go, that would be less than what would have to fly here from Spain.”

  “I just don’t know, Rafa,” Emily’s mother said. She put her papers aside and leaned back on the couch. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but I teach in the public school system. Most of my friends are teachers. They’d all love to see Em get married, but can’t just jet off to Europe for the wedding.”

  Emily looked between her mother and Rafa
. “Babe, could we step outside and chat?”

  “You don’t need to do that, Em,” her mother said, rising. “I need to get dinner started, anyway.”

  It was impressive that her mother worked all day, came home and graded papers, and then found the energy to cook. It was more than Emily could manage by herself, she was sure of that.

  Her mother smiled. “It’s a frozen lasagna, but you’re welcome to share, if you want.”

  Emily shrugged. “We’ll talk about it.” She sat beside Rafa and waited for her mother to leave the room.

  “Rafa, I know your mother’s family has money, but you have to understand, my parents aren’t rich. Not even close. Mom has taught in a public school system all her life, and dad’s been a judge for an awful long time. They can’t afford to pay for a big wedding.”

  “Pay for it?” Rafa shook his head. “They don’t need to pay for anything. They just need to come over. I’ll cover their tickets, if that is the question. It’s not a problem.”

  “It’s not just them, though. My grandparents are on fixed incomes. So are their friends, so are Mom and Dad’s friends.”

  “My mother will be devastated.” He said it with regret, and in that moment, Emily loved him even more fiercely for seeing it from her point of view.

  “It’s not like she won’t be able to attend.”

  Rafa rubbed his face, and eventually he nodded. “I’ll talk to my mother. We’ll do it here.”

  “Hey, maybe we could do two receptions,” Emily suggested. “One here and another in Madrid afterward.”

  “Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced.

  “Do you want to stay to eat?” Emily asked. “I was thinking we could pick up something on the way home.”

  “If your mother prepared it, I’m sure it will be good.”

  “You don’t have to impress me, Rafa. You’ve already won me.”

  “I’m not trying to impress you.” He grinned. “Actually, I won’t complain if I did impress you, but I don’t want to hurt your mom’s feelings.”

  “Alright.” Emily snuggled against him. Frozen lasagna didn’t sound great, but how could she argue with that logic? She combed her fingers through his hair, and over the stubble of his jaw, turning his mouth to hers for the kind of kiss that would show him exactly how she felt.

  Chapter 33

  IT felt good to just lay on the sofa and relax. Rafa had a stack of papers on the floor beside him, but they were already read and graded, and he didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to be for the next week while the academy was on spring break. The teaching gig hadn’t been difficult so far, but he was still looking forward to a week without having to drive back and forth to Colorado Springs.

  Light jazz played on Em’s stereo, and snowflakes drifted softly beyond the open balcony curtains. It was a perfect Friday evening to stay home.

  Em folded her book over her chest and poked him with her toes. “Have you talked to your mom lately?”

  “Not in a few weeks. She didn’t like hearing that we wanted the wedding here.”

  Em sighed. “You should talk to her again. We need to get something booked.”

  “I can’t do it tonight. It’s 2:00 AM in Spain.”

  “She’s not back in the States?”

  Rafa shrugged. “She wasn’t planning to come back when I last talked to her. I’ll call her tomorrow and ask, okay?”

  “Are we still on the same page for location? Colorado, right?”

  “Yes.” He was willing to stand firm, but that didn’t mean it would be easy. “She will try every trick she knows to convince us to move it. Be ready.”

  “I’m ready. I--”

  Rafa’s phone rang, cutting off Emily.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “It’s unlisted.” Rafa swiped his thumb over the face and held the unit to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Rafael Carpenter?” The voice was smooth, confident.

  “Who is this?”

  “Colonel Arnie Rogers from SOC.”

  Rafa’s eyes went wide. Arnie Rogers was a name he knew. He’d served under the man back when he was still a wet behind the ears lieutenant in his first Ranger battalion.

  “Uh, is there a problem?” Rafa asked.

  “No, soldier, there’s not. I had a conversation this week with Hal Peterson and your name came up. I have something that I think you’d be a better fit for than blowing smoke up the tail pipes of Air Force cadets.”

  “Uh, sir, I am out of the service, and it was not under the best of circumstances.”

  “Who is that?” Emily mouthed.

  Rafa covered the phone. “Someone from the Army.”

  “I understand the circumstances,” Colonel Rogers continued, “and I know all about your discharge. If you ask me, they should have given you a medal and a promotion.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, Carpenter. I want you back at SOC. Not as an active duty soldier, but as a civilian operator.”

  Rafa’s pulse accelerated like an F-16 at take-off.

  “What do they want?” Emily asked.

  Rafa held up a finger, trying to stall her. His hand shook. “What do you have in mind, Colonel?”

  “I can’t talk about that over the phone, unfortunately. How do you feel about coming out to Fort Carson to talk in person?”

  “Colonel, I’m sitting in Boulder with my fiancé right now. Can I talk it over with her and get back to you?”

  “Well, congratulations on your engagement. Sooner is better, Captain.”

  The phone went dead. Rafa stared at it, heart racing. The Army wanted him back? He’d thought that part of his life closed, but the idea of being able to do something, anything to help out his brothers-in-arms was almost intoxicating.

  Emily sat up straight on the couch, frowning. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”

  “That was one of my former commanding officers, Colonel Rogers. He’s down at Fort Carson. He wants me to work for him.”

  “He wants you back in the Army?” Crows’ feet formed at the corners of her eyes.

  “I don’t know exactly. I wouldn’t be on active duty or anything, so I don’t know what they’d have me doing.”

  “But you’re thinking about it?”

  Rafa rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. I’m still processing it. The military was my whole life.” He got up and paced across the room, mind churning. “If the colonel thinks I can help, I’d like to hear what he has to say.”

  “When would that be?”

  “Next week sometime? I don’t have class.”

  Emily sat up, and her eyes bored right into his. She had the most beautiful blue eyes, deeper and richer than the mountain sky. “What about after the first meeting?”

  “There used to be contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they were mostly CIA guys.”

  He strode across the living room again, full of restless energy. His knee felt great. If they needed him to hump gear over mountains, he could probably do it. The only real problem was the hand. His arm was bare, the flesh where it terminated at his wrist scarred from the shrapnel that had taken his hand. It couldn’t exactly handle a weapon.

  “What are you thinking?” Emily asked. “Talk to me.”

  Rafa raised his right arm. “I can’t shoot. I’m not sure what they want me to do, but it’s not going to be kicking in doors, not anymore.”

  “But you don’t think it’s sitting at a desk, either.”

  “I doubt it. Training, maybe? I could handle that, I think. Or something on the intelligence side.”

  “Well, if you want to talk to them and find out what it is, I understand, but can we discuss next steps before you commit to anything?”

  Rafa grinned. He really was lucky to have a woman so understanding. It made him almost giddy to think that he had Emily and he could have his old life back, too. “Of course.”

  Emily picked her book off her chest. “That makes me feel better.”
<
br />   Rafa paced the living room a while longer, playing through the possibilities. As long as he could keep from getting shot at, he was interested. And maybe if he could only got shot at occasionally, he could do that, too. It would be a step up from his last few tours, after all.

  #

  EMILY stared at the pages of her book, not actually seeing the words. Rafa practically danced around the room, more excited about the prospect of getting back into the Army than anything she’d ever seen from him before. How was it that she finally managed to find the perfect man, and he was about to run away from her?

  Oh, he’d dither and he’d argue, but she knew what would happen. She’d seen it with Scott, before he’d gotten himself killed in the line of duty. The Denver PD surely wasn’t as dangerous as Special Forces, and in theory whatever this contractor position was wouldn’t be as dangerous, either, but she was under no illusion that Rafa wouldn’t find a way to get himself into the thick of things. It was just his nature. He couldn’t sit back and watch his fellow soldiers go off to war without him.

  She wanted to cry.

  It. Just. Wasn’t. Fair. She turned a page, pretending to read, but not caring what she missed. The words blurred into one another until she couldn’t bear to look at them any longer. Her eyes followed Rafa around the room, drinking in the sight of his broad shoulders and chiseled jaw. The easy way he projected himself, doing so much more than just occupying space. When he was in a room, everyone noticed him. He was like a leopard prowling across the living room, and she wanted to watch until she’d absorbed a perfect image of him.

  “What’s wrong?” Rafa asked.

  And he was perceptive. That was the really scary thing. “Just thinking.”

  He frowned.

  “What?” Emily asked. Was she not allowed to think?

  “You care to share those thoughts, amor?”

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  He stopped pacing and turned his attention fully onto her. “You won’t.”

  “You can’t know that. I don’t know what this colonel wants you to do, and I understand that you don’t know, either, but I’m worried. I love you, Rafa.”

  “I love you, too.” He took a deep breath and continued, “I don’t know what he wants, either, but I’m curious, and it can’t hurt to listen. I’m thinking of driving down to Fort Carson on Monday to learn the details.”