A Hero to Come Home To by Marilyn Pappano Read Free Book Online

when the bus turned into the transition unit parking lot.
    “This war is so wrong,” she whispered.
    Carly gave her a startled glance. Her life, and her friends’ lives, had been drastically changed by the war, and they talked about every aspect of it, except whether it was a righteous battle that had to be fought or a tragic waste of American life. Jeff had supported it to the end, and she would like the country to see it through to the end, if that was possible. She didn’t want to think his nation might give up on the conflict that took his life.
    “My son’s kindergarten teacher—her husband died in Afghanistan,” the woman went on. “She’s younger than me, has two kids like me…It’s just so sad.”
    So did mine, and it is sad, but they died doing something they loved for a cause they wholeheartedly embraced. But the words stuck in Carly’s throat.
    “My husband’s enlistment is up soon, and I want him to get out. It’s too dangerous. But he doesn’t want to, and with the economy…”
    The squeal of the bus’s brakes practically obscured Mom’s sigh. Grateful for the excuse not to respond, Carly stood and faced the back. “Remember, kids: No running, no arguing, and lots of smiles, okay?”
    “Yes, Miss Lowry,” most of them chimed. With a gleam in his dark eyes, Paco waited until they were done to energetically add, “You betcha, Miss Lowry.”
    They filed out of the bus and into the building, down the hall and into the gym. For too many of the soldiers, physical and occupational therapy had become a full-time job. The palpable drive and determination in the room always boosted Carly’s spirits but, at the same time, made her just a little ashamed. Some of these guys had lost so much, but they hadn’t given up. They were moving ahead.
    And so was she. Slowly. She hadn’t acknowledged even once today that it had been twenty-five months, three weeks, and three days since Jeff’s death. She wasn’t the hermit she used to be. She had a focus in her life now.
    She would never stop hurting or missing Jeff, but she could live without him.
    The thought brought both incredible satisfaction and incredible sorrow. He was the only man she’d ever loved, the light of her life, but she could live without him.
    It was hard to say who was happier to see whom, the kids or the troops. The children flitted like butterflies around sweet blossoms, greeting old friends and introducing themselves to new ones. Robin, the aide, immediately sought out one man in particular. What had started as a class project was evolving into a romance. Carly wished them well and tried to imagine herself in the same place, but it was tough when her heart kept projecting Jeff’s face onto the nameless man in the fantasy.
    She wandered the perimeter of the room, speaking to everyone, occasionally nudging a shy child or soldier to make contact. She was halfway back to where she started when a tall, lean figure standing next to the seated hamstring curl machine caught her attention. He wore sweatpants and a gray T-shirt and was drinking from a bottle of water while talking to another man straining to maneuver the machine’s heavy weights.
    It was Dane.
    She closed the dozen feet, leaving the machine between them, and lightly touched the second man’s shoulder. “Hey, Justin, how’s it going?”
    “Aw, I’m just playing here. You want me to get up so you can hop on?”
    “Are you suggesting that my legs need work more than yours?”
    The younger man grinned. “I don’t know. Hike that skirt up a few inches and let me see.”
    She gave him a chastening look before slowly shifting her attention to Dane. “If it isn’t the caveman. Fort Murphy is a smaller universe than I thought.”
    For a moment, he had the same deer-in-the-headlights look that he’d gotten in the cave Saturday when he realized he was trapped with six women. Then he took a breath and his fingers relaxed around the bottle. “Carly, isn’t it?”
    “Carly