Wayward Soldiers by Joshua P. Simon Read Free Book Online

her father after the first eruption, why would she have said something like that? I was ready to lay into her when I saw the beginnings of a grin tugging at the corner of her thin, pink lips. She smiled wider as she caught me noticing it.
    She had been teasing.
    “Sorry, maybe I’ve been listening to Ira and your sister give you a hard time for too long. It just seemed like too good of an opportunity.”
    I chuckled. “You took me off guard.”
    “That was the idea.”
    I laughed again, recalling a fond memory. “You know Lasha used to do the same thing to me. She’d . . .” My voice trailed off, remembering what Ava and Dekar had said about Damaris earlier.
    “She’d what?”
    Damaris asked the question in a way that suggested she was genuinely interested in the story. Maybe she was, but I couldn’t go on. I felt guilty for even mentioning my wife around her. Talking about Lasha bothered me even more than potentially upsetting Damaris.
    “Are you all right?”
    I blinked. “Sorry. Just drifted off.”
    “I should probably head back into town and wait for my father. Maybe listening to everyone else arguing will make the time go faster.”
    The hint of fear had returned to her voice.
    “Maybe. I’ll head back with you.”
    We didn’t say anything at first during the walk back. The only sound was the scraping of our feet on the hard earth and the increasing volume of conversations among the townspeople.
    “We’re leaving town tomorrow,” I blurted. “Nason and his family are coming with us. You and your father are welcome to come as well.”
    Where had that come from?
    We both stopped walking. Damaris stepped in front of me.
    “Are you serious?”
    Was I? No good would come from traveling with a woman who apparently had feelings for me while I still mourned my wife and tried to bond with my children.
    “I think so.”
    I screamed inside my head. That’s not what I had wanted to say.
    “You think so?” She cocked her head to the side, flipping blonde hair over half her face as she awaited an answer.
    She was a beautiful woman. The admission surprised me at first until I realized how silly I was being at letting Dekar and Ava affect my thoughts and behavior. There was nothing wrong with admitting Damaris was attractive. In fact, she had a striking face that put many women to shame.
    Besides, it’s not like I had never appreciated the looks of women other than Lasha before, regardless of what Ava might say. It was just every other woman paled in comparison to my wife.
    Any man would be thrilled to have Damaris as a wife. Maybe I would have been too if I’d never met Lasha. My wife had been the kind of woman that the minstrels in Hol write songs about.
    It always amazed me that Lasha picked me over every other man in the world.
    Suddenly comfortable with the confusing feelings running around my head, I relaxed. Why wouldn’t I invite Damaris and Sivan? They had proven themselves strong workers in the aftermath of the second eruption. I recalled old Sivan on horseback. Someone with skill like that would come in handy as we traveled.
    I puffed out a big breath. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I invite you and your father?”
    Her face brightened which made me realize I needed to be careful about how I phrased things around her. Just because I was comfortable with where things stood between us didn’t mean we shared the same feelings.
    “Thank you. That’d be great. We had no idea what we’d do next. We didn’t have the money to pay the bank for our shop before, let alone repair what’s left of it now.” Her brow furrowed. “What if my father isn’t back by the time you’re ready to leave?”
    “Then we’ll wait a bit longer.”
    “And if he’s still not back?”
    In other words, how long would I wait for him? Would I have to force her into deciding that her father might be dead and leave without him?
    At least that’s what I thought she was getting at. If so, I wasn’t ready to give that