Mitzi's Marine

by Rogenna Brewer

  “You can get that wet?” Estrada asked.

  “Whole lot of advances in prosthetics,” he said, climbing the stairs to the tub. He stepped in left foot first and sat across from Estrada. They were staring each other down when Mitzi came out.

  Shivering, she dropped her towel over a chair and tiptoed up the stairs. She was wearing a pink-floral-on-black two-piece with just a hint of skin showing between the pink top and the black bottom.

  “This is heaven,” she said, moving to the opposite side of the tub and sitting between them.

  Annie must have found a swimsuit. She came out in a fluffy pink bathrobe, which she dropped at the top of the stairs. Okay, no swimsuit. But she had on a tank top and a pink thong. Air Force Annie, the blonde bombshell, was a double D, and that tank top was going to look mighty interesting wet.

  MITZI WAS A RESPECTABLE B cup. Men did not drool over her breasts. But she liked to think her breasts were proportionate to her size. Annie was not a respectable B cup and she’d been sticking to Bruce like glue all day—ever since the hot tub foursome last night—and Mitzi didn’t like it one bit.

  The thing was she had no right to be jealous.

  Mitzi had already decided she and Calhoun made better friends than lovers. And since his return, she really hadn’t given Dan a chance.

  She and Dan were carving out a slope together, wind whipping at her cheeks. Dan was tearing up the moguls while she was doing her best to keep up.

  When they reached the bottom of the hill, she stopped and raised her goggles. “I never did answer your question.”

  “And…?” he prompted.

  “I’d like to come back at Christmas,” she said.

  He caught on really quickly. He leaned over his skis to kiss her.

  She kissed him back with a thoroughness she’d never allowed herself before. He tasted of spearmint.

  “If there weren’t twenty-two other people staying with us right now—” He growled deep in his throat, letting her know exactly how much he wanted to reach that next level.

  And those twenty-two other people were never far behind. “Whoa, Mr. Estrada,” one kid said, sliding past.

  “Break it up, you two,” Annie teased, spraying them with powder as she turned into a stop.

  Mitzi wiped away the zinc lip balm she’d left on Dan’s cheek. When she looked up, Calhoun was there, watching them. He took a pack of cinnamon gum from his pocket. “Gum, anyone?”

  THE 10TH MOUNTAIN (Light) Division arrived in style the next day. Their group watched the demonstration in shock and awe from the top of the basin as the mountain men jumped out of a helicopter with their skis on, into the back bowls, and worked their way down.

  A second lieutenant with the 10th met their group on the mountain and provided the commentary as his men skied. They used the private trail at the back of the cabin for a more hands-on demonstration, showcasing their equipment. And for a shooting demonstration, proving just how accurate they were whether on snowmobiles or skis.

  Afterward the entire group agreed they wanted one last run before heading home. The adults, including some of Dan’s buddies, had taken the Skyline Express lift and were standing at the top of Blue Sky Basin.

  Everything to the left of the lift was steep and fast. Double black diamonds, X-treme double black diamonds and unmarked terrain with trails that were mere suggestions of trails.

  Mitzi knew she was going right. Annie and a couple of her new admirers from the 10th also headed in that direction.

  Clearly, Dan wanted to go left with his buddies. “If it’s all right with you.”

  “Go,” she said with a parting kiss. She’d been holding him back all weekend.

  Besides, it wasn’t Dan she was worried about. Bruce looked as if he had every intention of following the extreme team.

  But he wasn’t ready for this.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” she asked.

  “Down a mountain.”

  “You—”

  “Shh. Don’t say can’t right now, Chief. It would spoil the moment. You could just send me on my way with a kiss, like you did him.”

  “Calhoun, you coming or not?” Dan called back.

  Bruce glanced over his shoulder, then back at her. “Or you could beg me to stay with your kisses.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Bruce,” she said as he turned away toward the ridge.

  Mitzi hesitated a moment. That man was going to get himself killed.

  She caught up to Annie on the way down.

  By the time they reached the bottom, it was clear by the number of ski patrol snowmobiles there was something going on up the mountain.

  Her stomach knotted when she saw Keith and her Navy SEAL recruits racing toward her.

  “Oh, man!” Keith came to a hockey stop beside them. “He broke his freakin’ leg.”

  “I’m going to kill him!” Mitzi didn’t know whether to be angry or thankful that it was his leg and not his neck. “I knew your brother was going to get himself hurt.”

  “Not Bruce,” Keith said. “Mr. Estrada.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CALHOUN TOOK CHARGE of shuffling cars and kids, since Dan, with his thigh-high cast, could no longer drive down the mountain. Annie drove Dan’s Bronco, while Keith drove Annie’s Subaru. Annie and Bruce both took on extra passengers so that Keith and Mitzi could ride with one less.

  Keith because of his inexperience. And Mitzi so that Dan could relax. Although the pain pills seemed to have taken care of that.

  Mitzi was glad Annie insisted Heather ride with her and that Kelly had climbed into the Hummer. That way Keith had no distractions. Their convoy descended the mountain in reverse order, with the Hummer out in front.

  It was after nine o’clock Sunday night by the time they got everyone home and cars switched back. Dan insisted on being their last stop. Annie parked the Bronco in his drive and Mitzi pulled in behind her. Keith had followed them so Annie would have her car back once she drove him home. Bruce was still dropping off the last of the kids.

  That left the three of them to get Dan inside. The pain meds made him loopy, so the crutches were out of the question. Getting him into the wheelchair was no easier, and once they had him situated they still needed to get him up the front step and into his house.

  It was Keith who thought to look in the garage for a piece of plywood to make a ramp of sorts. And Keith who helped Dan from the wheelchair to the couch before he and Annie left.

  It seemed wrong to leave Dan alone in his condition, so she called her dad to let him know where she was spending the night. “Can I get you anything?” she asked, closing her cell phone. “Some extra pillows?”

  “That would be nice.”

  He directed her toward his bedroom and she brought out two more pillows. Mitzi eased the first one under his leg. A couple of the girls had had multicolored markers with them, and his cast had taken on its own personality.

  He leaned forward so she could sit behind him. She settled the pillow and his head in her lap and handed him the remote.

  “This is my idea of heaven,” he said, flipping through the channels while she stroked his dark brown hair. “I’m sorry I screwed up our time together.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” she said. “You gave the kids something to talk about. And at least it happened on the last run of the day.”

  “No, I meant our time.” His glance swept her face, then toward his cast. “I’m going to be out of commission for a while.”

  He reached up to pull her head down for a kiss. Apparently out of commission didn’t mean completely out of action. His hand slipped beneath her blouse. As he worked his way up her rib cage to cup her breast, she realized two things. That she had just experienced arousal at the hands of another man. And that she had always, always been faithful to Calhoun.

  She was afraid her inexperience with other men showed. When Danny moved beyond her comfort zone to unhook her bra and cup her bare breast, she tried to think of ways to slow hi
m down without totally turning him off.

  She gasped as he raised her blouse and took the peak of one breast into his mouth.

  “Just a taste,” he said, pulling back. “I don’t want to scare you off.” He covered her back up and she fell a little in love with him.

  “Danny Estrada, you are one sweet, sweet man.”

  “I’m afraid my self-restraint is in question tonight,” he confessed, indicating the prescription bottle on his coffee table.

  It was just around ten o’clock when his doorbell rang.

  “Who do you suppose that is?” she asked. Dan raised himself from her lap so she could get up to answer it.

  “I’ll give you one guess,” he said.

  “Calhoun,” she said, using the peephole. Mitzi opened the door.

  “Impeccable timing, as always,” Dan said. Mitzi felt the immediate undercurrent that was always there between the two men.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Thought Estrada could use my help.”

  “I’m here.”

  “If you’re okay with getting him to the bath room.” She hadn’t thought about that. “Otherwise I’m spending the night,” he said, throwing his jacket onto a nearby chair and sitting down.

  “We’re all right together,” Dan reassured her. “Why don’t you head home and get some sleep?”

  “If you’re sure…”

  “I’m just going to crash anyway.”

  Mitzi picked up her shoulder bag and jacket. “Good night,” she said.

  “You might want to adjust yourself first,” Calhoun said, making her aware that her bra was still unhooked.

  She waited until she was outside in the van to adjust herself.

  “ARE YOU JUST GOING TO sit there and glare at me all night?” Estrada asked. They were watching late-night TV on Comedy Central, neither one of them saying much.

  “I might,” Bruce admitted. “I’m trying to figure out a polite way of putting this. So here it is.” He looked Estrada in the eye. “You hurt her, and next time I don’t just break your leg in two places, I break your neck.”

  “Fair enough,” the other man said.

  Bruce hadn’t literally broken the other man’s leg. But their competition down the mountain had gotten out of hand.

  “That was some pretty awesome flat lining for a gimp,” Estrada said. When flat lining on a steep slope there was always that point of no return.

  No slowing down, no stopping.

  Where any attempt to turn or check your speed resulted in a crash. You just had to hold on until you reached the bottom. That’s all Bruce had done. With sheer grit and determination he’d held on longer than the other man.

  But there was such a thing as holding on too tight.

  Bruce reached into his back pocket for his wallet. He pulled out two tickets to The Nutcracker. “She gave up her opening-night tickets, but she likes ballet. And this is her favorite.” He tossed the tickets to the coffee table.

  NOVEMBER HAD COME AND GONE. Though it seemed like only yesterday that he’d walked through that door of the recruiting office, he’d been here a month. As Bruce hung up the phone his gaze drifted toward Mitzi.

  She and Henry were getting ready to go to the VA. Henry was still trying to hide his training leg from her with a lap blanket. Bruce shook his head.

  “What?” she asked. “You’re staring.”

  The call was the one he’d been waiting for.

  O-course, next week. He’d been thinking he’d hear something after Christmas. Physically he was up to the challenge. He just wasn’t mentally prepared for it to be this soon.

  “The Parade of Lights is this weekend,” he said. “I volunteered to help Lucky with the Toys for Tots float. I was wondering if you’d like to come?”

  “Dan and I have parade plans both nights.” She worried her bottom lip. “We’re taking in the parade, then having dinner downtown.” He pursed his lips and nodded in acceptance of the situation. He told himself it was for the best now that his departure was imminent.

  “What about you, old man?”

  “Got bells to ring.”

  Looked as if he was going alone.

  “Do you need help with the float?” she asked, throwing him a bone. “Before Friday, I mean.”

  “If your idea of fun is chicken wire and tissue paper. Tonight and tomorrow night.”

  “I think a Parade of Lights float is a little more sophisticated than high school homecoming, Calhoun,” she said, getting up from her desk with car keys in hand. “What time?”

  “Right after work. I’ll pick you up.”

  THE NUTCRACKER-THEMED FLOAT sponsored by Toys for Tots and Build a Bear had arrived at the staging warehouse on that Wednesday before the Friday/Saturday parade—in pieces.

  Some assembly required would have been an understatement.

  Mitzi’s mission had been to make sure everyone had enough black coffee to keep them going. Bruce, Lucky and another half dozen Marines from Lucky’s reserve unit had spent the next forty-eight hours putting the float together in shifts.

  Somehow Mitzi had let Lucky rope her into playing Clara for the second year in a row. Dan had more than understood—he’d volunteered along with everyone else.

  The slight modification to their plans gave them the full parade experience for the two-day televised event sponsored by 9NEWS. Huddled in the staging area on Friday, waiting for the parade to begin, other costumed characters like her were surrounded by festive balloons, high-school marching bands and horse-drawn carriages.

  The worst part was knowing she was about to freeze her tutu off. Just as soon as she removed her jacket.

  “Hi,” Dan said, rolling up in his wheelchair. He had a cast on his left leg, from his foot halfway up his thigh. He’d broken his leg in two places. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened that day, only that Bruce and Dan were in a race to the bottom.

  She bent to kiss him. “How’s the leg?”

  “Itchy.”

  “I need you to put this on.” Lucky, dressed as a very fit-looking Marine Corps Santa Claus, held out an oversize Rat King head to Bruce, complete with crown.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  Dan snickered.

  “Not kidding.” He forced the rat head into Bruce’s hands. “Sorry, Mitzi,” Lucky said, “the coat’s gotta come off. I found this for you.” He handed her a short cape, pink with white faux fur trim, that would cover her shoulders. He did provide her with two pairs of long-sleeved pink tights to wear under her tutu.

  “Break a leg,” Dan teased as she handed him her coat for safekeeping. “I’ll meet you at the finish line.” Which was right back here where they were starting. She smiled at him.

  Bruce removed his white service cap and put the Rat King head on. “At least it’s warm in here.” His voice echoed.

  Mitzi helped him with his white web belt and sword because he couldn’t see well enough to do it on his own. “You look quite dashing, Your High ness. For a rat.”

  “Aren’t I supposed to be the bad guy in all this, Meredith Marie?” For as long as she could remember she’d been going by Mitzi, or Mitz for short. It was so much a part of her, she’d almost forgotten who’d given her those nicknames.

  It had started with Bruce teasing her with “Mini-Marie” at six. By the time school started she was Mitzi.

  “How could you ever be the bad guy, Bruce?” She checked his gig line, making sure all his buttons were aligned. Her hand came to rest on his chest and he covered her hand with his gloved hand.

  “Dear sweet Marie…” He began to recite from The Nutcracker and she stopped him.

  “I think we’re about to begin.”

  FOR THE SECOND NIGHT in a row Marines in dress blues marched alongside the float, while the Englewood High School marching band moved out in front, playing “Here Comes Santa Claus.”

  That tune was going to be stuck in his head for days.

  If it wasn’t for his high and tight, his
hair would have been matted. As it was, Bruce was dripping with sweat when he removed his Rat King head.

  At the end of the parade route marching bands dispersed and floats were towed back to warehouses for the night. He still had a long night ahead of him and another long day tomorrow, helping to disassemble the thing for storage. But all in all he’d enjoyed the experience.

  Now warm beneath her overcoat, Mitzi huddled over steaming hot cocoa with the other volunteers. Her cheeks were pink from the cold. And he had the strongest desire to kiss the tip of her nose to see if it was just as cold.

  “You look ready to call it a night,” he said.

  “I am.” She picked up a cup of cocoa from the volunteer station and handed it to him.

  “No dinner date with Dan this evening?”

  “He’s pulling the car around. In his condition and with this crowd he could be a while. At least it’s his left leg—” She cut herself off abruptly. “I’m s-sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean—”

  “I know what you meant, Chief.”

  She hid from further embarrassment behind a sip of cocoa.

  He wasn’t embarrassed. His left leg was gone. He’d rather talk about it than shy away from it. And yet here he was having trouble spitting out the very words he’d been waiting to say to her since his arrival. “I’m leaving, come Monday.”

  She stared at him over the brim of her cup. “Before Christmas?”

  He nodded.

  His duty assignment would follow. But he was thinking of using some of his leave to ensure he’d be home for Christmas.

  He hadn’t been home for Christmas in a long time.

  He surprised them both by giving in to the urge and kissing the tip of her cherry nose. “Good night,” he said as if it wasn’t goodbye.

  It was as cold as it looked.

  Bruce couldn’t help but smile when he realized her eyes remained on him as he headed back toward the warehouse.

  Not far from where the parade had begun and ended, he spotted his brother’s car in a nearly empty lot. Keith was standing beside it in his Build a Bear costume, holding his bear head to his hip.