by J. R. Ryder
“Mandy.” He held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. “Jasper used to come in here all the time. You should have seen him at the beginning. He was a twig. After a few months, we managed to get some meat on his bones.”
“Freshman fifteen,” I mumbled underneath my breath.
“It was more than just freshman fifteen.” The man laughed. “ I think you needed it. You were much too skinny. I see that you’ve packed on the muscle since then.”
“I had just come back from the Navy,” I explained. “After a bad accident. I lost a lot of weight, cooped up in the medical ward.”
This killed the conversation. I sighed. I shouldn’t have brought it up.
Mandy grabbed our order number and we sat down.
“You never did tell me about that accident. What happened?” She reached across the table and took my hand in hers.
“It’s hard for me to talk about.”
“I’m your girlfriend.” She said. “I’m here to listen to you during the good times and the bad. I want you to know that no matter what, I’m here for you.”
“Thank you.” I brought her hands to my lips, kissing them. “You’ve done nothing but brighten up my life. The least I can do is tell you what happened.”
She leaned forward, listening attentively.
“As you know, I was once a Navy SEAL. Andy and I were in the same unit. He was the medic while I was one of the foot soldiers. SEALs are trained to perform high-profile missions that would be difficult for other soldiers to accomplish. We have to work as a team or everything falls apart.”
“Right.” She nodded.
“ one day, everything fell apart. I made a mistake. I gave the signal to advance too soon. The enemy ambushed us. One second, everything was fine and the next we were being blown to Timbuktu.”
She gasped. “That’s awful.”
“We lost a lot of men that day but what traumatized me the most was the fact that I survived. I managed to live while my comrades died. I remember the sound of one of them dying a few feet away from me. His face and body were so mangled that I had no idea who he was. We sent him home in a body bag. His family sent me letter after letter telling me it was my fault that their son had died. They’re right.”
She shook her head. “You can’t blame yourself. It was an accident.”
“An accident that killed my comrades.” I ground my teeth together, forcing back the tears that were already prickling against my eyes. “If I had only been more careful, they would probably still be alive today.”
“There’s no point thinking in ‘what ifs.’ The past is the past. You just have to accept that.” She laced our fingers together. “Look, we both have our dark pasts, I think the best we can do is forgive ourselves and move on.”
She was right.
Epilogue (Mandy)
One year later.
Spring had always been my favorite season. There was just something so beautiful about the growth of new life, especially here on the mountainside.
Jasper had left early in the morning to check on something at HQ. Recently, he had been going back more often, finding a good balance between work and personal life. While we lived in the mountains, away from all the city excitement, we still went back from time to time to enjoy a night out.
Beside me, Wolf tramped happily, tail wagging, wondering what I was up to. “Do you want to help me plant some flowers?” I asked him.
He barked in response.
Even though the woods were brimming with flowers, I had still started my own garden, picking and choosing at my delight. Most of them ended up being blue but since it was my favorite color it certainly made sense.
I kneeled down and started attacking the weeds that had already sprouted up among the buds. I shook my head. “How do you guys manage to grow so fast?” I asked myself.
Wolf tilted his head before he pounced on the dirt and started to dig and dig and dig, getting dirt everywhere.
“Wolf! No!” I screamed, trying to get him to stop but he was much too excited. “You’re going to ruin everything.”
He looked up at me with a playful look. Then, suddenly, he grabbed my basket and ran off.
“Hey! Come back here!” I shouted, chasing after the dog.
This was exactly what he wanted me to do.
We ran around the house a few times. I tried to outsmart him but he was too fast and cunning. “Goddamnit.” Feeling winded, I stopped to catch my breath.
“Is everything alright over here?” Jasper’s voice sounded out of thin air.
I looked up to see him standing there in his juice jacket, shirt slightly unbutton, tie undone.
“You look like you just ran a marathon.”
“Your dog ran off with my gardening tools.”
Jasper chuckled. “Wolf’s quite the handful.”
“Tell me about it.”
“ he’s a good dog.”
At those words, Wolf came bounding out of the bushes, nearly knocking Jasper to the ground. He barked excitedly. He jumped on his back legs and placed his ginormous paws on Jasper’s shoulders so he could lick his owner’s face.
“That’s enough,” Jasper ordered but the dog did not listen. He continued to slobber all over my boyfriend’s face.
I laughed.
“Oh, you think this is funny?” As soon as he managed to pry the dog off his body, he ran toward me.
My eyes widened. “Shit.” I tried to run away but in an instant, I was caught in his arms.
He pulled me into his embrace and kissed the side of my neck. “God, I missed you today. You should have gone to the office with me. I could have used you in some of those meetings.”
“I’m sure you did just fine without me,” I said, placing my hand on his chest.
“Maybe. it didn’t help that I was thinking about you all day long.”
“Oh, why’s that?”
“You’ll see.”
“Huh?”
“I want to show you something. It’s a bit of a hike but I promise it’s worth it. I’m going to change and then we can go.”
“Alright,” I answered.
In the meantime, I played with Wolf, trying to expend some of his excess energy knowing if I didn’t, he would never let us sleep later that night.
When Jasper returned, he was wearing some loose-fitting jeans and a plain black t-shirt. “Let’s go.” He held out his hand.
I took it in mine, lacing our fingers together.
Together, we made our way through the woods. Even though we both had a horrible sense of direction, I always felt so safe when I was with him. He had this air of confidence that made me feel relaxed even when we walked around in circles for hours.
But, today, Jasper seemed to be paying special attention to his surroundings. He barely spoke, keeping his eyes on the ground.
Soon enough, we walked through a clearing.
Up ahead was the lake I had seen on my first day. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. “Hey, you finally found it!” I exclaimed.
“Yup. It only took us two years.” He laughed.
“It’s a miracle that we find the cottage.”
“That’s the truth.”
We sat down on the lake bed and just enjoyed the view for a little while.
Wolf settled himself underneath the shade, falling asleep. Soon, his sores echoed through the air.
I leaned my head on Jasper’s shoulder, a smile on my face. “Do you remember the first day I met you?”
“Yeah, you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“I was having a rough day.”
“I could tell but there wasn’t much I could do. I felt like if I got any closer, you’d bit my head off.”
I chuckled. “I wasn’t that scary, was I?”
“You were pretty scary.”
We fell into a pleasant silence before Jasper reached into his pocket pulling out a little black box.
I gasped as soon as I saw it. Was that what I thought it was?
I looked at him, heart beating a mile a minute. “Jasper…”
“Mandy… will you be my wife and make me the luckiest man in the world?”
“Yes!” Without thinking, I lunged into his arms, feeling like my life couldn’t get any better.
Behind us, Wolf barked, landing on top of us.
I knew, from that moment forward, that we were meant to be one happy little family.
THE END
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ONE MORE TIME
Chapter 1 (Hope)
“Two cosmopolitans,” Darla ordered our drinks before I could even tell her what I wanted.
“I don’t really want to overdo it tonight,” I said, sitting down beside her. “You know how I get when I’m tipsy.”
“Oh, I’m not looking to get you tipsy, Hope.” She grinned deviously.
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned, narrowing my eyes. “I’m not getting drunk with you again. The last time that happened, we nearly ended up in a ditch.”
“That’s not true.”
“No? Don’t kid yourself, Darla. I still have scars from that night.”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic. We got a few scratches, that’s all. Besides, we got to meet those cute police officers. Too bad we didn’t get their numbers.”
“They nearly arrested us…”
“They just wanted to see us in handcuffs.” She giggled. “Who knows, it could’ve been fun.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re nuts. Remind me why we’re friends again.”
“Because you love me and you can’t get rid of me.” She laughed, poking my arm.
The bartender returned with our drinks, smiling charmingly in Darla’s direction. She winked at the young man, leaning forward as she sipped from her glass. Doing so exposed some of her cleavage.
The man turned red in the face, adjusting the collar of his shirt. “Uh, can I get you ladies anything else?”
Darla was just about to say something when I cut her off. “No. We’re okay for now. Thank you.” I waited for him to leave before I turned to my friend. “Do you really have to flirt with every cute guy you see.”
“I don’t flirt with all of them, just the really cute ones.” She said playfully. “And that guy was a cutie.”
I looked at the bartender. Sure, he was attractive. Tall, fair skin, blue eyes, but I couldn’t see what Darla saw. “He’s okay, I guess.”
“You guess?” She waved her hand in front of my face. “You blind or something? Look at that butt.”
“Will you shut up? He’s going to hear you.”
“Maybe I want him to.” She giggled, speaking a little louder.
He glanced our way, flashing a smile before he accidentally spilled vodka all over the floor.
“Look what you did. Now he’s all flustered.”
Darla chuckled. “It’s not my fault he can’t handle looking at the girls.” She said, adjusting her bra.
“I’ve never seen a girl so infatuated with her own boobs. That can’t be healthy.”
“Hey, if you got it, flaunt it.”
“Thank you, Miss Life Coach.”
“You’re welcome. Speaking of which, did you hear back about that Interpreter position at Periodic?”
“Not yet. They’re supposed to call me tomorrow.”
“Do you think they’re going to hire you?”
“I hope so… I could use the money.” I said, running my finger along the rim of my glass, peering down at the colorful liquid.
“What are you talking about? You make rent every month and have enough left over to indulge yourself a little. What are you worried about money for?”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in an apartment all my life. I want my own house.”
“Don’t you want a husband or something first?”
“I don’t need a guy to buy a house.”
“Hmm…” Darla took another sip of her drink. “You’ve been going on about the whole independent woman deal a lot lately. Have you given up on men or something?”
“No. It’s just that I don’t understand why some girls think they need a guy for certain things. Why can’t I buy a house first and then find a guy later?”
Darla shrugged. “I guess you have a point. Is the job you applied for really paying that much that you think you could afford a house on your own?”
“Close to six figures a year.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah. With advancement opportunities too.”
“Damn. Looks like I’m working in the wrong field.”
“You could always take a training course. It’s not that hard.”
She shook her head. “I was never very good at learning other languages. I would sound like an idiot.”
“I’d teach you.”
“Forget it, I’ll stick with my secretary job. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find a sugar daddy to support me.”
“I hope you’re kidding.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Seriously, Darla, you don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re smart and hardworking. I’m sure you could achieve everything you want on your own if you just put in a little bit more effort.”
“Who’s the life coach now?” She taunted, her lips twitching into an amused smirk.
Our conversation died down and we both focused on our drinks. I simmered in my thoughts, picturing my dream home. It would be big, but not too big, with a little garden in the back. The garden would be overflowing with roses and daisies or any flower I want. In the winter, I would sit by the fireplace and enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate. It would be perfect. I just needed that job to come through…
Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard Darla gasp.
“What is it?” I asked with alarm.
“N-Nothing!” She stammered quickly.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing!” She looked away quickly. “I just… brain freeze, you know?”
“Darla, you suck at lying. Cosmos aren’t even served with ice. Honestly.” I swiveled on the barstool, looking around.
My heart stopped when I spotted him.
Andre Moore.
Was it really him?
I blinked, half-expecting him to disappear from sight. Surely, he had to be a figment of my imagination. He hadn’t set foot in this town for nearly ten years… ever since college…
***
“Hey! Stop that!” I squealed as Andre grabbed me by the hips, holding me close to his body.
“What’s the matter, baby? Don’t like to be tickled?” His fingers ran up and down my side.
I squirmed, trying to escape his grasp. “C’mon, seriously, stop it… I can’t breathe…” I wheezed through my laughter.
Andre didn’t care.
He just kept tickling me until I was on the bed, his body hovering over mine. Before I could even catch my breath, he had my wrists pinned above my head, a fire burning in his eyes.
Slowly, he leaned down. As he did, his muscles rippled under his skin until his body was firmly pressed against my own.
I held my breath, our lips merely inches apart at this point. When he didn’t move, I pressed my face forward, trying to close the distance between us, desperate to have those sweet lips on mine.
He chuckled. “Have you missed me that much?” He asked, his husky whisper running through my mind, turning it to mush. With his lips already next to my ear, he took the time to nibble o
n my lobe, something that he knew drove me wild. His lips then traveled to the side of my neck until they lingered on my collarbone. When he finally reached my cleavage, he looked up at me with those dark eyes of his, sending a shiver through my spine.