Steel Rain: A Military Romance Collection

by A. Gorman

  “I saw your post this morning on the post. Is that right? I suck at this social media thing. Anyway. Good job, son. I approve. You can give her a store credit of up to two-fifty, depending on how pissed she really is.”

  “Thank you, sir. But um…you might be getting a call from the Mister Harding she sited in the letter.”

  “Did you tell him off?”

  “Kind of.”

  “Good. Pigfucker. Have a good one, Gavin.” He was gone.

  Gavin pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it like a thing alive. He looked between the handset and Mellie and the space by the front door a few times. Mellie motioned him to spill the beans. “That was Homes himself. He…he, uh. Called Harding a pigfucker.”

  Mellie collapsed in laughter.

  Chapter Three

  HURRICANE LOURDES FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 1

  NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL

  2100 UTC TUE SEP 06 20XX

  CHANGES IN WATCHES AND WARNINGS

  WITH THIS ADVISORY...

  THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED

  A HURRICANE WATCH FOR THE

  EAST COAST OF MAINLAND US FROM

  CAPE HATTERAS TO CAPE COD.

  SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

  A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...

  *CAPE HATTERAS TO CAPE COD*

  *THE WATERS OF THE CHESAPEAKE*

  *COASTAL WATERS UPTO 100 MILES INLAND*

  A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA...IN THIS CASE WITHIN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA.

  PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHWEST OR 3

  ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 986 MB

  MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 65 KT WITH GUSTS TO 80 KT.

  64 KT.......30NE 30SE 0SW 0NW.

  50 KT.......50NE 60SE 50SW 40NW.

  34 KT.......160NE 200SE 90SW 90NW.

  15 FT SEAS..150NE 300SE 150SW 30NW.

  WINDS AND SEAS VARY GREATLY IN EACH QUADRANT.

  RADII IN NAUTICAL

  MILES ARE THE LARGEST RADII EXPECTED ANYWHERE

  IN THAT QUADRANT.

  REQUEST FOR 3 HOURLY SHIP REPORTS WITHIN 300 MILES

  NEXT ADVISORY AT 07/0300Z

  $$

  FORECASTER SMYTHE

  Gavin tapped his hand on the desk, staring at the print out. Two weeks out was a huge time when it came to hurricanes, and this one wasn’t being advertised to the public yet. It was barely an Invest off the Canary Islands, so he didn’t really understand the watch for this one.

  Though, since just before Sandy, the forecasters had been getting better. They had exactly located Sandy within 25 miles of landfall. That was impressive.

  A hurricane would cause a run on the store. There were still people who hadn’t finished recovering what they could from Sandy. He had to make a few decisions in the next two or three days. He had a chance to make sure that Homes’ Warehouse had enough on hand to supply the locals.

  He was about to reach for the phone to talk to Mister Homes.

  “Manager to the parking lot.”

  “Parking lot?” Gavin looked up at the speaker. “What the hell, Patty?” Disgruntled, he put the coffee and the pen down and headed for the stairs. Patty was covering for Mellie this week while she was on vacation, and he was questioning his own decisions to pull the paint assistant to the front. “Parking lot.” He grumbled all the way down the stairs and found Patty standing in front of the security monitors.

  “What the hell, Patty. Parking lot?”

  She pointed to the monitors, and there were two cop cars pulling in the lot. On another monitor, Harding was blocking in a car that had taken up the veteran’s courtesy spot, and he was leaning against the door, arms folded, very pleased with himself.

  “Shit shit shit,” Gavin snapped, grabbing his ID off the counter and making a beeline for the parking lot. He ran for the doors, and they almost didn’t open in time. He turned the corner just as the two cop cars parked and bracketed Harding’s car. “What are you doing?!” Gavin screamed at the old man. He was so done with this old fart and his self-righteous campaign.

  “I found her,” he said, grinning. “This is the one who keeps parking—”

  “She’s a fucking veteran, you old fucking fart!” Gavin couldn’t stand the smirk on the old man’s face. “She served in fucking Iraq. She has a goddamn purple heart!”

  He turned around to address the woman in the car, and his heart sank into his shoes.

  The redhead.

  The adorable little redhead he had been pining after for months was sitting in the car in the veteran’s spot. She was the one who got the terrible letter from this asshole. That was the reason she had a limp.

  She was sitting in the driver’s seat, feet on the ground, head in her hands. She shook lightly, clearly crying and upset.

  Gavin whipped back to Harding. “Get in your car, and get out of my parking lot. Get out of here. You have embarrassed and upset this woman that I have already had to apologize to once for your fucking stupidity. I tried to tell you nicely that this wasn’t a concern of yours! I tried to tell you to leave it alone. I tried to drop hints that this wasn’t an issue. But you just had to press it.” He pointed at the pretty redhead. “She was coming here to pick up the gift card I have for her for the damage your ignorant note on her windshield did the other day. Get in your car, and get out of here. Don’t come back. Ever. You’re not allowed on this property again for any reason.”

  The officers were standing and watching with their eyebrows raised and arms folded. They seemed to be quietly impressed, but Gavin was rip-roaring mad. “Get him out of here!”

  “Mister Schwartz.” The redhead was suddenly next to him and had a hand on his arm. “Please, calm down. This is not as bad as you’re making it out to be. It’s a misunderstanding. Don’t ban him from the store. Homes’ warehouse is one of the best stores, and that’s not fair for just a bit of a mix up.”

  Gavin turned to address her, and realized she wasn’t just pretty, she was gorgeous. Her eyes were so honest, and so empathetic he couldn’t tell her no. “I was just trying to defend your honor.”

  “Well, I appreciate that, sir. But, as you know, I’m pretty good at defending myself.”

  Gavin took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I have tried to warn off Mister Harding for nearly two weeks. But he simply wouldn’t hear me.”

  Harding was standing there agape. “How the hell is she a veteran?”

  “I served in Iraq, sir,” she answered. “I use the spot because my foot was severely injured in an explosion. Today is a bad foot day, but I didn’t want to wait much longer to claim the gracious gift Homes was giving me by way of apology.”

  “You’re…a woman. How can you have served?”

  “Major Bernadette Magillicuddy, Army Nurse Corps.” She smiled at him, but the snap of her words said she was getting fed up as well.

  “Mister Harding.” One of the police officers interrupted the little feud that was brewing, and Gavin was grateful that he did. “I think the lady has proved her point. I would suggest that, in the future, you don’t assume that someone of the opposite sex doesn’t have the right to park here. She served, just as much as you did.”

  He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her as the officer took his hand and walked him around the back end of his car. The other officer walked up to the two of them. “Ma’am. I would suggest you close and lock your car for now and follow the manager into the store. We’ll have Mister Harding off the property. Sir, would you like to file a restraining order?”

  Bernadette looked at him, and he could see she was asking him not to.

  “No, no. That’s not necessary. He just…crisped my cookie with this stunt.”

  “Understandable. Do you need anything out of the car, ma’am?”

  “I’ve got it, officer. Thank you.
”

  Gavin waited for her at the back of the car and as it beeped he motioned for her to lead the way into the store. Her flame red hair danced in the breeze and it was only when they were nearly in the door did he notice she was limping badly today. “Do you want one of the motorized carts, Ms. Magillicuddy?”

  “Thank you, I prefer to walk. I could use a regular cart.”

  Gavin pulled one out of the line and walked it over to her. Smiling he motioned her over to the courtesy desk. “If you’ll wait here, I’ll get you the gift certificate.”

  “I really don’t need it—”

  “I insist. It’s all ready to go, I just have to grab it from the office.”

  Patty popped out of the office stairwell. “Got it.” She handed off the little envelope to him, with a cocked head and a ‘don’t forget to ask her out, this time, dickbag’ look on her face.

  “Ms. Magillicuddy, I really am sorry that he came after you. I was horrified after reading your note. I really had tried to call him off—”

  “It’s fine, Mr. Schwartz. No real harm done in the end.”

  He held the envelope out as a peace offering. Smiling, the flame-haired beauty accepted it and started to push her cart away from the desk.

  Patty nailed him in the back of his head with one of the stress balls they had in the desk. He rubbed the offended spot and tossed her a dirty look over his shoulder. But he got the message and trotted after her.

  “Um, Ms. Magillicuddy, I was wondering—”

  “My name’s Bernadette. Most people call me Nadi.”

  Gavin stared at her, and then finally his brain digested what she said. “Nadi. Cute. I’m Gavin.” He offered his hand to shake.

  Another stress ball nailed him in the head again—apparently, Patty had excellent aim. He snatched his hand back quickly. “Uh, I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me?”

  “I’d love to.”

  “You would?” Patty nailed him with another stress ball. He spun around. “Will you stop?!”

  “You’re screwing this up!” Patty snapped.

  Gavin turned back to Bernadette to apologize just to find her laughing and trying not to. She looked chastised, but not enough to be able to pull her laugh back.

  “I’m sorry,” she managed. She cleared her throat. “I guess you’ve been waiting a while to ask.”

  “A little. Well. More than a little.”

  “You’re sweet.” She leaned to the side and called to Patty, “He did just fine. He gets a date.”

  “Yeay!” Patty tossed her hands in the air in celebration.

  Gavin put a hand to his head. “Don’t encourage them.”

  “I will if it encourages you.” She gave him a sly smile. “When and what time?”

  “Tomorrow night okay? Seven?”

  “I’m not a big party person, and I don’t do clubs. Anything is fine by me.” She held up a business card for him. “My address is on the back.”

  “Seven. Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow.”

  He watched her walk away, and could feel a stupid grin on his face. Patty hit him with another ball. He didn’t even turn around; he just gave her the middle finger.

  Chapter Four

  Checking the address again, Gavin finally hit the ‘go’ button on his Waze app. The electronically pleasant voice rang out telling him the absolute worst way to get out of his neighborhood, and he spent the next two minutes listening to the damn thing panic as he took the route he was most familiar with.

  Finally, it settled down and led him through the street to the most major road in the area, then down that road for ten minutes.

  Bernadette didn’t live far from him at all. She was close to the store, too. And some of the oldest, prettiest Victorian houses were in her neighborhood. Gavin felt a little intimidated as he got closer; she was repairing one of these on her own while he, the manager of the home improvement store, was living in a managed apartment. There was something wrong with that picture.

  He realized he was going to be early as he turned the corner. He didn’t want to seem like he was anxious—even though he was—and he didn’t want to come off like a stalker—though he had to admit he’d been doing a little of that as well. Passing the house, which was really nice and neat, Gavin pulled around the corner and parked for just a few minutes. He wouldn’t have cared if it was just a few minutes, but he was nearly twenty minutes a head of schedule. That wouldn’t work for him.

  He pulled his phone out, and as he was about to open Facebook, the text message went off.

  Bernadette: You missed the house.

  Well, shit.

  Gavin: Yeah, I did that on purpose. Too early.

  Bernadette: Come back. I’m ready.

  He shoved the phone into the holder and moved the car to park in front of her house. She was standing in the door holding her phone and laughing lightly. Gavin was mortified. He just couldn’t seem to get himself together around this chick. Just faux pas after screw up.

  “It’s okay, Gav. I’m good with you being early. If I were honest, I would tell you that I almost called you earlier to ask if you wanted to meet earlier.” She shoved the phone in a back pocket. “Is this outfit good?”

  He had barely been able to follow what she was saying, the outfit looked so good. Skinny jeans, a cream shirt and a teal vest with multiple color patterns on it looked good enough to peel off her. “Uh, yeah. That’s fine. I was thinking about going to LBI. Maybe down by Fantasy Island.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun.” She held up a finger and ducked into the house. Reappearing a moment later, she pulled the door closed and tossed her purse over her shoulder. “Can I make a request?”

  “Absolutely.” Gavin was delighted that she asked. Most of the women he had talked to lately had been dead fish—just wanting him to lead them around on leashes. And he wasn’t interested in women like that. This woman had a personality, and he liked it.

  “Can we go up to the lighthouse? There’s ice cream and a nice view.”

  “Is it cheesy if I say I already have a nice view.”

  Bernadette laughed as he held the door open for her. “Oh, yeah. That’s cheesy.” She paused as she climbed in. “But it’s still sweet of you to say it.” He watched as she carefully maneuvered herself into the car, taking care with her bad foot and pulling the seat belt over.

  Once they were on the way, Gavin reconsidered his plan and headed for a place north on the Island. He didn’t want to waste time driving from one end to the other after dinner. There were a few small restaurants that were open all year round, though none really past nine at night. Wanda’s was in the Y of the road to the lighthouse, so he opted to stop there.

  “This place has been here forever.” Gavin pulled the door open for her and motioned her ahead of him.

  “I know.” Bernadette’s smile was infectious. “Mom and Dad used to bring us down here for a few days every year. We rented a condo for a week, and we had a great time. I loved the crap store by the lighthouse.”

  “So you remember the way the beach used to look.”

  “Before they changed the jetty? Yup. I was really young when that happened, though. But it used to be such a good place to swim with really little kids.”

  Their conversation seemed almost seamless, around the wait staff, the menu, the appetizers, the drinks. It was more like two old friends getting together. Gavin liked it and then didn’t like because he definitely didn’t want this woman to be an old friend or a new friend. He liked her a whole hell of a lot more than that.

  “So what made you join the army?” he finally blurted out and then felt like an asshole. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”

  Bernadette waved him off. “No, I’ve been asked worse by people I know less well than I know you.” She pushed a piece of her chicken cordon bleu around the plate a bit. “I don’t come from the most financially sound family. I wanted to be a nurse, but there was no money for nursing school. There was no way that we co
uld get the loans, and, honestly? I had really fucked off my last two years of high school. I managed to get into the Army Nurse Corps, and they trained me, all the way up to RN, and I was being tracked for NP—nurse practitioner—while I was deployed. It was the best way I could go. I was planning on a career in the Army when the camp blew up.”

  “You have a purple heart.”

  “I have a purple heart, a bronze star, and honorable discharge.”

  “Honorable discharge.” Gavin was a little taken back. “That doesn’t happen often.”

  “There aren’t many.” Bernadette took a sip of her drink. “They don’t really do it, it’s not standard. It happens when you save a bunch of fellow soldiers.”

  Gavin nodded. He wanted to know more, but he didn’t want to push. “So are you back to nursing?”

  “Well, I work in a hospital, but since my foot is a real issue, I mostly work the nurse’s station. I wish I could get back to the patients.”

  “You will.”

  “Maybe, some day.”

  “Ready to go?” Gavin grabbed the check before the waitress could put it down.

  “For ice cream? Hell yeah!”

  * * *

  Gavin pulled the rental to a halt in front of her house and turned in his seat. “I am so sorry. I feel so awful—”

  “Stop, Gav. You had no idea that this was going to go down hill so badly.”

  “I should have guessed when I smashed the ice cream on your shirt.”

  “I would have gone earlier when you popped the tire.”

  “Maybe the large, frightening sound of my engine throwing a rod?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I did like when it shot through the hood.”

  “Well, I can tell you the bay leaf may be good in tomato sauce, but it’s it’s not good when it’s trying to poke your eyes out as you climb out of the window of your car.”

  “I’m grateful it was a bush and not wall or car.”

  “I’m glad we weren’t hurt.”

  Gavin sighed. “Can we try again a different night? With a new car. And maybe ice cream in a cup this time?”