A Soldier's Song

by Irene Onorato

  Chapter 8

  “I appreciate you shuttling me to and from the airport for this trip.” Dex threw a glance at Greco’s profile in the driver’s seat. “Sure you don’t want me to pay for airport parking or gas?”

  “I’m sure.” Greco turned onto Dexter’s street. “Looks like you’ve got company.”

  The major wasn’t kidding. Halfway down the block, vehicles filled the double driveway to Dexter’s rented house. More were parked along the curb. Not a welcome sight.

  Dex slid his window down as Greco pulled over in front of the house and threw the gearshift in park.

  Music penetrated the walls and windows. A booming bass reverberated the air with annoyingly loud shockwaves. Dex could only imagine how deafening it would be inside. Knowing Zook and Stanley, there’d be no peace and quiet until the wee hours.

  Streetlights illuminated a smirk on Greco’s face.

  Dex shook his head. “Go ahead and say it.”

  “Say what?” The smug smile deepened.

  “I told you so.”

  Greco chuckled.

  The conversation that took place between them close to a year ago may as well have been yesterday. If Dex had heeded Greco’s advice not to rent and share the house with the guys, he wouldn’t be in the predicament he was in today—wanting out of the deal, yet not being able to because of the lease he’d signed. The boss knew how to rub it in without saying a word.

  Greco’s moment of amusement vanished, and his fatherly persona emerged. “So, what are you going to do about your situation?”

  “Either I’m going to stick it out until the lease expires at the end of February”—which seemed like punishment for living up to his adult obligations—“or see if I can entice the landlord to let me off the hook in exchange for getting someone else to sign a new one-year lease.”

  “Have you asked Stanley or Zook if they’d do it?”

  “Yeah, and they said no. But Peanut said he’s interested.” The newest member of the team, and Hank’s replacement as demolitions man, would be a good fit. Consummate party animal Jim Habersham, AKA Peanut, would probably enjoy living with the guys. “The landlord has been out of the country for the past couple of months. The realtor that manages the property doesn’t have the authority to make changes in the lease, but said the owner is willing to discuss it when he gets back to the States.”

  “When’s that going to be?”

  “Some time next week.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Hope it works out for you.”

  “Me too. Thanks again for the ride.” Dex got out and grabbed his bag from the back seat. “See you tomorrow.”

  Dexter stood on the sidewalk facing the house as the sound of Greco’s engine faded down the street. A woman’s silhouette slithered across the mini blinds in sync with the music, her arms pumping overhead and body moving with snake-like fluidity. The shadowy form disappeared as if it had merged into the woodwork.

  A couple of months ago he would have relished the sights and sounds of coming home to a party in progress, but now he had no interest in any of it.

  If he had anywhere else to go, he would jump at the chance.

  * * * *

  Nearly ten thirty, and Aria still hadn’t had a call from Dex. According to her mother, Dad and Dex’s itinerary included a change of planes in Atlanta and an arrival in Fayetteville shortly before nine.

  She set her smartphone on the nightstand and changed into her favorite nightgown then sat on the edge of the bed. Regardless of whether Dex called or not, she still had to go to work in the morning.

  Dad’s ringtone jingled on her mother’s phone in the adjacent room.

  Aria catapulted to her feet and went into the hallway. Her parents’ bedroom door stood wide open, and Mom walked around smiling with the phone to her ear. She motioned for Aria to come in.

  “Hold on a sec, Dave.” Mom covered the mouthpiece and looked at Aria. “The first flight was on time, but they had a slight delay in Atlanta. Your father dropped off Sergeant Dexter and just got back to his apartment a few minutes ago.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Mom. Tell Dad I love him and that I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him this morning.” Before leaving for work, she’d stood at their door, ready to knock, but decided not to disturb their last day of sleeping in together.

  “I will. Good night, sweetheart.”

  “’Night.”

  An incoming message chimed and lit up Aria’s phone as she crossed the threshold into her room. Hurrying, she snatched it from the nightstand.

  Hi gorgeous. R u still awake? Dex’s text made her smile.

  Her thumbs flew over the keyboard. Yes!

  The phone rang right away. “Hello, Dex.”

  “Hi. I’m glad you’re still up. Your dad dropped me off about ten minutes ago. I came up to my room, kicked off my boots, and changed into an old comfortable pair of sweats before calling. I was hoping it wouldn’t be too late, because I really wanted to hear your voice before going to bed.”

  “What a coincidence. I was thinking the same about you.” Aria sat on the bed, back against the headboard, and snuggled her legs under the covers. “It was a great weekend, wasn’t it?”

  “I couldn’t agree more. Know what I wish?”

  “What?”

  “That I was standing on your doorstep at this moment kissing you good night.”

  Goodness, but this guy was the most romantic thing that ever walked on two legs. A good night kiss on her doorstep would be sublime. “If I could, I’d grant your wish.”

  “Mmm. That sounds—”

  Hard rock music exploded into Dex’s background.

  A raucous, squealing feminine laugh followed.

  Aria’s heart sank. “Who’s that, Dex? What’s going on?”

  “I’ll explain everything in a minute. Please, don’t hang up. I’ll be right back.”

  Sounds became muted as if Dex had laid the phone facedown on something soft. Aria pressed the phone tightly against her ear.

  “What are you doing in here, Rhonda?” Dex snapped with annoyance or anger.

  “Zook said I could use your bathroom.”

  “Yeah, well Zook was wrong. Use the one down the hall.”

  “But someone’s in there and I gotta—”

  “Not my problem. Get out of my room. Now.”

  A loud bang reverberated into the phone. Aria could only guess Dex had slammed his door on the girl.

  * * * *

  “Hello, Aria? You still there?”

  “Yes.” The tremble in her one-syllable response came as a surprise.

  “Sorry about that. I locked her out. It’s Zook’s birthday, and he decided to throw himself a party. I didn’t know anything about it until your dad dropped me off.”

  “Her? Who—who’s Rhonda?”

  “Rhonda is Zook’s girlfriend. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her stone-cold sober, but tonight she’s totally wasted.”

  Stupid Rhonda. Dex would like nothing better than to wring her neck. Unwelcome and unexpected, her barging in couldn’t have come at a worse time. The abrupt intrusion tore down Aria’s calm, confident poise and sent it tumbling into a state of uncertainty. He could hear it in the quaver of the few words she’d managed to eke out.

  “I-I thought I detected a slur in her speech but wasn’t sure.”

  “I pay a larger portion of the rent because I have the master bedroom and bath. Somehow, the guys mistakenly seem to think their drunk friends are entitled to come in and use my bathroom whenever the other one is occupied.”

  “So, the party—is everybody drinking?”

  “Yeah, pretty much, but I’m sure there are a few designated drivers in the mix.” Or so he hoped.

  “And you? Do you—are you planning on joining the party?”

 
“I think what you’re really asking is if I drink, and the answer is no. Not anymore since—” A simple no would have been easier, but seemed like a cop-out or cover-up for the failures of his recent past. He didn’t want to be a man cloaked in secrets. Not with Aria. She deserved better. “Truth is, I had a drinking problem up until a couple of months ago, and it took getting into a serious accident to make me come to my senses. And before you ask, no, I wasn’t driving.”

  “What happened?”

  Impact. Crunching metal. The frantic screams of a woman trying to rouse a small boy hanging limply in his car seat. Many a night, Dex had lain awake with the scene replaying on the ceiling like a horror movie.

  “It was mid-September, and we’d just gotten back from three days of rigorous training maneuvers. Zook, Stanley, and I piled into Stanley’s car and went to Shiner’s, a local dive, to have a few beers, play some pool, and unwind.

  “After a couple of hours at the bar, I was tired and decided I’d had enough to drink, but the guys didn’t want to leave. I should have called a cab. Instead, like a fool, I hitched a ride with Shawn, a drunken acquaintance who lived in my neighborhood.” A mistake he’d justified by telling himself it was only a few minutes’ drive to the house.

  “He ran a red light with his tank-size pickup and broadsided an SUV carrying a young family—a mom, dad, and two kids. All of them were injured to some degree, but the little guy in the car seat was hurt pretty badly.”

  To call the event a wake-up call would be a gross understatement.

  “How awful. I hope they all fully recovered.”

  “They did. I kept track of them for a while through a friend of a friend.”

  “That’s good to hear. What about you and Shawn? Were either of you hurt?”

  “Barely. Cuts and bruises. After the ambulances left and the cops hauled Shawn off to jail, I sat my drunken self down against a building at the corner and watched the tow trucks clear the wreckage from the intersection.”

  Wreckage. Even though he hadn’t caused the accident, and he’d never driven while drunk, that’s exactly how he’d felt about his personal life. “I hated the person I had become and finally realized I needed help. In my impaired state, I didn’t know what to do or where to start. As if by instinct, I called a trusted friend. I knew that if anyone could help, he could.”

  “And did he come right away?” She spoke with hope and expectation.

  “Ten minutes, tops. He brought me to his apartment and let me sleep it off on his couch. The next day, he listened to my sober retelling of what happened the night before and called me a moron for riding with Shawn. Over the course of the next few days, he hooked me up with the resources I needed to get my life back on track.”

  “I’m glad for you, Dex. You’re strong and intelligent, and I have no doubt you have it in you to stay the course and never fall off the wagon. It’s good to know that you have such an awesome friend who cares so much about you. Friends like that are a rare find.”

  “You’re right about that.” And Dex would always be grateful.

  “He called you a moron?” Aria chuckled—a sure and pleasant sign she’d gotten over Rhonda’s little escapade. “Sounds like something my father would—wait, are you talking about my dad?”

  “Yes, I am. And I see you’re familiar with his affinity for the word moron.”

  “It seems to be one of his favorites.”

  Dex loved the smile in Aria’s tone. He could envision her kissable lips curved upward in a toothy grin. “I think it runs neck and neck with bonehead, or maybe even Bozo.”

  Aria broke into a hearty laugh.

  Dex doubted he’d ever get tired of hearing it.

  * * * *

  “Do you realize we’ve been talking for an hour and a half?” It seemed more like ten minutes. Aria flipped the digital clock on its face. She didn’t need the reminder that it was past midnight. It was worth losing some sleep in exchange for staying up and talking to Dex.

  “Want me to let you go so you can get some shut-eye?”

  “No, I just can’t believe how fast the time has passed. That’s all.” She turned off the nightstand lamp, and the room darkened to shades of gray with a backdrop of moonlight giving the mini blinds a pearly hue. The sensual lighting set a pleasant atmosphere for continuing a late-night conversation with an insanely good-looking man. “When will I see you again?” Waiting the few weeks until Christmas seemed an eternity.

  “I’m checking on that now.”

  She strained to hear a pecking sound. “Are you typing something on a computer?”

  “Yup. Laptop. Checking flights for this weekend. Whoa, just as I suspected. Airfares are sky-high. No pun intended.” He exhaled his frustration. “Sorry, but a flight this weekend is out of my price range.”

  “It was sweet of you to consider it, though.”

  “Hey, I’ve got an idea.”

  “I can’t wait to hear it.” Especially if it involved them getting together. “Tell me.”

  “Are you in bed?”

  Heat rushed up her neck to her cheeks. Where was he going with a question like that? “Yes, why?”

  “Could you get up and meet me at your window in, say, fifteen seconds?”

  “Meet you at my window? I don’t understand.” She threw off the covers and sat with her legs dangling off the side of the bed.

  “You will. Are you at the window yet?”

  Aria hurried over, wedged the phone between her ear and shoulder, and raised the blinds with a few pulls of the chord. “Yes, I’m here. But I still don’t get it.”

  “Do you see the moon?”

  “Yes. The clouds have moved on and the sky is crisp and clear.”

  “Excellent. I’m at my window looking at the moon with you, Aria. It might not be the same as standing side-by-side, feeling your hand in mine, but it’s something to hold us over until we see each other again.”

  “It’s more than something. It’s magical.” Skeletal trees waved leafless limbs in the wintry wind and a powdery puff of snow wafted from the outside sill and disappeared into the night. But the moon may as well have been the sun for all the warmth it infused into Aria’s heart.

  “Aria? You still with me?”

  “I’m here, basking in the moonlight and enjoying the connection with you. It’s nice.”

  “Pretty slick, huh?” Dex gave a soft laugh.

  “Way slick. So, tell me, do I get a rain check for the good night kiss on my doorstep you were talking about before we were sidetracked?”

  “Absolutely. Feel free to cash it in as many times as you’d like. By the way, doorsteps and nighttime are optional, not required for redemption.”

  She hoped to take him up on his offer more than a few times. And soon.

  Chapter 9

  Aria glanced at the arrival and departure board as she passed through the Poughkeepsie train terminal building. 2:54 p.m. to Grand Central Station. On time.

  She hurried to the platform and boarded the waiting train. The doors closed with a hiss, grazing the back of her small drag-along suitcase. She walked to a cushioned bench seat and took her place by the window. A snowy view of the Hudson River would surely entertain her for a good bit of the trip into New York City.

  The mostly empty train would fill up soon enough, but for now, Aria could appreciate some peace and quiet and use her phone without disturbing other passengers. She thumbed Libby’s number. “Hi, Lib.”

  “Hey. Are you on your way here yet?”

  The train lurched and moved forward.

  “Yes, finally. My uncle’s shop was busier than usual for a Friday. To top it off, one of our afternoon workers had a fender bender and came in late. I couldn’t get off work as early as I’d hoped, but I’m heading your way now.”

  “You’re not driving again, are you?”

 
“No, I learned my lesson last time.” Driving in the city was more than her nerves could ever handle again, not to mention the high cost of parking in lower Manhattan. “Mom dropped me off at the terminal, and I got on the train in Poughkeepsie. Its scheduled arrival time at Grand Central is four forty-one.”

  “Girl, you’ll be arriving in the city in the heat of rush-hour. Once you switch over to the subway, it’ll be jam-packed.”

  “I know, and I’m not looking forward to it. Good thing is, it’s only a few stops to your station. I’ll survive.”

  “Barely, right?” Libby chuckled.

  “I’ll decompress during the few blocks’ walk from the subway to your apartment.”

  “See you five thirtyish?”

  “Sounds about right. When I get there, I’ve got something to tell you. A surprise.” Between working overtime, finishing up the year with her piano students, and helping her mom get the house ready for the holidays, she hadn’t had time to tell Libby about Dex.

  “Yeah, well I’ve got a surprise for you too, and we’ll share when you get here, okay? Mrs. Olsen, the elderly woman across the hall, slipped on ice and sprained her wrist yesterday. Poor thing. I promised I’d help put together and trim her little artificial tree, so I’m going over there now. See you five thirtyish.”

  “Okay, have fun. Bye.” Good ol’ Libby. She could be hard as nails with some things, like negotiating fees for music gigs and not letting cabbies take advantage by inflating fares. But deep down where it mattered, Libby was soft as satin.

  Aria’s smartphone rang before she could put it away. Unidentified number. She sent the call to voicemail. The same number called again. Aria sent it to voicemail to join the first one and clicked the ringer to the off position. She’d turn it back on once she reached the city, but for now, she had a train ride to enjoy.

  * * * *

  Passengers scuffed up the subway steps and dispersed in all directions. Aria set a course to Libby’s apartment, dragging the rolling suitcase behind her. The feeling of being watched or followed came over her like a cloud the moment she left the Metro and walked across Grand Central to the subway. She couldn’t shake it.

  Aria walked a block and a half, stopped, and pretended to look in a storefront window. She glanced back toward the subway station. A man in a fedora and dark, knee-length coat made a quick left turn onto a side street. Headlights of a passing taxi illuminated the side of his face for a millisecond.