Veteran Dreams (Forever Young Series)

by Cherron Riser

  Chapter 7

  Five Years Later

  She looked down at the gold and maroon invitation on her desk, wondering if it was even worth opening. It had been ten years since she graduated high school, and now, they wanted everyone to get together so they could point and laugh at the people who were not as successful. Lita wasn’t not successful. She just wasn’t where she had hoped to be.

  “You going to open it?” Oliver Koontz asked peeking over his cubicle to hers. Oliver was her office buddy. The short red-haired man loved to joke around with her and make her smile, especially on days when she was feeling less than happy.

  “Are you spying on me?” Lita asked, looking up and arching a brow at him.

  “Maybe, but you have been staring at the damn thing all morning. It isn’t going to bite you. So just open it already.” Oliver laughed, tossing a balled-up straw wrapper at her face.

  “Fine.” Picking up the envelope, she ripped it open and started to read. They were going to have the reunion at the country club back in Ozark. It had been a long time since Lita visited there. Instead she would just have her friends and family come to see her. There was more to do in Birmingham, and she would rather not be in that small, backwards town.

  “You know, you should go. Here lately, you have been a little bit on the lost side. Sometimes you need to go home and refresh.”

  She didn’t want Oliver’s advice. There was nothing in her that wanted to go back to that school and reminisce about the old days. “This isn’t going home. This is a circus of people judging just where they stand in the line of being successful. No thanks, I don’t need a bunch of people looking at me and wondering what the fuck went wrong.” Lita sighed, tossing the invitation over to the stack of files she still needed to work on.

  “You are successful, just not in the way you had hoped. But don’t ever say you aren’t. You have been working your butt off, and I know it isn’t long before you are in there pitching ads and setting up big accounts. Lita, you are awesome.” Oliver tossed another paper straw cover at her then ducked back down.

  She had thought she would be working at least one of the big accounts by then. It just hadn’t turned out that way. Instead, she got stuck in cubicle hell like many other people in the company. Sighing and opening one of the files, she started reading over the marketing plan for the startup she was working on when her phone rang. It was no surprise it was Kammy on the other end. She had been talking about the upcoming reunion for months.

  “Hey, Kammy. I had a feeling I would be hearing from you.” Lita laughed as she answered the phone.

  “So, you are coming to the reunion. Regan says you keep giving her the run around, and I know you need to put in notice with your work that you are taking time off.” Kammy was munching on something, and the crunching noise echoed in Lita’s ears.

  “I don’t know. I mean, most of those people didn’t hang out with us when we were there, why should we waste a weekend rubbing elbows with them now? Seems like there are better things I can spend my time and money on.” Lita huffed while thumbing through the file in front of her.

  “Come on, everyone is coming. Regan even has a BBQ planned for after so we can all hang out and have one of our old parties. Wouldn’t that be a blast? Please. It isn’t like you ever come to visit anymore.” She hated when Kammy begged. It made her feel guilty which in turn made her want to do whatever it was. Kammy had this way of getting what she wanted.

  “Okay, fine. I will put in the time off, but I make no promises I am going to stay. I really don’t have much to say to anyone. The people I love and want to see I already see all the time.”

  “Not as much as you should. Oh, I am so excited! I will let Regan know!” Kammy had barely finished her squeal of excitement before hanging up the phone.

  From above her cubicle wall, she could see Oliver grinning down at her. “Oh hush.” Lita rolled her eyes, and Oliver laughed.

  ***

  Kammy and Regan had met her at her mother’s house, waiting for her on the porch before she even pulled into the old dirt driveway. The two of them stood there, almost blocking off the carport as if to say she was in the wrong place and needed to turn around. Weren’t they the ones who had wanted her there?

  Throwing the car in park, she flung open the door and stepped out. “What’s going on? You do realize you are making it hard for me to park, right?”

  “Screw that, get back in your car and head to my place. I already told your mom that tonight you are mine. She can get you back later.” Regan shooed Lita with her hands. She walked over to Lita’s car and got into the passenger seat. Kammy got in the other car.

  “Is it really kidnaping if you make me do the driving?” Lita laughed, getting back into her car.

  “I’m not getting caught dead driving your little frilly car. You know the way, so let’s get going.” Regan laughed and pulled on her seat belt.

  “There is nothing wrong with my car. It gets good gas mileage and is comfortable.” Lita defended, turning around in the yard to head back down the driveway. Lita’s mother lived in the middle of nowhere on five acres of land. She had told Lita she could have the place if she ever wanted to move back home now that she was moved in with her new husband.

  However, Regan had a house way out in the country, and it was set up with a fire pit, grill station, and a hot tub. While Lita’s house had a pool, the added hot tub was a nice feature. Regan also lived alone, so there was no worry about someone breaking up the party. At Lita’s mom’s place, there was always the risk.

  “So, Kammy said she moved back to the area. She was telling me her grandmother needed help, and she was trying to do some sort of job on the internet.” Lita turned onto the long road which led out to Regan’s house.

  “Yeah, well, she hasn’t been able to hold down a job for a while, so her grandmother said she could come help out. You know Kammy. She just can’t get her shit together. So, I don’t know, but she is our friend, and I love her, and I am going to do whatever I can to be there for her,” Regan answered.

  It wasn’t long before Lita turned into the drive of the nice brick rancher Regan lived in. She had an awesome job working on the military base, making her able to get an incredible house. It helped it was her mother’s old house, and she was able to get it at a steal.

  Kammy was right behind them as Lita put the car in park and got out. It was hot, which was normal, but after the long drive in the air conditioning, the thick, steaming humidity made it difficult to breathe. “I swear we live in hell.”

  Regan chuckled, pulling Lita’s suitcase out of the back seat. “You will be fine. Once you get your swimsuit on and a drink in your hand, you will forget all about the heat.”

  Lita wasn’t sure about that, but she joined in the jovial laughter and headed into the house with Kammy jogging up behind her. Regan’s house was just as nice on the inside as it was on the outside. She had a mix of country style and redneck with a smattering of modern technology. In the corner of the living room was a drum set from when she was in the band in high school. Once upon a time, Regan would play drums for Lita while she sang.

  Regan kept going until she entered one of the bedrooms and plopped Lita’s suitcase down on the bed. “Kammy is across the hall for tonight. She is going to be staying so we can have fun. Go on and get changed, I am going to get food started outside.”

  Once alone, Lita started to strip down. She pulled out her swimsuit, a two-piece with a tank top and bikini bottom and changed. Once she was dressed, she went into the bathroom and washed off all her makeup. There was no point in wearing it if she was about to get wet.

  Kammy was coming out of her room when Lita opened the door. She was also in her swimsuit, a simple black one-piece. “So, did you hear I moved back to town? Things just weren’t working out for me in Florida, and my grandma needed me.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry to hear about that. But I bet Regan likes having you around,” Lita answered as the two of them headed for the bac
kyard.

  Smoke was already visible just outside of the window where Regan had started up the grill. Outside was a huge cooler of fruity alcoholic drinks and bottles of liquor. Apparently, Regan planned for them to have a huge party or not be able to move the next day. Lita grabbed a hard lemonade, and Kammy took a hard iced tea before they sat at the patio table near the grill.

  Regan was wearing her swim trunks and T-shirt, which was what she usually wore to go swimming. Music blared from the built-in porch speakers, and Regan was dancing and bobbing as she tossed steaks on the grill. “I hope you two brought your appetite. I am cooking enough food to last us well into the morning.”

  “You don’t happen to have some circus peanuts hidden somewhere, do you?” Lita asked with a bit of laughter in her voice.

  The look Reagan gave back made Lita pause. Regan walked over to where she had the rest of their food waiting. It was all covered up to keep bugs from getting into it, but there was a ton of it. Lita wasn’t sure where they were going to put it all. Watching her friend, Lita busted out laughing when Regan lifted the cloth from one of the bowls to unveil copious amounts of circus peanuts, pixie sticks, and chocolate. There was enough to put even the most adventurous sweet tooth into a sugar coma. “Don’t tell me I didn’t come prepared.”

  The three of them laughed, and Lita snagged one of those puffy orange sugary death traps and popped it in her mouth. She wasn’t sure when the last time she had a circus peanut was, and she found the intense sweetness overwhelming. Taking a big gulp of her drink, she tried to wash down the sweetness. “Damn, that’s strong.”

  “You getting soft on me?” Regan teased, poking her with her elbow.

  “No, but it has been a while, and well, that might just be too much.” Lita giggled, grabbing a chocolate instead. It was less likely to make her dizzy. Good thing Regan put the chocolate in a bowl of ice too; with the heat, she would have had it all over her fingers otherwise.

  “Well, this weekend is all about going back in time, so we are going to party like we are back in high school.” Regan flipped the meat on the grill.

  “Then why do we have alcohol?” Lita joked as she finished off her first hard lemonade.

  The three of them broke into boisterous laughter, and the night went forward with food and drinking. Before long, they were in the pool, leaning against the side wall and talking about old times.

  “Do you ever hear from anyone else? Like whatever happened to Alex Houston? I swear the last time we saw him was at the end of the year party senior year.” Kammy made her voice go sexy as if imitating Lita’s once high school crush.

  “No, I don’t hear from a lot of people, but you know me. I kinda just went my own way. I know he went in the military, so I bet he is long gone living somewhere else.” Lita hoped her face wasn’t giving away the feelings which stirred up thinking about that last night.

  “You had such a big thing for him I am surprised you haven’t found a way to social media stalk him by now,” Regan chuckled, reaching for another shot of vodka. Yeah, they had moved on to the stronger stuff.

  “Yeah well, it doesn’t matter. That was ten years ago. I’m sure he has someone, and I certainly don’t have the time to start stalking someone. I do have my own life.” Lita defended herself, trying to fight off the blush she felt coming up.

  “Either that or you are afraid to find out if he is still single and swoop in and snag him,” Kammy teased.

  Lita splashed her then, and the three of them laughed. “She is right. You don’t want to know what is going on with him, because he was the one that got away. If you knew he was still out there and single, you would totally try to go after him.” Regan added wiping water off her face.

  “What is this, gang up on Lita time?” As much as she wanted to protest, they were partly right. She had been thinking about Alex a lot more since deciding to come to the reunion. Part of her wondered if he would show up.

  “Yeah, so get used to it.” And the ribbing continued with teasing Lita about all the naughty stories she had written with “Alex” as the star. Oh, this was going to end up being one hell of a weekend.

  Chapter 8

  It was time for the reunion. Lita wanted to look her best. If she was going to do this, she was going to go all out. Checking herself out in the full-length mirror behind her old bedroom door, she was pleased. She had on a pair of black pants that hugged her curves and a red shirt showing a little more cleavage than she should have worn. Her hair was lightly curled, and her makeup was a bit dark and sexy. It certainly would be something to make an impression.

  Regan had on a nice suit with her hair spiked up. When Lita saw her, she grinned brightly. “Well, don’t you look handsome? You are going to knock the socks off people.”

  “Not as much as you are. I swear you have only got sexier,” Regan teased, trying to hide her own blush.

  “Well, let’s get ready to party! I can’t wait for this.” Kammy came out from the back. She had on a sleek dress with her hair in an updo full of curls and little clips.

  “I am not sure I would say that, but I guess I am ready to go. Well, as ready as I will ever be.” Lita grabbed her purse and headed out of the door. Regan was doing the driving, so the three of them piled into her Toyota Tundra, which was the nicest of the three vehicles. Lita’s was nice but not quite as nice as Regan’s truck was. Besides, the truck had a lot more room.

  Ozark was small enough that it took less than ten minutes to get to the country club where the reunion was taking place. The high school was under construction, so they had chosen to have the reunion at the country club instead. The parking lot was already full of cars, and cheesy pop music from the year they graduated blared from inside. Lita took a deep breath, and the three of them linked arms and walked into the building.

  An open bar had been set up, and the girls were more than happy to get something to start the evening. Once they had their drinks, they went out to the main room to mingle. So many people were there. Some of them Lita didn’t even recognize, but they seemed to know her. Somehow, Kammy knew everyone. She ran up to people and laughed, acting like no time had passed. For Lita, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Regan was a little more reserved and stuck with Lita. “You don’t have to look like a scared puppy.”

  “I’m not scared. I’m uncomfortable. Remember, you two dragged me here.” Lita laughed.

  “You will get over that. Just give the drink a few minutes.” Lita couldn’t stop the laughter she felt rise in her with what Regan said. Something about having her friends with her made all the difference. To tell the truth, she wasn’t sure why she was so bothered to be there. It should have been nothing to her. However, memories of high school never brought her a lot of joy. Not that her time there was bad—it just wasn’t good either.

  Regan and Lita did the round, stopping now and then to talk to people she did recognize and politely responding when others said hello. Then she saw him. Alex was sitting at a table near the back of the room with someone she didn’t recognize. Hopefully, the other person didn’t recognize her either because that would be awkward.

  “Go talk to him.” Regan urged having seen her stop and stare. It was then when he looked over and made eye contact. No, that wasn’t awkward at all. However, when he saw her, he smiled, and it had Lita moving toward him.

  “I’m just going to go and talk to him for a bit. See what he has been into,” Lita said quietly.

  “Sure, you tell yourself that. I am going to go find where Kammy got off to.” Regan chuckled and walked off into the crowd.

  Lita walked over to the table where he was sitting, holding on to the glass in her hand like it was a lifeline. Memories of the last time they saw each other flooded her mind. She had thought about it off and on for years, but she never thought to see him again, so it didn’t matter.

  “Alex, wow, I didn’t think to see you here,” Lita said as she reached the table.

  “I didn’t think I was going to come eit
her. But my friend here convinced me.” He nudged the man sitting next to him. “This is Brandon, we were in the marines together. Brandon, this is Lita.”

  “Were? You aren’t anymore?” she asked, feeling like she was being a bit rude. The look Brandon was giving her made her feel strange. It was almost like he knew who she was which seemed strange.

  Alex motioned for her to sit with him, and she happily obliged. She couldn’t believe it. After all this time, not only was he there, but he seemed to be just as happy to see her as she was to see him.

  The look that crossed Alex’s face, though, had her curious. He seemed to be a bit upset about whatever it was that had him sitting there and not off in the military. However, it wasn’t her place to push the issue. Alex tried to hide his emotions and gave her the same sexy smile he had ten years ago. “It’s a long story. How about we start somewhere else. How have things been for you? Do you still write? Sing?”

  Lita was sure her face looked sheepish. The last thing she had promised Alex was she wouldn’t stop her passion of creating. He was not going to be happy to hear she had. “No, not much these days. Now and then, when Regan comes to visit, she can convince me to go to a karaoke night, but other than that...” She shrugged and knew it sounded like a cop-out.

  “What about the writing?” Alex asked, reaching out and taking her hand.

  “I don’t feel it. Nothing speaks to me these days. The only time I ever get to write anymore is when I write up marketing proposals.” Feeling his hand on hers stirred up a lot of emotions, but she had no idea what his relationship status was. He could very well be married with kids by now.

  “That’s a shame. You always looked so happy and alive when you were sharing your stories and playing your guitar. I really thought you would have put out a few books by now.”