Chapter 14
Alex felt alive, and it made him want to focus even harder on his therapy and maybe on trying to heal a little more. Sure, he might never be able to be fully healed, but maybe he could fix some of it. The doctors had always said some function could return; he just wasn’t sure how much. Now and then, he had been able to get a toe to wiggle or tingling sensations would return to his legs. The doctors called it hope, but in the past, he had seen it as pain. He didn’t want to think something could happen and then it never did.
With how Clara handled his injury, he had lost hope. She didn’t want a broken husband, and, even if he could get healed, he would still be partly broken. It had caused him to lose hope his life could ever be happy. However, Lita knew going into things he was broken, and she didn’t seem to care. Sure, this was all new, and they hadn’t even gotten to the point of calling each other anything to resemble a relationship. Right now, they were just friends who spent all night making out.
He grinned thinking about it again. Brandon had been shocked when he rolled himself in at seven in the morning. Probably the only reason he had left was because Lita had to get to work. They hadn’t gotten much sleep between talking and kissing, but it had been a great night. After a shower and nap, though, Alex was ready to start setting up his new life in Birmingham.
Brandon had found them a support group to try out. They found comfort talking to other veterans about their time in the service. Those groups had gotten Alex through some of the darkest moments just after returning home. Now, Alex was sitting at the table, calling in to the VA, trying to find a doctor in the area. Birmingham was full of good doctors.
He had been on hold for over thirty minutes, and he wasn’t sure if anyone was ever going to answer. That was one of the struggles, but he used the free time to think about what he would do next with Lita. She was a risk, but that made it more exciting.
“Still on hold?” Brandon asked, walking into the room holding his shoulder. Alex watched him as he walked to the cabinet to pull out his pills. Brandon had been shot through the shoulder and nearly lost his entire arm to the injury. Most days, he was able to ignore it and move on, but other days, it bothered him greatly. From the look on his friend’s face, this was one of those days.
“Yeah, but you know how it is. Sometimes, you just have to wait it out. I’ll be fine in a bit.” Brandon grinned and leaned against the counter. “So, are you tired?”
“You know, I should be, but I’m not.” Alex put the phone on speaker and set it on the table. He was tired of holding it.
“You look happy. I swear I haven’t seen you this happy in a really long time, but I am worried about you rushing this. I just watched you go through depression and divorce. The last thing I want to see is you hurt again.” Brandon moved over to the table to take a seat with him.
“I know, and I am happy. It just feels so natural with her like I gave up a good thing back then. I realize I might be getting my hopes up, but I rather be like this than the dead shell I have been for years.”
Brandon reached over with his good arm and patted Alex on the back. “You’re right, and I will be here to pick up the pieces if something happens. I love you, man, and I want you to be happy.”
Finally, someone answered, and Alex scrambled to pick the phone up again. The woman on the other end took down some information, and they discussed his next steps. The call lasted even longer than his hold time, but by the end of it, he had an appointment with a doctor and physical therapy set up. For the first time, he was looking forward to going into therapy and maybe making some progress. He had to.
“All right, well, now that you have that taken care of, I think you should get another nap. A real nap. Especially if you were planning to go out again tonight.” Brandon yawned. His medication was starting to get to him, but he also wanted to make sure Alex was okay. Brandon was good like that.
“You’re probably right. I don’t know if I was going out tonight, but I definitely want some sleep before Lita gets off work.” Alex pushed back from the table and started down the hall to his room. After another good nap, then maybe he would be able to plan for the night. One thing he knew for sure, though, was that he would be taking Lita out again soon.
***
Lita was still floating on cloud nine thinking about her night with Alex. She felt seventeen again, and it was amazing. At work, she had been able to work out a plan for her marketing report that had been holding her back for weeks. When she presented it to the committee, they had been blown away by how fresh it was. Nothing felt better than getting high praise from clients.
Now she was sitting back in her little cubicle, doodling on a random piece of paper and drifting off into fantasies. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but she couldn’t help it. “You have been acting weird all day. What happened to you last night?” Oliver asked, leaning against her cubicle wall. Apparently, he didn’t have anything to do either.
However, Lita couldn’t even get annoyed. “So, when I was at my reunion, I reconnected with a guy I had a huge crush on in high school. Well, he is living here in Birmingham and he asked me out on a date last night. Then he came over, and we spent the night just reconnecting. It was amazing.”
Oliver arched a brow and gave her an almost wicked look. “Reconnecting?”
Instantly her cheeks flushed, and she threw her pencil at Oliver in retaliation. “No, not like that. I mean, we did kiss, but I am not the kind of girl to just jump on a guy the first time he takes me to dinner.”
“If you wanted to, I wouldn’t judge you. That is so outdated. Guys want to most of the time, why can’t girls. Besides, you don’t date a lot. If you found someone who could make you feel like this, then there is no reason to not take advantage of it.”
That was one thing she truly liked about her freckle-faced buddy. Oliver did not believe in double standards. He had even gone and complained when he found out she was making less money than he was and had been with the company longer. She had gotten a raise after that, and he had earned a lot of respect with their female CEO.
“I appreciate that, but it is a little more complicated than that. I don’t know. We have waited ten years to try this out, I don’t see why we need to rush. If it is meant to be with the two of us, then it will happen.” Lita didn’t want to explain how Alex was paralyzed and probably couldn’t have sex with her. Nor did he need to know all the details on why they didn’t get together in high school. It was enough for him to have the details he already had, which obviously made him happy. After all, Lita had been cranky with him lately.
He gave her a sweet smile before pushing off her cubicle wall so he could go back to his own. “Well, just so long as it isn’t because you are worried what other people think. Lord knows, I would never judge you, and we all know my opinion is the only one that matters.” He gave her a playful wink and walked off before the boss saw him.
Lita sat back in her chair and took a big relaxing sigh. She was happy, and it was nice that others noticed. She decided she should call and check on Kammy. It had been a few days, and last she heard, Kammy had gotten her family to cover the rest of the cost for the truck. Lita was excited to see how things were coming along.
The groan in Kammy’s voice however did not match the excitement she had expected to hear. “Hey, girl, how are things going with the truck?”
Kammy gave another moan before answering. “I have another one of those bad migraines, so I am at the ER right now. They have been coming back pretty badly lately, and I just can’t seem to shake them.”
A few years ago, Kammy had gotten into a cycle of migraines that landed her in the ER over and over for weeks. Lita had been too far away to help, but she was worried they were coming back. “Are they doing a CAT scan?”
“Yeah, I am just waiting for them to come back with the results. I have been here for hours, but at least they already gave me something for the pain.”
“Well, that is good,” Lita said, relieved Kamm
y wasn’t hurting anymore. “So, I assume you haven’t been able to get the truck yet.”
“No, not yet. I was going to go up there today and finish up the paperwork, but I ended up here. Hopefully, I can make it up there before Friday. He said he can only hold it till then. Apparently, there is another buyer interested.”
“Well, hopefully, you will feel better soon. I worry about you when you get like this.” Lita felt a little sad for her friend. “Well, do you want to hear something interesting to take your mind off of things?”
Kammy tried to laugh, but it came out a bit more like a cry. “Yeah, ’cause it has been a long time since you had anything exciting to say.”
“Well, you remember how I hung out with Alex when I was down there for the reunion?” Lita asked, feeling excited to share the news with someone. “Well, he is living in Birmingham, and we went out on a date. Then he came back to my place, and we spent all night talking and making out. It was so fun.”
Oliver popped his head over the cubicle and arched a brow at her. Lita just shook her head and shooed him away.
“Girl, that’s exciting. But, can he even do anything with you. I thought he was fully paralyzed down there.” Kammy wasn’t shy about saying the truth. “I mean, as hot as he is, I don’t think I could be in a relationship where I couldn’t get sex a few times a week.”
“Well, I am going to see how it goes. I feel really good when I am with him, and I think it would be nice to see what happens from here. Yes, it comes with complications, but doesn’t every relationship?” Lita said, defending how she felt about things.
“You’re better than me. I really think it would be a deal breaker for me. Love you, honey, but I can’t do it.” Kammy chuckled a little. It was a bit disheartening that Kammy didn’t support her, especially with how long she had crushed over him. Maybe it was just because she wasn’t feeling well.
“Well, I hope you feel better soon. Let me know when you’re able to get the truck. I am looking forward to seeing you get your business started.” Lita sighed. They finished their conversation, and Lita hung up. She wasn’t going to let Kammy feeling bad ruin her good mood.
Chapter 15
It had been a few days, and Lita and Alex had spent most of that time talking and getting to know each other again. It was interesting, but there was still a superficial feel to it. They hadn’t gotten into too many details about the hard things. She hadn’t talked about her grandfather or everything that led to her giving in to a business degree and a cubicle job. He hadn’t gone into what had happened to him when he was overseas. They were sensitive subjects neither of them was ready to discuss.
Now it was Friday, and Alex had invited her over for dinner. Brandon would be there too, but it would be nice and a little more informal. Not that either of them had felt the need to be too formal. Alex had instructed her to dress comfortably and be ready to hang out and watch movies. Sounded like a nice night to her, and she was looking forward to it.
Instead of starting the night late, she had asked to get off work a few hours early so she could go home, shower, and change into something comfortable. Her plan was to wear something more comfortable than jeans but not quite sweatpants. So, she put on leggings and one of her long ACDC T-shirts. This one she had made herself using a longer shirt so she could wear it with the leggings and not look strange.
Once she was dressed, she pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and just brushed on some lip gloss. They had no plans to go anywhere, so no point in putting makeup on that was just going to get smeared and rubbed off.
Lita sent a quick text as she got into her car and started it up: Hey, I am on my way. See you soon. Punching his address into her GPS, she waited for it to fully load before pulling out onto the road.
Alex lived about twenty minutes from her, but it wasn’t a busy drive. When she pulled into the driveway, she smiled. The house had been modified to allow for his chair. It wasn’t a fancy house, but it was quaint. She kind of liked it. Getting out of the car, Lita walked up to the door, but just before she tried to knock, Brandon flung the door open. “Hey! I was wondering if you were ever going to get here,” Brandon said as she stepped in. “Alex has been talking about this all day. Now maybe he will find something else to talk about.”
Brandon led her through the house. The living room had a good-sized leather sofa and chair set. There wasn’t a coffee table, but side tables were next to each side of the couch and between the two chairs. A TV was mounted on the wall with a small shelf under it that had a game system and some movies. However, the room held very little other furniture. They had kept the house open so Alex could easily get around.
“Alex is in the kitchen. He insisted on cooking dinner. He made steak and potatoes. I put a salad together, and we bought a pie for dessert.” Brandon turned the corner into the kitchen where Alex was putting plates on the table.
“That sounds perfect,” Lita said and smiled when she saw Alex. He had gone all out, and everything smelled amazing.
“Hey! I’m glad you are here. I didn’t want the steaks to get cold. I put everything on the table already, and I will get the potatoes out of the oven. I wanted to make sure everything is good.” Alex set down the last plate and wheeled over to her. She leaned down and kissed his cheek before she made her way to the table.
“Well, this all looks amazing. Thank you. You didn’t have to do all of this for me. I would have been fine with…” Lita began as she made her way to the table and took a seat. She didn’t want to be in the way. Brandon went to get the potatoes while Alex moved into his spot.
“I know you would have been fine with anything, but I wanted to do something special. It was important to me.”
Lita looked over all the food, breathing it in and letting herself taste it just from the scent. A smile spread over her face, and she reached out and squeezed his hand. “It is perfect, thank you. Now, I’m going to dig in because I am starving.”
The guys laughed, and the three of them went about making up their plates. Lita moaned at the first bite of steak. Alex had cooked it to the perfect medium rare with just the right amount of seasoning. “Wow, this is incredible. I have been to restaurants that didn’t make a steak this good. Maybe you should think about a new career path.”
Alex grinned, taking a bit of his own steak. “It isn’t that good, but I am glad you like it.”
“So, what are we doing tonight? I mean, you mentioned movies but not what ones.”
“Well, I wasn’t sure what you would like, so I picked up a couple of comedies, and I also have a couple of streaming services. Figured we could look over the list and you could pick something. I am pretty open-minded.” Alex answered, putting more sour cream on his potato.
“I want you to enjoy it too.” Lita screwed up her face. She liked how he was going out of his way to make her happy, but it wasn’t enjoyable if he wasn’t also having fun. The last thing she wanted was for their relationship to start out with all take and no give.
“Well, I promise you I will let you know if I don’t want to watch it, but I want you to decide overall. Then maybe next time I will choose.” Alex answered.
“Aww, you two are you just so cute.” Brandon teased. “Lita, I have to say, Alex hasn’t been like this in a long time. Even before we were discharged from the military, he was starting to lose his spark. You seem to be finding it again.”
“Well, it could be just new toy syndrome.” Lita laughed, and both men gave her a curious look.
“New toy syndrome?” Brandon was the first to ask though Alex seemed just as interested in finding out the answer.
“Oh, it is something my friends and I came up with a long time ago to describe that silly, lovey-dovey feeling you get when you are in a new relationship. That overwhelming happy.”
The two men looked at each other and exchanged arched brows. “I don’t think I have ever heard that before.” Alex chuckled. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
“Well, you kno
w, it is like when a kid gets a new toy on Christmas and is so excited, but then after a while, that fades and you get to see if they really love it or if it was just the excitement of it all.”
For a second, Alex looked sad, but it was fleeting. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Hey, don’t look at it that way. Everything feels out of this world when it’s new. The difference is when you can get that out of this world feeling to last. That is when you know you have something special,” Lita went on to explain further.
“I guess that’s true. I mean, I have talked to a lot of girls and had that feeling, but it didn’t last. Maybe it is a good way of putting it. I know I was like that as a kid, so you may have something there.” Brandon was obviously trying to make Alex feel better about it, but Alex did not seem convinced.
“Hey, why don’t we go look and see what we can find to watch,” Lita suggested, getting up and kissing his cheek before heading back to the living room.
“I can clean up. You two go enjoy the movie. I am probably going to go out after I get everything put away.” Brandon said motioning for Alex to follow.
Like at her house, Alex transferred to the couch so they could sit close together. He picked up the remote so they could start browsing movie ideas. “Hey, I’m sorry if I upset you. It wasn’t meant that way.” Lita said.
“No, you didn’t upset me. I just was a little thrown off by it. I guess part of me is just hoping whatever this is, it lasts,” Alex explained.
“I do too. I mean, I have been crushing on you for close to fifteen years. Believe me when I say I want to see this last.” Lita turned Alex’s head to look at her. “I was talking to Kammy today. I told her you and I had been talking, and we went out on a date. She told me she didn’t think she could do it, and all I could think about was how it sucked that it was all she could see. I’m not trying to delude myself that whatever this is we will have it easy. But I want to try, because I do care about you, and I have wanted to be with you for so long. So, I don’t care if it is going to be hard, because it is worth it.”
Veteran Dreams (Forever Young Series) Page 8