Cambrie sighed and stomped back to the front desk. An hour until closing time. Today had been a slow day. Maybe there’d be few customers for the remainder of the day and she could at least have the time to research the Veterans Affairs Department’s requirements. This just warned of an impossible feat.
But since when did a Brasher go down without a fight? After all, she was born and bred Southerner and there wasn’t a losing cause a Southerner wouldn’t fight for if they thought they should. It just so happened that Cambrie needed to fight for her job or risk losing everything that she had barely held onto this past year.
An hour later, Cambrie locked the library doors behind Mr. Hackler as he left for the evening. After reviewing the requirements to qualify for the veteran’s grant, Cambrie had three pages of notes but no solid ideas on how she could lead by example in honoring a member of the military. In desperation, she had emailed the person in charge of the program asking for specific ideas on how she could prove her military support.
Her inbox showed a new message. Opening it, Cambrie read the email.
Thank you, Miss Brasher, for your interest in the Military-Friendly Library Grant Program. I will get right to the point as you stated you needed the info immediately. Adopt a soldier, Miss Brasher. It’s as simple as that. Then we will ask that person how well you supported them over the next few months. This will involve how much you kept in contact with them (should be no less than once a week).
We understand that the economy is tough right now, but care packages from home boost our soldiers’ morale more than anything else. Helps them know they are on our minds. While we don’t expect one person to shoulder this expense, you can prove your worthiness for the grant by organizing efforts to solicit donations of items from your customers, friends, and family.
This grant has been established by the Veterans Affairs Department to highlight the need to have individual participation in the U.S. military’s missions. Not everyone can serve in the military, Miss Brasher, but everyone can support those who do. That’s what we aim to emphasize to the American people.
You all can make a difference in the lives of our military personnel deployed around the world. They sacrifice their time and sometimes their lives to bring us all the freedom we enjoy every day without a question or a fear it could be taken away.
Now I implore you, Miss Brasher, to adopt a soldier and support him or her in the best way you can. How do you find this soldier? Well, I’m afraid that’s up to you as part of the program’s initiative. But it must not be a family member or someone you already know. We expect that you’d already be supporting such members.
With this program our goal is to make sure every military member has someone they know is thinking of them. So ask family and friends who they know in the military and adopt that person.
Then keep a detailed log of communications sent to him or her and of other efforts, such as soliciting donations from customers. I will contact you soon for a detailed report and will follow-up with your adopted soldier for his or her input.
Remember, this is about them. Yes, the grant money is certainly important to libraries, but we need to keep focused on the project’s theme. Boosting our military’s morale is a job for all Americans. Helping a special library, one that goes above and beyond all others to do so, with financial support will benefit all our citizens as books are immensely important to the military-aside from letters from home they are what military members read to pass the time before returning to loved ones.
I thank you for your time and appreciate your interest in the Veterans Affairs Department’s Military-Friendly Library Grant Program. I look forward to your report.
Sincerely, General Sherwald
Cambrie sat back in her chair with tears in her eyes. Wasn’t that the most touching email she had ever read? Wow. When she had set out on this quest, she only had visions of saving her job. Now she could actually make an impact on someone’s life halfway across the world.
With a new enthusiasm for the project, Cambrie kicked off her shoes, wiggled her sore, cramped toes and sat down to make a list of what to do next. She didn’t know anyone in the military.
Correction. Her good friend from college, Emma Shields now Emma Coleman, did. Emma had recently married a Navy SEAL, Finn Coleman, who retired to live with his new wife on her farm in Vermont. Cambrie would just have to look up Emma and beg for her assistance. Finn should be able to refer her to a military member who could help her win the grant. If there was one thing Cambrie could do well, it was write. Holding a masters degree in English would help her win this money and maybe make a new friend with her adopted soldier.
Cambrie began a new email.
Hi Emma, How are you? Hope married life is treating you well. Aunt Annabelle is still doing well in the nursing home. I wish I could write more, but I’m pressed for time and need a HUGE favor please.
Will you ask Finn if he could refer a soldier to me to “adopt.” Yes, that’s right. My boss will fire me by tomorrow night if I can’t prove that I can win a grant that will financially benefit the library. The requirement to participate in the grant is adopting a soldier and writing him or her once a week, sending care packages, etc. I really need someone. I don’t know anyone except Finn that has served in the military. If you would please get back to me ASAP, girlfriend. I’d owe you big time.
Lots of hugz, Cam
Cambrie logged off the Internet. She needed to head home, change into comfortable jeans, and snuggle on her couch to brainstorm more ideas. She could solicit the Southern Ladies League for donations. She’d make giant posters listing donations needed and hang them in the library. She’d have the Teen Readers Group write letters to her adopted soldier, too.
Oh, there was so much she had thought of since the general’s email. Now she had a purpose other than taking care of Aunt Annabelle, which she never minded, but this was important too. She’d bring a smile to a soldier’s face somewhere in a distant land. Her job no longer needed to just be about paying the bills. She could finally make a difference.
Slipping her shoes back on her sore feet, Cambrie squished her notes into her briefcase and headed for home.
Chapter Two
Walking into her empty apartment, Cambrie sighed at the silence. Wouldn’t it be nice to actually walk in and be greeted by someone? Dumping her briefcase on the couch where she’d work, she turned on her laptop. Running into her bedroom, she changed and returned to the kitchen to start dinner. When she logged back online, she wanted to jump up and down. Emma had replied.
Hey, Cam. Wow, long time no talk to. Miss you! Finn’s not home yet, he’s been out with the horses all day. He started a stud program and I swear the horses are getting more action than me, LOL.
But, hun, not to worry. I’ll make sure he gets you a contact tonight. I’m thrilled that you let me know about this. What a fantastic program!
You know that Finn and I met online…well, thanks to my friends and his men playing matchmaker. You never know what could happen with the right pen pal. Wink! And of course, you’d better share all the juicy details LOL. OK. Will email in a few.
Hugs to you too, Em
Had Emma gone and lost her mind? Cambrie laughed and set her laptop on the coffee table and hurried to the microwave. Her frozen dinner was overcooked, but she was so hungry she didn’t care. It was food and, at the moment, she had more important things like her job to worry about than nourishment.
If Emma thought that Cambrie had the time for a relationship then she didn’t know her well enough. The last thing Cambrie needed was another person depending on her limited time when she needed to keep the bills paid for Aunt Annabelle to stay in the nursing home.
Taking a bite of the pasta, Cambrie sat at her tiny kitchen table glancing around her small apartment. It had been all she could afford after she sold Aunt Annabelle’s beloved house once the doctors said the frail elderly woman needed to remain in the nursing home for round the clock care. The medical bills ha
d eaten up Aunt Annabelle’s small savings until only the house was left.
Cambrie didn’t need much though. Some day she’d have her own big, southern house with floor to ceiling windows, fireplaces in the great room and bedrooms, and a large eat-in kitchen like Aunt Annabelle’s house. Then Cambrie’s maid would prepare the meals because Lord knew Cambrie’s specialty wasn’t cooking. She was one step away from the local fire department issuing her an order forbidding her to cook anymore. The old biddies in town had actually thought the constant calls for assistance from the firemen for burnt dinners had been a clever way for Cambrie to land herself a husband. She could think of better ways than smoke inhalation to attract a man.
The ding on her laptop indicated a new email. Cambrie jumped up from the kitchen table and dashed into the living room. Clicking on the email, she opened it.
Good news, Cam. My husband laughed hard when I told him of your request. Then afterward, when Finn got this evil look to his handsome face, I knew the wheels were turning in that thick head of his and that someone was in trouble. Hahaha.
He’s grateful to have the opportunity to refer one of his former men for your program. Lt. Miller Daly was one of the guys responsible for me and Finn getting together. So in my hubby’s words, ‘it’s only fair that he repay the favor to all his men and he’d like to start with Miller.’ But be warned, Cam, Miller’s not very sociable and is probably the most opposite man from you. His email address is at the end of this one.
You better let me know what happens-LOL-this is so much fun. Wait until you see how hot Miller is.
Write me soon, Em
Cambrie laughed. If Emma thought that she’d be part of her or her husband’s matchmaking scheme then she was crazy. But Cambrie was a desperate woman and now had the first link to fulfilling the grant’s requirements: a soldier to adopt. But she had to admit that she was intrigued by Emma’s description of the man she needed to write. With any luck, maybe this pen pal thing wouldn’t be boring. If she had someone who could at least have a decent conversation via letters, she’d be happy.
What would she say? She settled back on the couch and thought of some of her favorite romance books. As a librarian, she was well versed in all genres of books, but the romances had always held a special spot in her heart. They were the perfect solution to her lack of a love life. Cuddling with the characters on the couch or in her bed had been one of her favorite past times when sleep didn’t overcome her.
While Cambrie wasn’t known as a flirt, she did have a great imagination and knew how to use it. She needed to write something to this guy Miller that would interest him so he wouldn’t brush her off as spam or a pathetic lunatic. She remembered Emma’s wedding and all the military guys there, how they had all been larger than life. Tall, muscular, dangerous. And very yummy. Cambrie sat straight up.
“Oh, my God! Had Miller been at Emma’s wedding?” Talking out loud to herself had become a bad habit, one she would surely be committed for sooner or later.
Which man was he? They were all gorgeous and intimidating, caught up in their closed circle of friends, dressed in spiffy military uniforms. And they were loud. That she remembered, how they had howled and laughed all night. Still, they weren’t obnoxious. It had been heartwarming to witness how close the men were, huddled together for the evening, throwing a punch to the arm or a slap on the back every so often. Emma and Finn had been their focus most of the time.
Cambrie sighed. Someday, with any luck, she’d have a wedding day too and wear Aunt Annabelle’s wedding dress like she had promised. If she could hit the lottery then maybe she’d buy back Aunt Annabelle’s house.
A fist tightened around her heart at the memories of growing up in the home that had been in Annabelle’s family for generations. And because Cambrie didn’t make enough money here in Maddyville, she had to give it up. Oh, well. The past couldn’t be changed.
But the future she had a say in and, for now, she needed to win the grant.
Sitting on the couch with her laptop, she typed.
Dear Lt. Daly, Finn Coleman referred me to you saying you’d help me with a very important project. I need to adopt you. Well, figurately speaking that is. You see, I am a librarian at Highland Library in Maddyville, Kentucky, a small town that hosts the only library for 50 miles. It’s a vital part of the community. My boss has asked that I apply for the grant offered by the Veterans Affairs Department rewarding the employee in a library that proves their support of our troops.
That’s why I wish to adopt you. I would write you weekly and send care packages. All you’d have to do in a few months is report how well I did. Please, Lt. Daly, email me back ASAP so I know you got this and then we can start.
Sincerely, Cambrie Brasher
She logged off for the night. Sitting and pressing the refresh button every minute wasn’t her idea of fun nor would it make him reply any faster. What if he didn’t get it? Would he even be stationed some place that had the Internet?
She remembered Emma going crazy not having any contact with Finn when he was on his last mission and somewhere that had no phone or Internet service. Cambrie had always taken modern technology for granted. Whenever she read a book that highlighted the lack of technology in developing countries then she appreciated having it all that much more. But Miller was military…surely he’d have a means to communicate with loved ones, right? Maybe not every day, but most days, she hoped.
Setting her alarm for 5am, she snuggled under the covers not even bothering to undress. Her pillow beckoned her and sleep teased her. Giving in to both, Cambrie shut her eyes.
****
What the fuck was Finn up to now? Miller wondered re-reading the email from Cambrie Brasher. Did Finn think he was a charity case who needed his friends to find him female companionship? Hell, no. And no way in hell did Miller feel like being a guinea pig for some small town, snooty librarian and her silly ass program.
If she wanted to support the troops then she could donate blood or knit blankets or something. He sure didn’t need some tight-assed broad writing him and preaching about the proper way to act or the ethics of war or how God could save him.
Miller was going to kick Finn’s ass once he got back to the States. He’d be sure to swing by Vermont and visit his ex-commander.
Miller typed his brief reply to Cambrie and hit the send button. Then he sent an email to Finn.
So you think it’s funny trying match me up with a librarian, you ass? Just wait, buddy. You’ll get yours. Gonna kick your sorry ass all over that fucking farm of yours. You’re in deep shit, pal, and you know I ain’t all talk. Give that pretty wife of yours my condolences for marrying a butt-head. You are such a fuck-nut.
Miller
Miller smiled. Guess Finn’s plan backfired on him. Thought he could get him back like he’d threatened countless times for signing Finn up for the military pen pal program that had won him Emma.
Miller leaned back and rested his head on the pillow on his cot. Finn should be shaking Miller’s hand for helping him find Emma. If Miller hadn’t taken the step for him, the poor bastard would still be a lonely fuck.
Now Miller, on the other hand, just wanted to get laid. Settling down might happen some day, but not any time soon. Missions were his life and getting laid was easy.
Closing his eyes, he waited for his dream lady to come. God, what he wouldn’t do to be able to stroke his cock and come to the vision of the beauty who haunted his damn dreams. Bunking in close quarters with four guys wouldn’t allow him that opportunity, so he settled for the throbbing in his cock.
She was out there. And he’d find her if it killed him.
****
“What does he mean, no?” Cambrie screeched.
She had awoken in the middle of the night unable to sleep, worried about losing her job. In her nervousness, she had checked her email.
Hi Miss Brasher, while I’m appreciative of your efforts to run your library, I’m afraid that I’m just not interested in be
ing adopted. I apologize that Finn misled you. I wouldn’t make a good pen pal for a librarian.
Best wishes, ma’am. Lt. Miller Daly
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Cambrie said, pacing her living room. “Wouldn’t be good for a librarian? What am I? The plague or something?”
Oh no, he didn’t. Cambrie plopped on the couch and typed, her fingers moving so fast across the keyboard that the click clack echoed within the otherwise silent apartment.
Lt. Daly, thank you for your prompt reply, but please reconsider. It will take no effort on your part to assist me. You don’t even need to write me back if you choose not to. All you will need to do after a few months is report how well I corresponded. I am desperate for this program to work, so please email me with good news. I am willing to do anything.
Cambrie
Cambrie sighed, logged off and went back to bed. The comfort of her blankets did nothing to take her mind off her troubles.
What other options did she have if Lt. Daly refused to cooperate? Sure she could email Emma and maybe Finn could refer her to another guy, but there wasn’t a whole lot of time to go back and forth via a hundred emails. If she didn’t have a plan in place by tomorrow to present Mr. Hackler, then she could kiss her job goodbye.
There was no way in hell she’d give the cranky ol’ bastard the chance to fire her if she could help it. She was a very smart woman, top of her class. Figuring out a solution to this problem should be easy enough. Maybe if she went online she could solicit someone off a chat site or something.
She buried her head into her pillow and let out a long scream, the stress pouring out of her.
What was so damn hard about being a pen pal? Weren’t military men always thrilled to have someone from home write them? Hadn’t the general’s email implied that? Wasn’t her letter supposed to boost Lt. Daly’s morale?
Operation: Tempt Me Page 2