Vetted: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

by A. M. Williams

  Like I expected, she let it ring out and go to voicemail. I didn’t bother leaving one. I’d left a few, and she hadn’t responded to any of them. I doubted one tonight would make her respond, especially not since I’d gone over to the house to see her.

  She was determined to see this through, and I couldn’t blame her. I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t feel the same if faced with the same things she was.

  I just felt like shit knowing that I had reacted the wrong way because of my own issues and shortcomings, not taking into consideration how she felt.

  I needed to work on that, and I needed to figure out a way to prove to Britain that I was serious.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  BRITAIN

  “YOU’VE GOT another arrangement out front,” Amy said from the door to my office.

  I glanced up at her and shot her a quick smile. At least, I hoped it was a smile. I couldn’t be sure since she grimaced right back at me. “Give it to one of the girls.”

  Amy sighed and glanced over her shoulder before stepping into the office and closing the door behind her. “Girl, these flowers are for you from August. You don’t want to read the card or take the flowers home?”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  Amy and I stared at each other for several moments before she said. “What happened?”

  I shrugged. “The same old that happened before and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

  She stared at me while I turned my attention back to the patient file I was reviewing. “I’ll see you in the exam room soon,” I told her, a clue I’d like to be alone.

  “Okay,” she whispered before leaving my office and shutting the door behind her.

  Once she was gone, I sagged at my desk and ran a hand through my hair. This was the absolute worst.

  It had been two weeks since my bomb of a deployment and subsequent blowup with August. Two weeks of avoiding him and refusing to talk to him.

  I felt childish in my refusal to talk to him, especially since I had told no one what we argued about. I was sure they could fill in the blanks, but it wasn’t any of their business either. It was mine and his.

  It had been easy to dodge him the first few days because I was busy and it was easy enough to send his calls to voicemail. That was fine. Out of sight, out of mind.

  Then he started calling and texting, asking about that coffee. I refused to answer either.

  Then he started coming to the door, and I told Mom that I wouldn’t talk to him when I refused to come down to see him when she let him in the first time. She hadn’t let him in the house since.

  He was now upping his game and sending flowers. This was the third bouquet this week. Amy came and told me each time I received one, and each time I told her to give it to someone else.

  If nothing else, my misfortune was making the other girls happy because they were getting beautiful flowers to take home.

  My cell rang, jolting me out of my thoughts, and I glanced down to see that it was a number for the Reservist base.

  My heart skipped a beat, knowing what this likely meant. I blew out a breath before picking my phone up and answering it.

  “Hello?”

  “Britain Campbell?” the voice asked.

  “Yes.”

  “This is Colonel Schurzer from Reeds Army base.”

  “Good morning, sir, how are you doing?” I asked, slipping easily back into my patterns for speaking to someone in the military.

  “I’m doing well. Thank you. I’m calling to see if you can come to base this week for some processing.”

  My breath hitched at his request. “Does that mean…” I trailed off.

  “Yes. You’ll be put back on active status and integrated into a unit here before deployment in a few weeks.”

  I blew out a breath. A few weeks. That wasn’t a lot of time at all. “When should I be there?”

  “Can you come out tomorrow, Thursday?”

  I glanced at the calendar and blanched. That was super quick, but I knew I needed to get moving on this to get everything done because there was a lot to do to prepare for a deployment.

  “Yeah, I can do that. Zero-eight?” I asked.

  “Yes. What’s your civilian email and I’ll send you details of where to meet.”

  I rattled it off to him and hung up the phone. I sat at my desk for several minutes, trying to get my thoughts together. Holy. Fuck.

  I checked the time and confirmed that I needed to get a move on. I had some patients to see, but first I needed to see Ken. I needed to tell him what was happening so we could plan.

  I was a brand new partner, and I hated the fact that I was about to run out on him because of this. But he knew it might happen, and he was okay with it.

  I blew out a breath and stood. I grabbed what I needed to get me through the afternoon and stepped into the hall.

  Immediately, the sounds and smells of the clinic burst all around me. I hadn’t realized I couldn’t hear the scrabble of nails on the tile or the sound of whining from the kennel part in my office or that my office didn’t carry the odor of dogs.

  Hearing and smelling that helped to calm me slightly, and I walked the few steps down the hall to Ken’s office, knocking on the partially open door.

  “Hey, you got a minute?” I asked, poking my head into his office.

  He looked up from the folder he was reviewing and nodded. “Always.”

  I slipped through the door and quietly closed it behind me before sinking into the chair across from him.

  I said nothing at first and stared at my hands as I tried to figure out exactly what to say and how to say it.

  “You look like you’ve just found out some terrible news. What is it?” Ken asked when I still hadn’t spoken in a few minutes.

  “I just got word that I’m deploying,” I said, finally raising my gaze to him.

  He sucked in a breath and leaned back in his chair shock clearly written on his face. “What?”

  I nodded. He knew it was a possibility because I’d told him. But he, like everyone, was hoping it wouldn’t happen, not so soon after me getting home.

  But that wasn’t how the military worked, unfortunately.

  “I need to head to base tomorrow to get started on paperwork. I’m not too sure how quickly that’ll go and if I’ll need to report early. I expect to get all that information tomorrow.”

  Ken continued to stare at me, his expression not changing.

  “I’m telling you this because we need to shift my duties since I won’t be here soon.”

  That seemed to snap him into action, and he nodded. “Yes. Yes, okay.” He cleared his throat and unless I was mistaken, I caught some wetness in his eyes as he looked at me. But it quickly disappeared.

  “You go see the patients you’ve got right now and I’ll see about shifting the schedule around so you can head home early to talk to your parents.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not going to happen. We have a full day. I’ll try to get through them faster than normal, but I’m not going to do a sloppy job or have you break your back trying to make it work.”

  Ken and I stared at each other until he finally nodded. “Okay, okay.”

  “I’ll talk to you later,” I said, standing and smoothing a hand down my jacket. “I’ll let you know.”

  UPON ARRIVING HOME AFTER WORK, there weren’t enough words to describe how nervous I was. The threat of a deployment hung over the house like a pall. We couldn’t get out from under it without some word either way on what was going to happen.

  Well. We had that word. And I had to break it to my parents.

  I blew out a breath and climbed out of the car, my eyes automatically going across the street to August’s house.

  His car and his brother’s car were both in the drive, and I realized I’d need to go over and have a conversation with August about this before I left. It wasn’t fair to him to not talk before that.

  I trudged up the steps, my feet feeling like the
y were weighted down with concrete with each step I took toward the house.

  I finally made it inside and upstairs to my room, where I quickly showered and changed before heading down.

  My parents were likely outside, so I took it upon myself to grab them something to drink while I poured myself a large glass of wine. I’d need the liquid courage to talk to them about my deployment.

  I paused in pouring my wine and set the bottle down on the counter, staring at the ripples in my glass as my hands gripped the edge of the counter.

  Fuck. I was deploying. My dad was sick, and I was at the point where I honestly wasn’t certain I wanted active duty anymore.

  Yeah, I thought about it a lot and I missed my job on base. But now that I was out, and I’d experienced life without the strain of military life on it, I realize it was nice and I could likely be content with just reservist duty.

  Of course, that didn’t help me too much at that moment. I was being activated and deployed whether I liked it or not.

  I blew out a breath and forced myself to pull it together. They’d know something was up when I walked out, but I didn’t want to look like I was heading to my death; that would only make it worse.

  I arranged everything on a small tray and carefully walked to the back door, pushing through the storm door and onto the porch.

  “There she is!” My mom called.

  I thought nothing of it until I turned and saw August and Rich sitting on the porch with my parents.

  My hands shook, making the glassware tinkle against each other, but I forced myself to pull it together enough that I could walk to the coffee table and put my tray down, being careful to keep my eyes off August and his brother as I did so.

  “I brought drinks. I wasn’t sure if you’d have anything. I can run in and get something for you two.”

  “We’ve got something. Why don’t you have a seat?” My mom asked.

  I looked at her and noticed her motioning to the open spot next to August. I wasn’t sure I could sit there and tell my news, so instead I stayed standing.

  “First, I need to tell you something.”

  I paused and sucked in a fortifying breath. As I got ready to speak, I realized how hard it was to have this conversation.

  I’d had it with them before, but it had always been over the phone, never face-to-face. And it had never included August, the guy that had my heart, even though he’d crushed it with his initial reaction to my deployment news weeks ago.

  Because of that, I focused on the wooden fence behind my dad that separated our yard from our neighbors. If I looked at anyone, I was likely to lose it and burst into tears.

  “We can…” August started to say, but I shook my head.

  “No, it’s good you’re here. Saves me a trip.” I paused and sipped my wine before saying, “I got a call today that I’m being activated to deploy in several weeks.”

  You could have heard a pin drop after that sentence. My mom sucked in a breath and I heard ice clinking against a glass, but that was it. After a few moments, I looked at my parents.

  My mom was pale and my dad looked stricken, his eyes watering.

  I only had eyes for them right now because my leaving would impact them the most. I then glanced at August and his brother. August was as pale as a ghost, and Rich was looking at me in understanding. It went without saying that he likely understood what I was thinking the best out of everyone here.

  “When…” My mom’s voice wavered, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “When do you leave?”

  “A few weeks. I’ll know more tomorrow after I report to base to start my processing.”

  I glanced between her and my dad and realized that this was going to be a tough deployment simply because of them. I came home because of them. I gave up my career because of them. But had I really given all that much up?

  I’d served for eight years and enjoyed it, but I hadn’t realized how monotonous it was until I was no longer doing it. Working in a civilian vet office was also monotonous, but we had a lot of interesting cases come in and I could have more control over what I did.

  I loved the military, and I missed aspects of my job, but I realized that my family was more important than the career dreams I had. I had eight years, and I thought that might have been enough for me.

  “I think we need a few minutes,” Mom said, looking at Dad.

  I looked at him too and felt my heart squeeze at the look on his face. Fuck. He was definitely crying.

  “Dad…” I started, but my mom said, “Give us a few.”

  I nodded jerkily and turned to the screen door. I pushed through it and practically bounded down the steps and around the house. I had so many thoughts and feelings, and I wasn’t sure how to sort through them to figure out what the best course of action was.

  There was no way I could get out of the deployment, that was for sure. That was set unless something else happened.

  But after? I could do something about that. I needed to think about it, though. I needed to be sure of what I wanted before making a rash decision.

  “Britain,” Rich said from behind me.

  I whirled around to face him, my wine sloshing in my hand. I’d forgotten I was holding it, and it was a wonder I hadn’t dropped it.

  “You need to talk about it, you call me,” Rich said, stepping closer to me and curling an arm around my shoulders for a quick hug.

  I sucked in a shaky breath and nodded. “I will. Thanks.”

  He released me and stared at me for several moments before looking over his shoulder. I glanced the way he was looking and saw August standing there, looking unsure. “Go easy on him. He’s had some thoughts and revelations recently,” he whispered.

  I nodded and Rich stepped back, calling to August, “I’ll see you at home.”

  August nodded, but he was looking at me.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to have a conversation with August, and I really wasn’t sure I wanted to have it on the front lawn of my parents' house. But I really didn’t want to go around the back of the house to where my parents were or take him inside. That wouldn’t work for me either.

  So, the front lawn it was.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  BRITAIN

  “WELL?” I asked after a few moments of silence. “Aren’t you going to say something derisive about my deploying, about how I knew this would happen?”

  August’s shoulders sagged, and I felt bad for immediately attacking him because I was scared.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  August shook his head. “No, I deserved it. I was an asshole the other day. I…” He paused and cleared his throat. “I didn’t take into consideration that you wouldn’t be the only one struggling with your news of deployment. I didn’t think about how it might be hard for you too.”

  I stared at him, not quite believing what I was hearing. “What?” I asked.

  August took a step closer to me and nodded. “I know you’re probably confused, but I’ve done a lot of thinking and I realized that you were right. I don’t agree with your military career and I’m not sure I ever will but caring for someone means supporting them even if you don’t agree with them. So… I’m here to say I’m sorry for not taking how you were feeling into consideration. And I’m here to listen if you need to talk.”

  I continued to stare at August. This was a complete one-eighty from the other day. It was hard to reconcile this guy with the one I’d argued with so furiously about the possibility of deployment. And now, here he was, offering comfort now that I was definitely deploying.

  I was going to get whiplash if I wasn’t careful.

  “August…” I said, trailing off, not sure what to say.

  “I know you’re mad at me. You should be.” He took another step closer, and he was now close enough that he could reach out and touch me. “I was an asshole. I shouldn’t have been, but what’s in the past is done. I can make up for it now.”

&
nbsp; Before I could think of something to say, August closed the space between us and pulled me into his arms, wrapping them around me tightly.

  I was still holding my wine glass, so I carefully wrapped my arms around August as well, sighing at how right it felt.

  It had always felt right with August, even when we were arguing. And as mad as I was at him about his reaction to my initial deployment news, it still felt right.

  As he held me, it was like the little pieces of me that fractured when he didn’t react to my news well slowly fused back together.

  My eyes grew wet, and I knew August’s shirt was likely getting wet as well, but he didn’t react and I didn’t move. It felt too good being in his arms to do that.

  After several minutes, he pulled back and looked down at me. “You good?”

  I nodded while I sniffled. I wasn’t totally good, but his hug had gone a long way to helping me feel more ready to talk about everything.

  He led me to the front porch steps and helped me sit. Once seated, I dashed at my eyes, trying to get the last of my tears to go away.

  “I really am sorry,” August said as he sat next to me. “I was an asshole. I didn’t even think about how hard a deployment would be on you. I was concerned with myself.”

  I nodded. “I want to say it was okay, but it really wasn’t. However,” I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, “I can understand why it would be hard for you. I just wanted us to talk about it. If we don’t talk about it, we’re going to fall into the same traps we did when we were younger and I don’t want that.”

  August nodded. “You’re right. I fucked up.” He blew out a loud breath, and I sipped my wine as I waited to see what he would say. “How are you feeling about this?”

  I let out a quick bark-like laugh. “I can’t even put it into words. I knew it was probably going to happen, but I hadn’t listened to my own advice to prepare. So, it was a small shock.”

  I caught August nodding his head next to me, but I didn’t pull my gaze from the lightly swaying grass. I wasn’t sure I could look at him right then and not burst into tears.