While he was at home creeping through enemy territory in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan or the deserts of the Middle East, his extensive training did not include what he was about to do.
He kept her in his line of sight as he approached the register. The light from the window seemed to find her and grace her with a golden glow. She kept her head bowed over her book as he approached, but her shoulders stiffened with tension. Telling. But he continued his approach, taking in other details. The soda bottle, her nearly worn-out leather watchband, the pink barrette in her hair that matched the tiny flowers on her blouse. The two sociology textbooks stacked neatly at her left elbow.
He wondered about her life. Did she like being a college student? Did she live on campus in a dorm room or in a nearby apartment? Alone, or with a roommate?
When she looked up from her reading, her smile was cordial but he didn’t mistake the sadness, like a shadow, in her dark-blue eyes. He felt a tug of sympathy from his heart. “You look pretty busy,” he noted, easing the books onto the counter by her register.
“It’s the life of a college student. I have a test on Monday.” As she leaned to scan the books, her hair bounced across the side of her face, leaving only a small sliver of her profile visible. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I found more.” He wasn’t talking about the books.
“I do that all the time.” Her gaze didn’t meet his and her polite smile was too brief. She turned her attention to the cash register. All business.
Okay, he got the signal, but he didn’t let it deter him. “How long ’til you get your degree?”
“After this summer, I have two semesters left.” She paused to study the cash register and searched for a key.
“It’s gotta be slow going, working your way through.”
“It’s taking twice as long, but at least I don’t have a major loan to pay back when I’m done.”
“That’s one perk of enlisting. My college will be paid for.”
At least he wasn’t mentioning the past or Joe again, Kelly thought thankfully as she totaled the sale. Her chest was still clogged tight, like the fallout of an avalanche still pressing her down. “Twenty-one ninety-three, please.”
Mitch held out his credit card.
When her fingertips caught the other end, she felt a flash, like a shock of static electricity in the air. The sunlight changed to a bright piercing white. The floor rocked beneath her feet. It lasted only for a second. Then the earth steadied, the sunlight turned golden and there was Mitch, unmoved, looking calm and as cool as steel.
That was so not a sign from heaven. Just the pieces of what remained of her dreams, longing, in the way faint embers from a fire’s flame could glow briefly to life when exposed to air. Her fingers trembled as she swiped his card and plunked it back onto the polished counter between them.
If there was a way to breathe life back into her dreams, she would ask the Lord to show her how. But she didn’t bother. Some things really were impossible. “I still can’t believe you’re a soldier. What happened to your pocket protector?”
“No place for it on this uniform. I love what I do.”
“What exactly do you do?”
“Well, I started out at oh-six-hundred with a ten click—kilometer—run in full gear and spent the day mountain climbing to five thousand feet.”
“You get paid to climb mountains?”
“That’s not all. I get to do things like scuba dive, parachute, drive around in Humvees and play with explosives.” He said it all as if it was no big deal, just in a humble day’s work. “Keeps me out of trouble.”
“Seems like that would get you into trouble.”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
Wow, Kelly thought, as she bagged the books. He’s grown up into quite a man. “See, my day is a piece of cake by comparison.”
“Except for the math.”
“Oh, you had to mention that again. I was trying to forget for a while.” She hadn’t laughed out loud in a long time. “Where you get paid to do things that you think are fun, I pay out good tuition money to be tortured by algebra.”
“I’ll be in your boat in eighteen months.”
“That’s right. That math degree you’re going to get.” The machine spat out the charge receipt and she held the two-part paper steady while it printed. How her heart ached as those embers of old dreams struggled for life. She tore off the printed receipt and slid it across the counter. “I need your autograph, and then you’re free to go, soldier.”
“Free’s a relative term.” He grabbed a pen from the cup by the register. “My time’s pretty regimented.”
“I bet it is. Are you headed back to your base?”
“In a few hours. I’m free until then.” He scrawled his signature at the bottom of the slip.
Too bad she’d given up on dreams. She didn’t know if she felt relief or regret.
“I hope you enjoy your books.” She slipped his receipt into the bag and presented it to him. “I’m glad to see you’re doing so well. I wish you luck, Mitch.”
“You’re letting me go, just like that?”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do? Generally we let customers leave our store. We seldom hold them hostage.”
“I’m not talking about other customers. I’m talking about me. We could renew our friendship.”
“We were never really friends, you know.”
What did that leave him with? Renewing his secret crush on her? He took his bag, but the last thing he wanted to do was leave. She was still the nicest girl he’d ever laid eyes on. He could use a little nice in his world. It wasn’t something he saw much of.
“We could be friends now,” he suggested with his best grin.
“But you said you were headed back to California.” Sweetly, she studied him through her long lashes.
A mass of emotions struck him like shrapnel to his chest. Emotions weren’t his realm of expertise, but he felt strong with a fierce steely need he’d never felt before—to protect her, to make her smile, to make her every sadness go away.
Not really in his comfort zone, but a crush was a crush. What was a guy to do?
He tried again. “I’m not leaving for a while. We could still be friends.”
“I have enough friends.” Her eyebrow crooked up in a challenge.
So, she was giving him a hard time on purpose. “You get a dinner break, right?”
“Now and then they loosen the chains and let me out for a bit.” Kelly folded her arms in front of her, considering him.
“You get a dinner break, and I’m hungry for dinner. It’s a coincidence.”
Kelly couldn’t believe how he was just watching her with those intense, commanding hazel eyes of his, so wise and perceptive. She felt the impact as if he could see directly into her. “You’re asking me out, aren’t you?”
“No, not out. No. Of course not.” He held up his free hand, as if he were innocent. Completely guilt-free.
“That’s good, because I don’t date anymore. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay, because I’m not looking for a date. I was asking you to help me out.”
“As if a big strong soldier like you needs any help at all?”
“Sure.