Battlefield of the Heart (10 page)
Read Battlefield of the Heart Online
Authors: E. A. West
Sadness clouded Danny's face, and he looked at the duck in his hands. “I had a dog. She got hit by a car while I was overseas the last time.”
“I'm sorry to hear that.” She set her computer and notes on her desk and gave him a hug. “I know how hard it is to have a pet get killed by a car.”
He stepped back and nodded, then he laid the duck on her bed as he spoke softly. “Especially when you're out of the country and can't get home for another seven months.”
She didn't know what to say â what
could
she say? â so she walked over to the small refrigerator in the corner. After pulling out the partial two-liter of cola, she retrieved a pair of plastic glasses from the box on top.
Danny walked over and took them from her. “Let me carry this stuff so you can bring your homework.”
“Thanks.” Cindy retrieved her computer and notes from her desk.
She left the door open as she led Danny to the lounge. Leann would return any minute, so she didn't see a point to locking the room. Besides, she wasn't sure her roommate had taken her key.
Cindy dumped her homework on one of the couches, and Danny set the two-liter and glasses on the low table in front of it. He went around the table to sit on the other couch as she opened the bottle of cola.
She filled one of the glasses and held it up. “Want some?”
“Sure.” He accepted the glass and took a sip. “So, what's this paper that's due in the morning?”
“It's for my sociology class.” She finished pouring her cola and sat down beside her computer. “The one I had to pick a new topic for since veterans returning to civilian life is too complex.”
“What did you finally choose?”
“Poverty. I still have four pages to write before I'm done. Depending on what time I finish writing it, I may just get up early and proofread it before I go to class.”
“I'll proofread it, if you want me to. I have a talent for finding typos and grammatical errors.”
Warmth flowed through her, coming to a rest at her heart. “That would be awesome. But it's going to be pretty late when I finish writing the paper.”
“As long as it's before five, I'm sure I'll still be wide awake.” He sighed and looked into his glass. “It's a good thing I don't have class until noon. Otherwise, I'd have to go on no sleep.”
Cindy kicked off her sneakers, sympathy flooding her. “Is there anything I can do?”
He shook his head. “I'll sleep eventually. Just not for quite a while.”
After taking a drink of cola, she set her glass on the table and picked up her computer. She could feel Danny's haunted gaze on her as she continued her paper, and she wished she could find a way to help him get over his PTSD. She'd done a little research on it, which was part of the reason she still hadn't finished this paper, but she hadn't found anything she could do, other than be a friend to him.
They finished off the cola before Cindy typed her conclusion. She wrote the last few lines and saved the file with a sigh of relief. Danny looked up as she stood and stretched.
“Finished?”
“I hope so.” She checked her watch and groaned. “Remind me to not get curious about the time again.”
He stood and joined her. “What time is it?”
“After three.” She shoved her hair back from her face and fought tears of exhaustion. Crying wouldn't change anything. “My class is at eight. Maybe I should just skip trying to sleep and go over my paper until I have to leave.”
Danny wrapped her in a hug, and his warm embrace and calm voice kept her from completely losing it. “You need to get whatever sleep you can. I already told you I'll go over your paper for you. By the time you print it out in the morning, it'll be grammatically perfect and typo-free.”
She leaned against him, too tired to care what kind of signals she might be sending. “I can't abandon you to deal with my paper.”
He used a single finger to nudge her chin up and looked into her eyes. “So lie down out here. If you fall asleep before I'm done, I'll wake you up so you can go to your room.”
She managed a small smile. “You're a good friend, Danny.”
“Hey, helping you with your paper is the least I can do since you helped me out a few days ago and again tonight.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the sofa he'd been sitting on. “Go lie down. You look ready to drop where you stand.”
“I am.”
She moved to the sofa and lay down on the firm cushions. Rolling onto her side, she watched Danny sit on the other couch and pick up her computer. He smiled as he settled it on his lap. “Go to sleep. I'll let you know when I finish.”
Cindy closed her eyes as he shifted his attention to the computer screen. The silence was broken only by the occasional tap of a key from Danny. She relaxed, knowing her paper was in good hands, and drifted off.
****
“Cindy, your paper's done.”
She stretched a little and opened her eyes to find Danny watching her. “What do you think of it?”
“It's excellent. I only found a couple of places where you forgot a letter or used the wrong verb tense.”
“What do you think of the content?” She sat up and studied him. Would he tell her if he thought it was garbage?
“If you write your paper on veterans half as well as you wrote this one, I think you should submit it somewhere and see about getting it published.”
“Really? I didn't think I wrote that well.”
Danny sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “Cindy, after reading your paper, I have a new understanding of just how big a problem poverty is in this country. What you wrote, and the way you wrote it, makes me want to do something to fix the problem. If you can bring that much awareness to something so prominent in society with a five-page paper, just think how much good you can do with twenty-five pages on veterans reintegrating into civilian life. You have the opportunity to raise awareness of the difficulties we face.”
She laid her head on his shoulder, his praise lifting her spirits. “That's what I want to do, raise awareness and call people to action to make the world a better place.”
“Keep writing papers like the one I just read and get them published so the general public sees them, and I have no doubt you'll succeed.” He gave her a quick hug. “For now, you'd better go get whatever sleep you can before your class.”
She straightened with a sigh, and he lowered his arm as she turned toward him. “You doing okay now?”
He nodded, his gaze much clearer than when they'd first come to the lounge. “I'm fine. I plan on going to bed myself.”
“In that case, I guess I'd better stand up.” Cindy groaned and rose to her feet. “I think I'm going to come back and take a nap after my class.”
Danny stood as well and grabbed her notebook off the low table. He pulled the pen out of the spiral binding and flipped to a clean page. “Call me whenever you wake up, and I'll take you to lunch.” He finished writing a phone number and handed her the notebook. “If you want to go with me.”
As if she'd say no to a guy this sweet. “Sure, I'll go. I don't know what time it'll be, though.”
“If you don't call me before my noon class, I'll take you to a late lunch. My class ends at one-thirty.”
“Sounds good to me.” She tossed the empty two-liter bottle in the trashcan in the corner, and then gathered her things. “Thanks for looking over my paper. I'll see you sometime tomorrow â I mean, later today.”
He chuckled at her correction. “I look forward to it.”
She left him at the stairwell door and continued on to her room. Her sleep-deprived brain wondered if going to lunch with him would count as a date. A smile touched her lips at the thought that it could.
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Cindy barely made it to class on time and struggled to stay awake through Dr. Brixton's lecture. Once the session finally ended, she went straight to her room and crawled back in bed. When she woke up a little after one, she felt almost human. A shower and clean clothes brought her completely to life and reminded her that she'd skipped breakfast in favor of a few extra minutes of sleep. She located Danny's phone number and gave him a call, hoping he was back from his class.
“Hey, are you still interested in going to lunch?” she asked when he picked up.
Danny chuckled. “Of course. I was just waiting to hear from you.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
“Come on down to my room, and we can go from here.”
“I'll be there in two minutes.”
She shoved her cell phone in her pocket and grabbed the lanyard holding her keys and ID. After making sure she had a little cash in case Danny wanted to go somewhere other than food service, she locked her room and headed downstairs.
Danny was leaning on his doorframe while he talked to another guy, but he straightened with a smile as she approached. “Hey, Cindy. This is Marcus. He lives across the hall.”
The dark-haired guy turned and ran his gaze over her. “No wonder Danny was standing in the hall. I would, too, if I had a girl who looked like you coming to see me.”
Cindy laughed at his obvious flirtation. “You'd also wait in the hall if that girl was coming from two floors up and you knew you were leaving about as soon as she arrived.”
Marcus looked at Danny. “You didn't tell me you were going somewhere.”
“I promised to take Cindy out for a late lunch,” he said as he pulled his door closed.
“Man, you mean she's taken?” Marcus sighed. “I should have known.”
He disappeared into the room across the hall and shut the door hard. Cindy turned to Danny. “He seems unusually disappointed.”
He shrugged and guided her toward the stairwell. “Marcus is a little strange, but I think he's having a hard time finding a date.”
“I'm sure he'll find someone soon enough,” she said as he opened the stairwell door for her. “So, where are we going?”
“I was thinking about the diner.” He paused before going down the stairs and glanced at her. “Unless you'd prefer somewhere else.”
Cindy smiled and touched his arm. “The diner sounds good.”
They talked about photography as they walked across campus. Cindy had learned a lot just from talking to Danny, and she decided to talk to her parents about enough money to buy a good camera. A thought occurred to her, and she glanced at Danny.
“Where does your family live? You've told me a little about them, but you never mentioned a location.”
“My parents live about twenty minutes from here in Maple Creek. My sister and her family live in Sacramento, and my little brother is in Norfolk with the navy. He enlisted for six years and still has three left.”
“Do you think he'll reenlist?”
“I don't know. He might. He likes being a sailor.” Danny sighed. “My parents are hoping he won't. They don't like having him at sea for six months at a stretch. His fiancée doesn't like it either, but she's willing to deal with it for the next twenty years if he decides to be a career navy man.”
She noticed he hadn't mentioned his own feelings on it. “What do you think of him reenlisting?”
“I think the navy's been good for him. If he decides to stay in until he can retire with a pension, he has my full support. If he decides to get out in three years, he'll have my support in whatever he does.”
Talk about a noncommittal answer. Cindy studied him as they waited for traffic to clear at the corner. “Okay, so what do you think about it?”
Danny grinned. “You didn't like my diplomatic answer?”
“It's very good, and I'm sure it comes in handy at family gatherings, but I'm curious about how you really feel.”
The light changed and they crossed the street as he spoke. “I'm jealous that he has the option of reenlisting. Even with all the stuff I have to deal with because of my time in the army, I still miss the life sometimes. If it weren't for the PTSD, I could easily have become a career soldier, but they think I'm too messed up to be of any use to them now.”
“They couldn't make you a janitor or something equally non-stressful?”
He shook his head. “I was a mess when they sent me home. Once they had me to the point I could function halfway normally, they gave me a medical discharge and enough benefits to guarantee I'll never have to pay for psychiatric care out of my own pocket.” He paused outside the diner and turned toward her with a look of mock suspicion. “How is it you always get me talking about stuff I don't normally tell people?”
She grinned and grazed her fingers across his forearm. “I'm talented.”
Danny laughed and opened the door for her.
****
Cindy followed Leann across the Mitchell Complex dining room Thursday evening. They wove their way around other students, crowded tables, and the occasional vacant chair. Their girlfriends had taken over a large table in the back and waved maniacally as they called out. Other diners chuckled and rolled their eyes at the ruckus, and Cindy laughed at her friends' antics. The eight girls lived in four different dorms, although most of them had shared rooms or lived on the same floor in previous years. They made it a point to have dinner together once a month; more often if their schedules allowed it.
Cindy set her tray on the large table and sat down between Leann and Jane. Chrissy leaned forward and raised her eyebrows. “Hey, Cindy, who's that guy you were here with last week? You know, the one with the gorgeous eyes and a great body?”
Heat flooded Cindy's face. She'd only been there with one guy recently. “Oh, that was Danny.”
“And who is Danny?” Alicia asked, her eyes full of speculation.
Leann grinned as she stirred sugar into her iced tea. “He's a veteran who lives two floors below us.”
Patti's jaw dropped. “Veteran? You mean like from Iraq?”
“Yes and Afghanistan.” Cindy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her friends' incredulous expressions. Did they not realize veterans were people, too? “He's a really nice guy and loves photography.”
Liz laughed and shook her head. “You find the weirdest people.”
“You think he's weird just because he was in the army?” Cindy fought a spark of irritation.
“Of course not. Maybe I should have said interesting.” Liz had the wisdom to look sheepish. “But you have met some strange people. Remember that one girl last year who liked to drop water balloons from the bell tower?”
“Okay, she was a little bizarre,” Cindy admitted.
“Yeah, and then there was the guy who only ate fruit and wouldn't wear anything other than cotton because it didn't harm any plants or animals.”
Cindy held up her hands and laughed. “Okay, okay! I get the idea. I tend to attract strange people. But Danny's not one of them. He's just a nice guy who was in the army.”
“He's weird.” Leann looked around the group. “His roommate told me all about it while we were waiting for Cindy and Danny to get back after the fire alarm last night.”
So much for having the support of her roommate.
Tana looked back and forth between them. “Hold on. Cindy, you've got the hots for a veteran who may or may not be an oddball, and Leann wants his roommate? Man, I should have requested a room in Wyatt!”
Cindy rolled her eyes; Tana was notorious for her interest in any and all available men. “The guy who lives across the hall from Danny and Greg seems pretty desperate for a date. I doubt he'd care that you live across campus.”
“Gee, thanks. You want to hook me up with a desperate guy.” Tana heaved a mock sigh. “I'll lick the wounds to my self-esteem later. For now, give us details about Danny, his roommate, and why Danny's weird.”
Cindy forced herself to laugh with her friends, and then she told them about the last week and a half of her life. Leann added the few details Greg had given her â mainly that Danny suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. When the conversation finally moved away from her new friends, Cindy breathed a sigh of relief. Danny's suggestion of getting her paper on veterans published sounded better than ever after that interrogation. Her girlfriends' intense focus on the fact that the men in the student veterans' group had been in combat made her wonder how many other people never looked past the uniforms they used to wear. Assuming Dr. Brixton gave her a decent grade, she'd talk to him about where to submit it.
After they finished their meal, they headed for the quad. Flyers had been posted around campus for the last two weeks announcing a free concert by the fountain. When the girls arrived, they found a small crowd â including several of their friends â already gathered and growing by the minute.
Cindy smiled as Halbert approached with Seiichiro, a Japanese student she'd met last year. “Hey, I didn't know you guys were going to be here.”
“I can't pass up wonderful American culture like a free concert,” Seiichiro said, his accent much less noticeable than it had been when she first met him. A mischievous grin made his dark eyes dance. “I need many stories to share with my friends when I go home to Japan.”
Halbert laughed. “I'm just here because I'm bored. I ran into Seiichiro on the way.”
“I didn't realize you knew each other,” Cindy said.
“Yeah, we have a statistics class together.” Halbert chuckled and shook his head. “It's making me understand how Seiichiro must have felt coming here where everyone speaks English instead of Japanese. Half the time, I think the professor is speaking some foreign language.”
Tana ran an appraising gaze over him as the others laughed. “I've met Seiichiro, but you're new to me.”
“I'm Dave Halbert.”
She smiled and shifted a little closer. “Tana Montgomery. Why don't you join us?”
“I can join you for a little while, anyway. I'm meeting some other friends here.” Halbert grinned at Cindy. “Danny's coming with Josh and Alex. I think Corbin's coming and bringing his kid, too.”
Cindy nodded, her heart picking up speed at the prospect of seeing Danny again. “Does that mean Monique's feeling better?”
Halbert shrugged. “Beats me. I assume she is, but it could be that Corbin's bringing Delario just to keep him out of her hair.”
Tana turned to Cindy, her eyebrows lifted with speculation. “And who are all these people?”
“More members of the student veterans' group. Except for Delario. He's five and the cutest kid you could hope to meet. Oh, and Monique is Corbin's wife and Delario's mom.”
Chrissy's eyes widened. “Man, you've been busy! Remind me to call you more often.”
The group laughed, and then Cindy spotted Corbin and Delario slowly approaching with a pretty mahogany-skinned woman. Delario waved and said something to his parents then ran over to give Cindy a hug.
“Hi, Cindy! My mommy's all better, so Daddy brought her to hear the music.” The boy stepped back and looked up at her with a huge grin. “Mommy says she wants to meet you.”
“I want to meet her, too, and tell her how sweet you are,” Cindy said, certain it would embarrass the boy.
Delario folded his arms across his chest as his parents joined them. “I'm not sweet. I'm tough like my dad.”
The woman holding Corbin's arm laid a hand on Delario's shoulder, her dark brown eyes dancing with amusement. “Your dad may be tough, but he's pretty sweet, too.”
Delario reached up and grabbed her hand. “Mommy, this is Cindy.”
The woman turned to her and gave her a warm smile. “Hi, Cindy, I'm Monique. I want to thank you for staying at the hospital with Corbin last week. He told me how much he appreciated it.”
Cindy's cheeks warmed. Would people ever quit making a big deal out of that? “I just did what any good friend would do.”
Monique laughed. “He also said you're modest beyond belief.”
Leann stepped up beside Cindy and slung an arm around her shoulders. “This girl takes modesty to a whole new level.”
“Please excuse me while I go die of embarrassment,” Cindy said as Leann lowered her arm.
“Don't die yet.” Halbert pointed to a different section of the quad. “Danny'll want to say goodbye first.”
Cindy turned and found Danny approaching with Josh and Alex. Josh carried Vicki on his back, and Alex had his arm around Kristin as they sang the jingle to a commercial.
Monique raised her eyebrows at Corbin. “Now, why didn't you carry me like that? I'm still recovering, remember?”
He pulled her into an embrace. “I offered, but you turned me down. I seem to recall something about you not wanting to be treated like an invalid?”
She tilted her head back to look at him. “Maybe I'll let you carry me back to the car.”
“I can handle that.” Corbin kissed her as the others arrived.
“Hey, get a room!” Josh said as Vicki slid to the ground. “There's a kid present.”
Delario rolled his eyes as his parents laughed and separated. “They're always doing mushy stuff.”
“Just wait until you grow up and fall in love. You won't mind the mushy stuff so much.” Corbin tousled his son's short hair.
“That's gross!” Delario said, ducking away.
Laughter rang through the group, and Alex, Josh, and Danny all hugged Monique, appearing relieved to see her out and about. At Josh's prompting, Cindy introduced everyone. When she finished, Alex grinned.
“What do you do? Go around collecting random people for fun?”
She pasted on an innocent expression. “Can I help it if I'm loveable?”
Tana threw an arm around her. “Honey, you're just a people magnet.”
Josh glanced around the gathering crowd. “Hey, we saw Lacey and Matt not far from here. They managed to get a bench, and they said they'd share with you, Monique, so you don't have to sit on the ground.”
“Mm, sitting on a bench sounds good,” she said, leaning against Corbin. “I'm tired of standing.”
Danny fell into step with Cindy and lifted an eyebrow. “You didn't tell me you were coming to this concert.”
“You didn't ask.” She tapped his shoulder and fought back a smile. “You also failed to mention that you'd be here.”
He draped his arm across her shoulders and progressively leaned more of his weight on her. “I guess that's why communication is important.”
“Yeah, it is.” She poked him in the ribs, wondering just how much he weighed. “Now, quit leaning on me before you knock me over.”
He laughed and straightened. “I was wondering how long it would take you to say something.”
Josh dropped back and hit Danny in the shoulder, causing him to laugh again. “Dude, quit picking on our civilian.”
“Why? You want a turn?”
Cindy rolled her eyes as she caught sight of Matt. “You guys can pick on each other. I'm going to ask my cousin about his latest fashion.”
She left the two men ribbing each other and picked up her pace to investigate Matt's new look. In addition to his usual jeans and T-shirt, he wore a multi-colored jester's hat. He grinned and pointed to the hat when she reached him.
“Lacey dared me to wear it.”
“And you agreed?” She hadn't seen her cousin wear something that wacky for a couple of years.
Lacey bumped her shoulder into him, a teasing twinkle in her eyes. “He didn't have a choice.”
Matt put his arm around her. “Yeah, she gave me the option of watching that dreadful lion movie instead of wearing the hat.”
Cindy laughed and turned to Lacey. “I love you now.”
The others joined them, and Lacey and Matt moved over so Monique and Corbin could sit down. Delario climbed into his father's lap, and everyone else took seats on the ground around them. Cindy ended up between Danny and Josh. Her girlfriends mingled with the others, and she was relieved her new friends and her old ones were getting along so well.
The murmur of the crowd didn't stop when the band took the stage and began to play, but everyone seemed to enjoy the music. Even though it was a local group no one had heard of, they played well, and the lead singer had a smooth voice that made Cindy wonder how long it would be until they recorded an album. After several songs, the band started playing an anti-war song, and Cindy could feel the tension radiating from the veterans.
“Where do they get off saying anything about what's going on in Iraq or Afghanistan?” Danny said, glaring at the stage. “I doubt they could find either place on a map.”
Josh leaned forward to look past Cindy. “Dude, chill out. Free speech is a constitutional right, even if the songwriter is an idiot.”
Danny waved a hand at the crowd, some of whom were nodding at the lyrics. “They're falling for this political garbage. They don't want to hear the truth because it might make them uncomfortable.”
Cindy was getting uncomfortable with how angry he was over a song.
Alex walked over and squatted beside Danny. “Let's go take a walk.”
Danny shook his head in disgust and stood. “Just leave me alone.”
Cindy watched him stalk off across the grass, and then she turned to find Alex and Josh watching her. “Is it just me, or is he excessively irritated by this song?”
“It's a bit excessive,” Alex said. “But he'll get over it.”
Josh grinned, irony shining in his eyes. “Welcome to the wonders of PTSD. Irrational anger is part of it. Alex is right, though. He'll get over it and go back to what you're used to soon enough.”
She shifted her gaze back to the stage as the band started another song, one without a political agenda, but her thoughts remained on Danny. When an intermission came, she excused herself and headed in the direction he had taken when he'd disappeared. He could be anywhere, but his long absence worried her.
She found him leaning against the Donnellson Science Building. He shoved away from the stone wall, his expression filled with annoyance.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to make sure you're okay.” Her heart stuttered at his tone. Perhaps she would have been wiser to wait for him to come back. Maybe she could find a way to excuse herself and leave him alone.
“Yeah, I'm great.” He gave a bitter laugh and gestured toward the free concert. “Those morons just sang about how we're the bad guys and the terrorists are the good guys. I bet they also claim to support the troops. It's a load of bull.”
“Anyone with a brain would know that song is wrong.”
“You'd be amazed at how many stupid people there are in this country,” Danny said, anger smoldering in his eyes. “I bet you don't believe anyone could be that stupid, though. You like to think everyone is as blissfully unaware of the real world as you are.”
