Boomtown (15 page)

  “Enough.  I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do.  If something is bothering me, I will let you know.  Blaine is getting the same treatment, but since she works from home she doesn’t need it like you do.  So stop making such a big deal about it, everything will be fine.” He said, pulling me close again.

  We lapsed into silence. Sam was pushing off with his feet making the swing rock when the first bolt of lightning struck, followed by a clap of thunder  that scared the piss out of me, making me squeal a little.

  I felt Sam's chest shake and I elbowed him in the ribs.

  "You suck." I said to him.

  "Not as well as you do. " he quipped back. 

  "I only suck so good cause you taught me how to suck. You were my first." I retorted.  

  He chuckled, and then said "And last." 

  “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow at ten, what do you have going on tomorrow?” I asked 

  “Working with Elliott on the new project.  It’s Friday so we will all take off a little early around three. Do you want to go out to dinner? Or do you want to stay in?” he answered. 

  “I have a roast that I took out of the freezer to cook for tomorrow.  So, stay in.  We could play Things again with everyone once we are done eating!” I said, getting a little excited. 

  “Ughhh.  I wouldn’t do this for anyone but you.” He said smiling slightly. 

  I laid my head on his chest and we rocked while listening to the storm raging around us.  This was a good storm; I only hoped that it wouldn’t produce tornados.  It wasn’t long before I was asleep.    

SAM

  After she fell asleep on the swing, I sat there a while thinking that my life was pretty good right now.  The woman I loved was in my arms, my mom was safe, and I had a successful business.  Never, even in my wildest dreams, would I have thought that I’d be where I am right now.   

  There were some problems with who was targeting the team.  Blaine had started to get letters too, but I was keeping that from Cheyenne.  She didn’t need to worry about that when she was taking her finals.  I had planned on telling her tonight, but she was asleep before I could get to it.  I thought about telling her she didn’t have to work, but knew that wouldn’t go over well with her independent nature. It’d be like setting a match to some kindling. 

   Ember gave me some good advice about how to deal with Cheyenne and her weird moods.  Cheyenne had been cleaning up after the party, even when everyone told her to leave it for the next morning.  Ember stood beside me for a few moments, telling me that Cheyenne was very passionate about things and people that mattered to her.  “She has a bitch of a temper.  Just let her do what she wants.  There was this one time when we were out to dinner for James’ birthday and she had a piece of chocolate cake in a to-go box that she didn’t finish.  We were all walking out to the parking lot and James pushed her from behind and made her drop the box, where it opened and fell out onto the ground.  In my opinion it was hilarious, but to James it wasn’t.  She practically went postal, about a piece of cake!  She made him feel awful, she was crying and screaming, and to this day she still brings up this piece of cake that he made her drop.  The thing I’m trying to get at is, is that if she wants to do something, just let her, or she’ll never let you hear the end of it.”  With that she turned and helped Cheyenne finish picking up. 

  Thinking back to that night, when Ember told me that story, I found it hilarious too.  I’d have gone back in and bought her another piece of cake!  My mom had the same sweet tooth, and she always made sure to have something on hand. 

  A strong gust of wind that sprayed rain into may face made me realize that we needed to get in before we were soaked. Picking up Cheyenne, I maneuvered her through the back door, into the kitchen and headed for the bedroom.  Placing her on the bed, I decided to leave her in what she was wearing since it looked comfortable.  Leaving out of the room, I made sure all of the windows and doors were locked after I let Chewy out one more time.  I opened the door to where Janie was set up in my office to hear her snoring softly, so I headed back into the bedroom.   

  The only thing that illuminated the room was the glow from the alarm clock.  I walked slowly to the bed, forgetting that Cheyenne had picked up today.  I lay down beside her carefully, and then pulled her into my arms in our normal sleeping position.  If I didn’t pull her close, she would be kicking and hitting me all night, so I had to practically hold her still with my body.  Normally I didn’t like sleeping with women.  I felt suffocated, needed to be able to move freely, or it brought up memories of being pinned down in a whole in a tiny shack in middle of bumfuck country.  We were pinned down for three days until reinforcements showed.   

  The shrink that the higher ups made me see after to make sure that I was fit for duty said that possibly it would cause me some PTSD, and that it would show at inopportune times.  The first time I slept with Cheyenne I was nervous that that would happen, but it never showed.  In fact, I’d slept better than I had since I was a little boy since she started sharing my bed.

  I snuggled closer to her, smelling her hair.  Tomorrow I would try to get done quickly so we could spend some alone time together. 

The shrill ringing of Cheyenne’s phone pierced the still night air, and Cheyenne shot to a sitting position, but still unaware of where she was.  On the fourth ring, she finally came to enough to answer the phone.

  “Hello?” she said in a husky voice.

  The sound of her voice was beginning to make me half hard that is until I heard the fear in her voice. 

  “W-what?” she said, sounding close to crying.

Chapter 10

CHEYENNE 

  Sam reached around my body to take the phone from my numb fingers.

  “This is Sam Mackenzie, what’s going on?”  I heard him sat from a distance.

    I’m not sure what I expected when I answered, but hearing the news I did was not it.  I couldn’t breathe, and my heart hurt.  My brain wasn’t sure how to process the information that my brain had just heard.

  “I understand.  When will the plane arrive?”  I heard Sam ask.  “Alright, we will be meeting the plane that comes into Love field.  Thank you.” 

  Sam gathered me into his arms and whispered, “You can let go now.”  

  I buried my face into his neck and cried for what felt like hours.  He left me only for a while to make a few calls, but came back to me quickly.  I never went back to sleep, I just stayed in his arms, wishing things were different. 

∞ 

  The group met outside at 0600 (Sam and the rest of the guys were on military time.) Janie was loaded up in Sam’s Suburban, and we were all standing around it making plans.  Ember was riding on the back of Gabe’s bike because there wasn’t enough room in the vehicle, and the seat on Max’s bike was only made to seat one person.  Ember didn’t put up much of a fight, but then again none of were capable of much.  There just wasn’t anything left in us to spare emotionally.  One of our own had died.  Blaine was on the back of Elliot’s bike, and Jack and Max were riding alone.  I was numb.  My heart felt like I put it through the shredder.  There was a pall over the group, and no one seemed to know exactly what to say.  So we drove.  We drove the two and a half hours to Ft. Worth to wait for the plane that was bringing him home to us.  Tomorrow would be the funeral. 

  After two hours of driving we arrived at the airport and parked in short term parking. Blaine stayed in the car with Janie, while the rest of us made our way to the entrance.  Sam led the way heading in a different direction from where the other passengers were heading.  Sam went to talk to someone, I didn’t know who, about meeting the plane out on the tarmac.  Normally they wouldn’t have let this happen the way it did, but Sam had some military clearance, and the airport was happy to help any way they could, given the circumstances. 

  Sam came out of the office that he had been in with a man that looked like he was a higher up with the airlines.  Grabbing my hand on his way, they walked through a maze of hallways that led to a glass room.  There we stood waiting for the plane to land. 

  I saw the plane approach the runway and land with my heart in my throat.  The plane then taxied.  Once the plane was stationery the official, who I learned was named Jason, led us out into the sunshine.  The plane’s door was opened, and the steps were being lined up with the doorway of the plane.  People began filing out one by one, heading into the direction of their baggage.   

  The final passenger who stepped out was the last person that I had thought that I would see today.  I gasped, and then started running to him.  By the time he got to the bottom of the steps, I had launched myself into his arms and hugged him for all I was worth. 

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him.

  “I couldn’t make him come home alone, and the escort who is with him didn’t know him like I do.  So I came home with him, to make sure he got here safely.” James said to me. 

The military escort, Jason, had a solemn sad look on his face.  According to James, this was his first military escort.  The military always made sure that those KIA were escorted to their final resting places.  Personal effects were given to family members.  He made sure that each soldier wasn’t alone.  If this situation weren’t so awful, I would have asked him more questions about the military escort process.  I made a mental note to question Sam about it later. 

  “Cheyenne honey, James looks dead on his feet, why don’t you let him go.” I heard Sam say from behind me. 

  “Its ok, I like her where she is.  I could use it right now.  It is a good kind of hurt.” James said, not letting me go when I tried to pull away. 

  We stood like that for what seemed like hours, but then the luggage was being unloaded, and James came to and walked in the direction of the men who were loading suitcases onto the cart.

  I stood in between Sam and James as we watched and waited.  Finally the last piece of luggage was unloaded, and taken away.  Another cart was pulled up beside the plane, but this one carried a flatbed trailer. 

  I couldn’t hold it in and longer, and let the tears fall, streaming down my face.  

  Four men made forward to get the last item out, but Sam, James, Elliott, Gabe, Jack and Max stopped them and moved forward to do it themselves.  Gabe on one side, Sam on the other both reached in and pulled the box that held Dougie out. 

  Once more of the box was exposed, Elliott and Jack moved to take the middle, and Max and James got the end. They walked it carefully to the flat bed of the trailer and set it down with upmost care.   The military escort stepped to the right, out of the way of the men unloading and saluted. 

  I glanced to my left when I saw movement, and noticed several baggage handlers, the pilots, and some stragglers from the plane standing in place.  Those with hats had them covering their hearts in a sign of respect.  Chills raced up my spine.  Tears tracked down my cheeks uncontrolled.  Dougie would have been so proud.  He loved what he did, and each of these people here today would never forget him.  It would follow them their entire lives, what they saw today.  They would know that a hero came home, and was greatly loved by all. 

  Turning my attention back to the guys, I started walking forward when they did.  We all followed the casket, and the military escort to what looked like an empty hanger.  The guys loaded the box onto the platform that was already set up and waiting, then backed away as the escort started cutting the box away.  It was wrapped in cardboard, tied with white strips to keep it secure.  Once that was off, he removed the plastic that was covering the casket. 

  James was standing off by himself, and I pulled away from Sam, and walked to James, curling myself around his body, and watched, remembering how it felt when the guy on the phone had told me what had happened.

  “Ma’am, I am sorry to bother you so late, but this is Captain Lance Arnette with the United States Army.  Your brother was on a mission and was wounded.  As of right now we are not sure how serious his injuries are.  He is on a military flight…..” was all I heard before my mind shut down.

  I heard Sam talking to the man, but my heart was breaking.  God please let him live, please let him live. I repeated over and over again.

  James tensed up and I forced my attention back to the casket.  You could see the beautiful mahogany wood that was polished perfectly. 

  The military escort, who I learned was a PFC named Jacob Satterwhite, laid the folded flag out on top of the coffin and unfolded it laying it flat over the top of the coffin, while tucking it in and doing something that made the sides stay tucked up. 

  I looked around at the guys, and everyone’s eyes looked haunted. 

Once the casket had the flag draped over it, a waiting hearse was backed up and the men loaded it into the back. 

  The funeral director came over and spoke with us to let us know where he would be taking the body. 

  “If you don’t mind waiting, we would like to follow you.  The escort will ride with you, and we will be behind.”  Sam said to him. 

  The man nodded and went to his hearse as we walked to our vehicles. 

  We did some luggage repositioning, strapping some down to the back of the bikes with bungee cords before we finally had enough room for James to get in.  I got up front with Sam, and James sat in back with Janie who was asleep in her car seat with Cheetos smears all over her face.  We had to rearrange luggage and shove some up front with me to get a seat open for him to sit comfortably.

  James buckled his seat belt, then turned and ran his hand down Janie’s face, leaned over and kissed her nose.  He smelled her hair for a couple seconds, then leaned back into his seat, but held her hand, closing his eyes tightly. 

  I turned around then, letting him have a little privacy.   

  We headed to a back road where we saw the hearse exit from a back entrance, and followed him all the way to the funeral home.  I’m sure we looked a sight, following behind the hearse: a large black Suburban with big tires, and three motorcycles, one flying an American flag behind it.  Cars flashed their lights, and never passed the entire way to the funeral home.