Nerd and the Marine (29 page)

“
It's okay, Dustin, we can
walk,” one of the guys said. The other scuffed his sneaker in the
dirt beside the truck, but nodded. He'd been the one eyeing Lainy's
bottom.
Yeah, let him
walk
, Mitch thought.

Lainy patted several of her pockets
before tugging something that jangled from her front left hip
pocket. “Take my truck.” She slapped the key ring into her nephew's
hand.

“
Are you sure?” he asked,
aghast. Mitch could almost feel his amazement.

“
Drive a real truck so you
know what one feels like. We'll go shopping for a new one
tomorrow.” Lainy yawned and waved goodbye to the boys before
turning and making her way back to her cabin.

The scene faded and then bright
sunlight filtered through and made Mitch squint, such was the
contrast. He saw a decent looking mini pickup pull up in front of
Lainy’s cottage. She strode onto the front porch and watched Dustin
leap from the driver’s seat. Her grandmother exited the other side
in a feminine, ladylike manner.

“
Aunt Lainy, what do you
think of this?” Dustin cried, and ducked under the hood he’d just
popped. Lainy left the porch, clattered down the stairs, and ambled
across the distance to peer under the hood with Dustin.

She poked around, checking wires and
the battery, motor and transmission. She also slid under the truck
and inspected there. Her grandmother stood a pace off, her arms
crossed, a happy look on her face.

“
Grandmom went with you?”
Lainy questioned from her position under the truck.

“
That’s right.” Dustin hung
nearly upside down to watch her.

“
This truck looks far
better than your previous one.” She continued her inspection and
nodded. “I’d drive this one.”

“
So, I can buy
it?”

“
Yes, it’s good,” Lainy
said. “Has Ed seen it?”

“
No. I can’t find
him.”

“
Ah. Well that’s okay, it’s
fine. Between Grandmom and me, you’re good.”

“
Awesome!
” Dustin shouted and punched
the air.

“
Take Granddad with you to
do the actual negotiating.”

“
Yes, lovey, do take him.
He’ll argue you a fair price,” Lainy’s Grandmother Morrison said
contentedly.

“
Thanks for going with me,
Grandmom.” Dustin hugged his great grandmother before he jumped
back into the truck and tore off down the lane. Mitch hoped he went
in search of his great grandfather, or whoever Lainy had
recommended he take along.

“
How about a cup of tea and
some cookies?” Lainy offered her grandmother.

“
I thought you’d never
ask.” They hooked arms and entered the cottage.

The screen faded to
nothing.

Mitch leaned on his cot and
contemplated the video he’d seen. So Lainy knew cars, too. And
apparently her brothers Will and Tom weren’t all that great with
them. Mitch thought he’d read on one of the many e-mails from her
rellys that Lainy’s brothers were excellent with most tools, but
they didn’t know cars. But ask them to build something and they
were magic.

He moved wrong and pain splintered
through his body. Mitch placed the laptop in a safe position under
his bed and stretched out. While he felt much better, he still
ached. Within moments he lay fast asleep. He dreamed about Lainy at
the lake, and then as she froze in the bleachers watching the herd
play various sports. In each of the dreams, he was there, but more
like a ghost. A whisper of substance, as though a thought, but no
being to speak of.

When he awoke later that evening,
Mitch stretched and gathered his things. The date for him to leave
dawned. He had some work on his desk he wanted to finish as well as
other projects he needed to complete. So much for sick
leave.

Which was fine. He’d rather work.
Plus, at this time of evening, most everyone should have cleared
the offices, so he could work in peace.

The sooner he finished the sooner he
could hurry home to Lainy.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: I’m leaving
again

Hello Lainy,

Just a short message to
let you know we’re leaving again. I figure we’ll be gone for about
the same length of time as before.

I imagine you’ll be busy
with the holidays coming up. Eat turkey for me. I’ll miss everyone,
even though I’ve never spent the holidays with you before. But,
you’ll be in my heart.

And don’t fret. As I've
said before, when we’re in the field, all the days run together. We
don’t know we’re missing Thanksgiving or Christmas. We’ll be off
base the entire time. I imagine the guys on base will put up
decorations if they have some, but my team won’t be here to
appreciate them. Which is fine. Since the Fandrichs are gone, I’ve
not felt much like celebrating anyway.

Now that you’re in my
life, I’m more than willing. I’ll miss you. But I’m happy you have
your family to celebrate with. And I’m glad you’re busy with the
kids sporting events. I suppose you’ll move into basketball and
wrestling soon? At least then you won’t freeze in the bleachers.

It's still hot and sandy
here. I don’t think there’s any other type of weather. Oh, we get
sand storms. Those are (not) fun. I can’t wait to see grass and
flowers. I even wouldn’t mind shoveling snow. Or mowing grass. Or
raking leaves. I imagine you’ll be doing that soon. Do you have
trouble with the herd jumping in them? I know Bentley loves leaf
piles, so you might want to be careful with him around. He’s NOT
helpful with leaf raking!

I’ve finished most of my
paperwork and will leave in about an hour. Take care of yourself,
and thanks for the latest batch of pictures. I just got them. I’ve
put a few on my desk - those of you folks at the various sporting
events.

Do you have any aspiring
actors or actresses? I wonder if you’ll go to some plays or
musicals? That must be fun if you do. I believe my school had a
fall and spring production, but I can’t remember, it was a long
time ago. Have fun, and stay warm. Don’t overdo on the leaf raking,
and again, beware of Bentley!

Happy holidays to you,
Lainy.

I miss you
already.

Your’s,

Mitch

He sent the e-mail before he realized
he’d put an apostrophe between the r and s in yours. Which wasn’t
proper; you couldn’t do that for an English paper, but Mitch
figured it said what he’d been thinking subconsciously. In the
possessive.

He’d meant it regardless
of
your’s
being
proper. He did consider himself hers. And she, his. He wondered if
Lainy would even notice. But he didn’t have much time; his team was
scheduled to leave in twenty minutes. He shut down his computer and
grabbed his bag. He’d have to wait until he returned to see what
she thought.

*****

Lainy stretched and
finished the last of the raking in her section. She still
contemplated that apostrophe Mitch had included at the end of the
e-mail in his “yours”. Not proper English, but she
understood.
She hoped
.

It was like he thought he belonged to
her. Had he mistakenly put that in? Or deliberately? Had he truly
meant it, or had that little symbol, which meant all the difference
in the world, been an oversight? Was he driving himself crazy with
all the thinking she was? Her newfound girlie side still wasn’t a
welcome addition.

Hanging her head, Lainy wanted to live
in someone else’s life for a day. Because she certainly grew weary
of being herself. Did men go through this? If so, she didn’t want
to be a man, then, either. Actually, she wanted to be Bentley. Just
for a day. No worries, no real duties other than ridding the yard
of squirrels and since it was fall, soon he’d see a break from
that.

She hadn’t received Mitch’s last
e-mail in time and only through experience realized she had to lock
Bentley in the house until she finished. She’d discovered he was
far worse than the herd about scattering newly piled leaves. When
something that large romped through something so unstable, the big
thing won. He whined and sulked, but she didn’t enjoy raking enough
to be an accomplice to his fun.

Everywhere she looked, family and
neighbors were also out raking. They had certain days, usually
Saturdays, when they scheduled leaf raking. Those not up to raking
manned huge cauldrons of hot chocolate and cider and still others
arranged cookies and treats on large trays for those needing a
break.

Great Aunts stirred large crock pots
of barbeque pork, stews, and soups. Sandwiches lined more trays and
heaping bowls of chips and pretzels were popular with the kids, who
also hindered the raking process.

“
Aunt Lainy, are you sure
Bentley isn’t allowed outside with us?” Became the question of the
day. Little faces were drawn in lines indicating intense
displeasure.

“
Yes, I’m sure. He creates
a lot more work. As soon as we’re finished filling the leaf bags,
we can let him out again,” she explained for at least the fiftieth
time. “Not a moment sooner.”

The kid’s idea of when the bagging was
finished varied from hers, so she finally had to decree she would
be the one to let him out. They whined and sulked almost as much as
he did, but she stood firm.

Lainy waved to her grandparents and
Destiny, who were busy working in Aunt Tilly’s backyard. Aunt Tilly
would be manning the crock pot lines. She made the best barbeque
ever and someone thought she’d also made Italian wedding soup,
which was another popular Aunt Tilly recipe.

The teenagers were all happy to help,
because they always had fun. Inevitably, they tossed each other
into the piles, which was fine, since they were perfectly willing
to re-rake the leaves. The herd was not. Bentley certainly was not.
Lainy turned a deaf ear to his pitiful whines in the house and kept
raking.

Destiny shook her head. “That dog is
going to drive us crazy, Aunt Lainy.”

“
I know, baby, just ignore
him. He’ll quiet down once he realizes he’s not coming
out.”

“
Please
don’t let him out until we’re done.”

Lainy laughed. “No worries there. I’ve
got him locked in. The herd can’t let him out, either. I hid all
the keys. We don’t need to be out here all day.”

The lunch bell rang and they dropped
their rakes and headed for the tent pavilion where the food lines
began.

“
So, is Mitch gone again?”
one of the bakers asked Lainy as they progressed through the line,
loading up disposable plates.

“
He is. He doesn’t expect
to be back until January.”

“
Oh, that’s awful. He’ll
miss the holidays,” the woman wailed.

“
Yes, I know.” Lainy tried
to ignore the ache in her heart. “The good thing is he doesn’t seem
to mind. He said their time in the field goes fast and they won’t
know one day from the next.”

“
That doesn’t stop you from
missing him,” the aunt said and Lainy swallowed the ball of pain in
her throat.

“
No, I hate that he’s
gone,” she croaked and bent to select a cookie she didn’t
want.

“
It’s okay, love, he’ll be
with us next year. And it does help that he isn’t minding. Waiting
would be so much harder if he hated every minute.”

“
Yes, that’s true. He said
missing the holidays isn’t that big a deal for him. He wanted me to
have a good time, and not worry about him.”

“
He wants you to enjoy
yourself, so do, honey.” Her great aunt tapped her arm in a
comforting gesture. “Make certain you do have a good time so you
can tell him all about it. Of course, you’ll miss him, but that’s
okay. Enjoy every minute so you can share the family fun with
him.”

This started Lainy to thinking. Ed,
the videographer from her nightmares, had a special camera he used
to send DVDs to Mitch. Perhaps this time she’d make him hand the
camera, or at least a version, over to her, and she’d record some
of her favorite memories from this holiday season so Mitch could
enjoy the time with her. That would give her something to do, other
than pine for him.

With a plan in place, Lainy selected a
cookie she did want, and picked up a mug of steaming hot chocolate
before strolling to a table. Locating Ed, she sat across from
him.

“
I want your
camera.”

“
Which one?” he asked as he
simultaneously ate, cut up a child’s sandwich, un-toppled a drink,
and broke up an argument between the preteens three people
down.

“
The DVD one you’ve been
using to send Mitch videos.”

“
You've got a digital that
records movies.”

“
I want your DVD
camcorder.” Lainy remained firm.

“
Ah, I figured you’d ask. I
built you one. I need to finish the debugging, though. You want it
for the holidays?”