Stone Cold (28 page)

She had only one request.

“I’ll let you do it if you promise that it won’t be anywhere near April 16
th
.”

Gina was the only one of her friends who knew the significance of that date.

“That’s not a problem. We’ll have it in the middle of March. We’ll make it a St. Patty’s Day birthday bash,” said Lana who loved throwing parties for no reason at all.

The party was a huge success. At least two hundred people showed up and as far as Hannah could tell everyone had had fun.

Not long after it began, Lana wheeled out a huge birthday cake and had everyone gather around for her announcement.

“In honor
of our birthday girl it’s my pleasure to present to you none other than GI Joe! or should I say Josh!”

A huge roar went up right after Lana said GI Joe. It was impossible for anyone including Hannah to have heard the rest of her sentence.

Thinking the worst, that Lana had hired a male stripper to come out of the cake, Hannah started to protest.

“No Lana
, no! Come on! Please don’t do this to me. Oh this is so embarrassing!”

Lana had grabbed Hannah’s arm and was dragging her towards the cake while the crowd egged her on.

Dragging her feet, Hannah was no match for the superior strength of her roommate.

Lana proceeded, “Let’s give it up for Josh!”

Again it was impossible to hear the last thing she said as the crowd yelled.

Hannah was hanging her head with her hand
s across her eyes when the so called stripper popped out of the cake.

Embarrassed beyond belief, she
could feel her skin turning crimson as she looked at the person skeptically through her fingers.

For a second or two she thought she was dreaming.

She removed her hands from her eyes and there standing directly in front of her was Josh.

“Happy Birthday Hannah
! I can’t believe I’m finally standing here with you again.”

“Josh? How did you get here, how did you…?”

Hannah didn’t know what to say. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the excitement of the crowd, but she couldn’t resist giving him a huge hug and kiss.

“I’m so glad that you’re here.” This time she wasn’t lying.

Josh was beaming.

“Can we go somewhere where we can be alone so we can talk. I have so much I want to tell you.”

“Yeah we can, just give me a minute.”

Hannah found Lana and gave her a hug.

“Thank you so much Lana! You always throw the best parties. I’ll never forget it – and how were you able to get Josh here? How’d you pull that off?”

“Any time Hannah. I’d do anything for you. You’re my bestie.
I got him here by pulling a few strings. It was no biggie. Told you I have friends in high places. Now go have some long awaited fun – and don’t wait up for me, you have the whole room to yourself tonight.”

Lana had no idea about the mixed feelings Hannah had for Josh. Like everyone else, she thought they were the perfect couple.

*****

Hannah took Josh back to her dorm room.
Even though they’d been exchanging letters the whole time he’d been away, they still had a lot of catching up to do.

They were holding hands as they sat down on the bed.

“I can’t believe you’re here. It’s almost like it’s a dream and I haven’t woken up yet.”

“I know, I feel the same way. When Lana got in touch with me and told me what she’d arranged I was in shock and it was so hard for me not to tell you about it. Good thing I only had to keep it a secret for about two weeks.”

“How long do we have together?”

“I have less than 24 hours before my flight leaves to go back to the base.
”

Josh looked around the room as if to make sure they were alone.

“I’m not suppose
d to tell anyone this but I trust you.” He looked nervous.

“
I’m just going to say it. There’s been a lot of talk that we’re going to be deployed to Iraq within the next week.”

Hannah
sat in silence and waited for him to continue.

“If I go, I don’t know how long I’ll be there so I’m really glad to have had this opportunity to see you. Lana couldn’t have timed your party any better.”

When she was sure he was done, she asked, “How reliable is your source?

“Honestly, t
hey’ve never been wrong so far.”

Then he added, “
If I go, it’s going to be for at least 6 months, maybe more.”

Josh could see Hannah starting to shut down.

“I’m going to be fine. Don’t worry. I’ve been training for a long time now and I’m prepared for anything that comes up. You believe me don’t you?”

Hannah
unconvincingly shook her head yes but she was scared to her inner core.

She listened as he talked about what he’d been learning and trie
d to stay focused but she wasn’t having much success until he said something she was completely unprepared for.

“There’s a 1
st
lieutenant named Conall who took me under his wing and has shown me everything he knows. He’s a ranger, and not just any ranger. He’s a sniper - a really amazing guy.”

That was the last thing she heard. Anything after that was a blur. Her head was spinning with the thought that her boyfriend may be training with
none other than the love of her life.

Her mind wouldn’t let go of this possibility.

“Was it too much of a coincidence that his name is Conall? I’ve never known anyone with that name before. Not one person so what are the odds that I’ve heard it again and that he’s a different person than my Conall?”

Hannah thought, “P
oor Josh. He seems to have the worst timing in the world. I actually thought about giving myself to him tonight just in case it was his first and only time considering where he’s headed. Unfortunately for him, what I just heard changes everything.”

There was no way she could ask Josh anything about the 1
st
lieutenant without raising suspicion but if it was her Conall he’d mentioned she might be able to find out more information about him through other means.

Lana had been
the one who’d made it possible for Josh to be there. She must have had some pretty good connections in order to have arranged his visit at such an impossible time. Maybe she could find out more information about the 1
st
lieutenant without involving Josh.

“Hannah. Hannah! Did you hear what I said? Have you been listening to me?” Josh was
lightly shaking her on her shoulder.

“What? Oh
, yeah, I was listening. You were saying that I shouldn’t worry because you’ve been training with some 1
st
lieutenant who’s been showing you everything he knows.”

“Good, you were listening. You looked so far away for a few minutes so I wasn’t sure.”

Hannah wanted to change the subject.

“
I’m glad you told me about how well you’ve been trained. It does help to set my mind at ease. So with that said, let’s talk about something else. I don’t want to think about it anymore tonight.”

Josh could see that he’
d upset her and agreed to move on from their current topic of discussion. His energy had been sapped as well.

“If you don’t mind
Hannah, I’d prefer that we go to sleep. I’m kind of tired from travelling and the party. We can talk tomorrow over breakfast.”

“Sure, whatever you want is fine
.”

Josh went to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Hannah on the other hand, tossed and turned all night. She kept thinking about Conall being the 1
st
lieutenant Josh spoke of. If it was him, this was more than an awkward situation. If they’d become friends, Josh had probably talked about her and shown Conall pictures and he would’ve recognized her instantly.

She guessed that i
f it was Conall, he was the kind of guy that would never try to pursue a girl who was already taken out of respect for the guy. All of this would explain why he hadn’t come to the ferry last April.

If he knew Josh and she were dating, he wouldn’t try to stand in their way or try to keep dating her so he wouldn’t
have gone to the ferry landing to meet her. The more plausible explanation and the one she’d rather it be was that he’d joined the Army and mustn’t have been able to take leave. If so, it was possible he wouldn’t be able to meet her again this year for the same reason.

Sleep finally did come for Hannah, but it wasn’t long before Josh was trying to awaken her.

Softly kissing her lips, he whispered, “I love you and I really want to keep watching you sleep, but we have to get up. I want to spend as much time with you today as possible.”

She slowly opened her eyes to see Josh’s smiling face. He’d already showered and was in full uniform, waiting for her to
get breakfast.

“Okay, I’m up. Give me five minutes and then we can go eat.”

They talked over breakfast and spent the rest of the day walking around the campus and town enjoying each other’s company. Time passed so quickly and before they knew it, it was time for him to leave.

When the cab arrived to take him to the airport, Hannah was surprised that she was sad to see him go. This was the first time since they’d been dating that she’d gotten tears in her eyes when they were about to part. She’d had fun with him since he’d arrived but they’d almost always had had fun during their relationship. It was more than that this time. Maybe it was because they both knew he was probably going to be deployed to
Iraq soon, she wasn’t sure. The departure just seemed so different, so peaceful, so final.

The tears were in her eyes but they never spilled.

“I’ll be thinking of you every day from now until we see each other again. “I love you now, forever, and always.”

With those words Josh climbed into the cab and with a wave, he was gone.

Unable to speak, all Hannah could do was return his wave with a half smile and a nod of her head. She watched him get in and fade into the distance as the cab drove away.

Chapter 22

There was little chance he was going to be there. It was April 16, 2003 and Hannah knew that if Conall had joined the army, he was most likely in the
Middle East along with 50,000 other troops who’d been deployed.

Josh’s source had been right. On March 20, a week after her birthday celebration, President Bush had ordered a military strike on
Iraq in response to the investigations surrounding 9/11.

She hadn’t heard anything more from Josh since he’d let her know he’d made it back to his base safely after the day they’d spent together. Hannah was sure he’d been deployed and had no idea when or if she’d hear from him again.

She tried to keep herself busy and wanted to believe their mission would be fast and over with in no time but it was hard to stay optimistic when the news suggested otherwise. She hoped Josh would be gone for no more than six months as he’d originally thought.

Her aunt Grace had survived another year and her mother and she had made the trip but this time she’d brought Gina with them. Hannah had been let down so many times before and she was already certain the meeting was not going to happen again. Having Gina there would at least let her have some much needed support and they could also spend some time together having fun in the city.

She loved going with her mom but Hannah had always wanted to take a girl friend along so they could explore together. It was always more fun to shop with friends than by herself and the city had some great stores to visit that were so close to her aunt’s house.

When Sara
picked up the girls, they climbed into the back seat and instantly began to catch up on things they’d done that week. Even though they went to the same college, they were so busy with classes and activities they hadn’t been able to spend as much time together as they’d initially thought they would.