Page 47 of The Long Walk Back

The woman turned to her, holding two glasses of champagne that she had grabbed from a passing waiter’s tray.

‘Here, get that down you. He’ll be okay, I promise. Brad does that sometimes too, he talks himself off the ledge half the time. He can help Coop. I’m Ruth, by the way, Brad’s wife.’

Kate frowned, puzzled.

‘Hightower,’ Ruth said, pulling a face as if to say this happened a lot. ‘Army wife, sorry – I should know by now that they never use their actual names. Or is that just men in general?’ She shrugged in answer to her own question, gesturing for Kate to sit. ‘So, how long have you and Coop been seeing each other now? Brad’s always tight-lipped about the ladies his mates date. I swear, I don’t know what they talk about.’

She flicked her long red hair back from her face, and Kate noticed she had a long surgery scar down one side of her neck. Ruth saw her looking and flicked a nail down the silvery line.

‘Liking my battle scar? I bet you could have done a better job, but hey, it was done in the field – better than bleeding out. I have to keep my hair long, but it doesn’t bother me.’

Kate nodded, looking away. ‘Sorry, I was just surprised. Did you serve?’

‘Field medic. We got attacked, one guy tried to take our medicine supply. I tried to stop him, to save it for the patients that needed it. He slashed me, left me for dead. Bastard.’

She drained her glass, and Kate recognised the dulling of her eyes. How many battlefield spectres were there present in this room? She finished her glass off too, and Ruth grinned at her.

‘Sorry, oversharer. Another?’ She said, and Kate nodded, feeling the first buzz of alcohol warm her churning stomach. I like this woman.

Ruth stood to get the attention of a passing waiter, and Kate saw that she had clocked something across the room. Ruth sat back down, pulling her chair a little closer to Kate and taking her hands in hers.

‘Don’t look, but Cooper is talking to Smithy’s wife. I know they’re both nervous about it, but honestly, she just wants to thank him.’

Kate cringed. ‘Thanking him will do him more harm than good. He blames himself.’

Ruth patted her hand, and the two women looked at each other. They understood each other, and Kate was glad to have met her.

‘You got any kids?’ Kate asked her, nodding towards Hightower.

Ruth snorted, winking at the waiter as she emptied the tray he lowered to her. ‘Thanks, doll,’ she said cheekily. Kate thought she might smack him on the bottom as he walked off, the way she looked at him, but she just waggled her eyebrows at Kate. Her shocked expression sent Ruth into fits of giggles.

‘Come on, the man is lush! He could make a pretty penny if he lost the rest of the penguin suit and just stuck to the apron.’ Kate’s jaw dropped.

‘Hey,’ Ruth tittered. ‘I love Brad, he is my one and only, but life is short. I can appreciate the cut of a nice-looking man once in a while. They sure as hell do it to us. Being in your profession, as a woman, you should get that, surely.’

Kate nodded, seeing the sense of what she was saying. ‘True.’

‘Truth is, I haven’t talked about kids with Brad yet. I want them, sure, now I’m based here. I took a desk job after the last tour. Brad is still going back out there though, and I know he worries about leaving a child without a father.’

She cast her eyes over to the men, who were deep in conversation with a small blonde woman. She looked like she could be blown over by a good gust of wind. Kate could see her eyes as she spoke to Cooper. She recognised the haunted expression on her face. She had seen it many times. More often than not, though, it was on the dying. It was what a person looked like when hope was gone. Having nearly lost her son, and watching him struggle without his father, she could see Brad’s point.

‘What do you want?’ Kate turned back to Ruth, taking the flute that was thrust at her and taking another sip. She could feel the bubbles going down her throat, rolling over her stomach knots and massaging out the kinks.

‘I am thirty-six, hun, the time for turkey basting and egg freezing is almost upon us. I want to get cracking, but I don’t want to force him into something he can’t commit to in his heart. He wants kids, they all do, but it’s the job. It changes you, it hardens you somehow. The last thing I want is for my husband to be distracted when he’s fighting for his life, miles from home. So, I don’t push. He’s considering leaving himself, but it needs to be his decision. When I got hurt, we’d been engaged for a month. I came home, and we got married then and there. He didn’t even really ask; it was just arranged. Cooper pretty much did everything but be a flower girl to help, too. The man is a prickly pear, but he’s a diamond too.’

Kate looked across at him, but they were all gone. She hoped it was going well, wherever they had gone to. The ballroom was building to a high volume of voices, and people were milling around, doing interviews for the press, posing for photos, chatting and laughing as the warmth of the room and the alcohol took hold.

‘You have a son, right? Cooper says he’s in the facility?’

Ruth’s voice snapped her back to their conversation. ‘Yes, Jamie. He is in the facility, yes, in the day, but we’re hoping to move on soon. I need to find somewhere nearby that can accommodate us.’

Ruth nodded. ‘Cooper said you were looking. Give me a shout if you get stuck, my sister is an estate agent. The woman is ferocious too. How is he doing?’

Kate sighed. ‘He’s okay. It was rough for a long time, but Cooper helped. He was amazing.’

‘Well, I know he loves him to bits.’ Ruth smiled. ‘I was kind of hoping it might rub off on Brad. Sorry,’ Ruth held up her hands. ‘Two glasses of this stuff and I turn into Oprah.’

‘No, no it’s fine,’ Kate smiled. ‘It’s nice that he talks to someone. Him and Brad are close, it’s good.’

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