Page 2 of For the Love of the Broken Man

“Evening Miss Stanford. Kinda late for you girls to be goin’ out.” The guard’s comment sounded kind of fresh to Jase, considering the guy was likely only a year or two older than the two of them.

“We’re goin’ to the lock-in at the high school. It’s tradition in case you don’t know. We’re running late because we had parties to attend first.” Savannah’s voice had a bite that brought a grin to Jase’s lips.

Everyone on the base looked out for her, knowing her father was the interim commander while another General was sought to fill the position. There was speculation her father would start accumulating those stars on his shoulders, but Jase didn’t get caught up in base gossip. He knew it would piss off his father if Colonel Stanford was made a Brigadier General and put in charge of Ft. Bliss permanently, so he wished for it that much more.

“Okay, ladies. Be safe.” The private opened the gate. Once they were safely off base and out of the glare of streetlights, Jase slid back onto the seat and buckled his safety belt again.

“You guys are so great to do this for me.” Those words weren’t nearly enough to thank his friends for their help, but that was all he had to give.

“I don’t know why you won’t stay at the house and let us take you in the morning. Seems like eight hours in a bus station is going to go by in turtle time,” Savannah stated, not for the first time.

“You know this is the best time to get away, and you two can get Lon to let you in the back door of the school for the lock-in. This gives you an alibi if the shit hits the fan. Nobody saw us together and all our friends will say you were there the whole night.

“Your family has been far too good to me to have the wrath of James Langston come down on them, and I’m sure my mom would be pissed if Dad got thrown in the stockade for causing shit at your house.” Both women chuckled, likely at the idea of his father getting locked up.

“Anyway, I’ve got a coupla podcasts on my old MP3 player, and I might document my journey to independence. Who knows? Maybe I’ll write a travel book to rival Kerouac,” he joked with his friends as they motored down the highway toward the seedier side of El Paso where the bus terminal was located.

Jase was sure eight hours in a bus terminal was going to be like a slow train to hell, or conversely, the best sideshow he ever witnessed, but nothing worth having was ever easy, was it? The stupid state assemblyman who’d spoken at the graduation ceremony earlier in the day had said the same thing in his speech. ”Nothing worth fighting for has ever come easy. God bless Texas.” Jase chuckled at his last memory of high school.

Andy turned in her seat and handed him a small box. “This is from Vanna and me. Wait till you’re on the bus to open it. Remember we love you, Jase, and if you need anything at all, you better call one of us.” Savannah turned down the street and stopped in front of the terminal.

Andy opened Jase’s door before she walked to the back of the SUV to retrieve his duffel. She returned to where he stood on the sidewalk and placed it on the ground, looking up at him with big tears in her gray eyes. “You little bastard. I love ya, man. Please be safe and stay in touch.” Andy pulled his slender frame into her sturdier one.

Andrea was set to attend the University of Texas at Austin in the fall on a softball scholarship. Savannah was going as well, but she was a damn genius, so her scholarship was in the bag at the end of their junior year.

Jase knew how happy they were to be going to the same school, and he would keep positive thoughts for them to have the sticking kind of love he hoped was out there somewhere. He liked the idea that someone he cared for had it.

“Hey, you can’t keep a good man down. Have a great summer. Take care of Savannah. You know she has a tendency to get herself into trouble,” he teased as the fiery redhead walked around the front of the SUV and crossed her arms over her chest in a fake attempt at being aggravated. Savannah didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

“Stop talkin’ trash ‘bout me, Jason Langston before I have Andy take you over her knee. Now, Matt’s gonna have somebody pick ya up, so if somethin’ happens and the bus is gonna be late, call the ranch so they know. They’re all lookin’ forward to meetin’ ya. Give my little nephew a big ol’ kiss and tell him Aunt Vanna loves him, will ya?” She hugged Jase around the neck, and when she pulled away, she had tears in her eyes as well.

Water began to gather in Jase’s eyes, so he had to shut it down. “Okay, you two. Get going. As soon as I get access to a computer, I’ll send you emails, okay? I love ya both. Be safe, and if you can, please check on my mom every now and again.” His mother worked at the post office on post, so he knew Andy and Savannah would have occasion to run into the woman without raising his father’s suspicions and causing any problems.

“Sure, Jase. Be awful careful, honey.” Savannah kissed him on one cheek while Andy kissed him on the other. He didn’t dawdle. He grabbed his duffel and hurried into the run-down building before he fucking broke down.

Goodbyes sucked.

Chapter Two

Hour one of Jase’s Journey to Freedom, as he was calling it in his head, was spent coming up with a title for the next phase of his life. He’d considered The Great Escape,but quickly discarded it because it wasn’t as if he was escaping prison or a POW camp, as the name implied. Steve McQueen from the movie of the same name, he was not.

Another title he’d considered as he ate his food at the Burger King before it closed was The Places I’ll Go Tour,which he quickly dismissed because he hoped he was only going to Virginia. He prayed he’d find happiness there, but it remained to be seen.

Jase looked at the blank page and released a sigh, jotting down his tentative title in the first page of a notebook he’d purchased for the journey, and after he finished his two Whoppers and a giant glass of sweet tea, he sought out a bench near the sliding doors where his bus was promised to arrive at eight the next morning.

Jase settled with his large rucksack on the floor under his legs and thought about the day—his graduation day. It was supposed to be the day when childhood was left behind, or so Jase believed. To him? It became the day he would seek his freedom and his chance to be his own man.

The graduation ceremony was as boring as those events tended to be, and Jase had dozed off for a short time. He was grateful Lizzy Langer had slapped him on the thigh when he started to snore. There was no love lost between the two, but if his father caught him sleeping, he’d have been pissed at the fact Jase was showing disrespect to the speakers. The wrath would have been more than Jase wanted to bear.

He remembered watching Savannah and Andy cross the stage to claim their diplomas and how much he’d cheered for them. He’d given them gift cards after the ceremony before he was forced to go to a late lunch with his parents, where he’d had to endure his father’s endless inquiries regarding his future plans.

Jase tried to explain to his father how he was prepared to move off-post and find a job and an apartment in El Paso he could afford on his own. James Langston totally dismissed it as stupidity, suggesting, once again, Jase should take a week off before he marched over to the enlistment office on post and signed his life away to Uncle Sam.

Thankfully, his mother had shut down all talk of the sort when the food arrived, and they changed the subject to the Langston grandparents in Syracuse and how they’d mentioned they might visit Texas over the summer. Jase was sorry he was going to miss seeing them, but it was for the best.

During hour two, Jase listened to a podcast about a town in Alabama where a murder had been committed and the authorities had botched the investigation due to the politics at the time. It made him sick to his stomach as he listened, but Jase had learned life wasn’t fair to anyone.

Jase was a newly minted voter, so he’d pledged to himself he’d be a good citizen and do his research regarding the candidates in the next election, and if he found a viable candidate, he’d be happy to volunteer for the cause. He wanted his rights to be respected on a state and national level, likely because there hadn’t been any respect for them in his parents’ home.

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