Page 26 of To Save Him

“Go ahead.”  Liam hadn’t arrived yet, so I thought we might want to wait for a bit anyway.

Annabel sat on the bench away from the shade of the trees around the area, poking at the screen on her phone.  “I’m having a hard time getting a signal here.”

“Honey, there aren’t many cell towers up this way.”

She sighed.  “I wish Liam would hurry up.”

“Anything I can help with?”  Brandon stood at the edge of the picnic table and saw that just about everything was done.  “I know we didn’t bring hot dogs or anything, but do you want me to build a fire?”

“Maybe if it gets chillier…but the wood’s probably damp, and I don’t know that I have anything tomakea fire with.”

Grinning, Brandon pulled a small gold tube about the size of a shotgun shell out of his pocket.  “A soldier always comes prepared.”

I raised my eyebrows, smiling back, and I heard Annabel continuing to grumble.  At the same time, though, I heard a car’s tires crunching on the gravelly dirt road that led to the picnic area.  I hoped it was Liam, not that I was in any big hurry to see my daughter’s boyfriend, but because I knew he’d take her mind off her lack of internet.

“Thank goodness for that.”  I saw Liam’s red car heading down the road toward us.  I turned and yelled for JR.

“I’ll go get him,” Brandon said, tucking his hands in his jeans and sauntering off toward the forest.  My eyes lingered on his ass a little longer than they should have, but my back was to Annabel and her boyfriend that would soon be exiting his car…and I allowed myself that prolonged look.  If I wasn’t going to act on my burning lust, I was at least going to let myself take a little pleasure in enjoying emotions I hadn’t felt in a long while.

Liam parked his car and got out, and Annabel nearly tackled him in her enthusiasm.  After a quick kiss, Liam said, “Hi, Mrs. Cooper.  Thanks for the invite.”  I wasn’tMrs.Cooper, but I’d always let it slide with Liam.  At least he was trying to be polite.

“Glad you could come.”

Seconds later, JR came bounding out of the woods.  “We can eat now?”  I saw Brandon several yards back, not in as big a hurry as my always-starving son to tackle the food.

“Yes, in just a minute.  You can get a drink out of the cooler if you want.”  JR, not one to say no to that sort of offer, looked around for a moment until he spied the large red cooler on the ground at the end of the picnic table.  He lifted the lid, rifling through the cans bathing in the cold ice water, finally choosing a can of lemonade.

“You got a Pepsi in there?” Liam asked, not budging from my daughter’s side.  They already sat at the table, practically attached at the hip.

“Naw.  Coke okay?”

“It’ll do.”

By the time JR handed Liam a can, Brandon had joined us at the table.  I gave Annabel a few seconds and, when she failed to make the introductions, I took over.  “Liam, this is a friend of the family, Brandon Abbott.  Brandon, this is Annabel’s boyfriend, Liam Grainger.”

Brandon saidhiand Liam responded.  “Yeah, Annabel told me about you.”  I thought I could sense some strange subtext under his words, but I couldn’t figure it out and thought it best not to dwell on it.

Leave it to JR to break the ice.  “Let’s eat!”

“All the food is out, everyone.  There are paper plates and plastic utensils.  Help yourself.”

We were all a little quiet, enjoying the sound of the soft breeze blowing the treetops, and I took a bite of the potato salad.  I’d never considered myself a great cook, but my food was more than edible.  The potato salad was testament of that.  Annabel giggled, whispering something secret to Liam, before JR spoke.  “Brandon, what was it like in the Marines?  Do you think everybody should go into the military?”

Brandon set down his bottle of water.  “I think it depends on your reasons for enlisting.”  I could see in his eyes that this was not going to be an easy subject for him to delve into, and my youngest wasn’t quite in tune enough to know that he should probably give his new friend some distance from that time in his life before asking him to share.  Brandon was going to try, though.  “Like me.  I joined because I needed something.  I had no family, not really any friends, no job, nothing.  I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Your brother?”  Now Brandon’s voice sounded tight, like his throat was constricting, fighting emotions deep inside.  “He wanted to do something noble.  He felt like serving this country was an admirable thing to do.”

I didn’t realize until JR started talking again that my eyes were watery.  I blinked to fight back the tears as my son asked, “You don’t feel that way?”

Brandon’s jaw twitched almost imperceptibly, but I saw it.  JR sat next to him, but I was straight across and caught it.  I was probably the only one, because although Annabel sat next to me and possibly could have seen it, she was too absorbed in Liam.  “I don’t know how I feel anymore, JR.”

“Why?”

Brandon blinked a few times, his eyes focused on the white plastic fork perched atop a scoop of baked beans on his plate.  “Some things happened there…”

JR’s questions were relentless.  “Like what?”

I watched this young man I’d been lusting after as his hands gripped the picnic table so hard, his knuckles turned white.  JR was almost oblivious to it, but I could see the pain and torment in Brandon’s features, even without seeing his eyes.  After a long silence, he said, “I don’t know.  I can’t remember.”

“Why can’t—”

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