Page 59 of Coincidentally Kismet

Chuckling, I reach inside and pull out a bag of empanadas I picked up, as well as some pickles, olives, cheese, crackers, and fruit.

“Shut up! You got me Miguel’s?” She smacks my hand in disbelief.

“They are the best and nothing cures what ails you better than some beef and fried dough.” I give her a playful pat on the thigh while rummaging to pull an empanada out for her. She bites into it faster than I can fully pull my hand away.

“Mmm...muh gawd,” she says around a mouthful. “If I didn’t already like you, this would have for sure sealed the deal, Rambo.”

“Glad I could take care of you. I’m happy you’re happy. It seems like you’re feeling better?” I ask hesitantly.

“You make me feel better,” she chimes and presses a soft kiss to my cheek.

Her lips are butter soft. Either from an intense moisturizing routine or empanada grease. Could be both. They feather across my face almost like a whisper and yet leave me feeling like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck.

“Umm...we should talk.” I choke out the words because I know this sounds bad but also need to bite the bullet.

“O-kay? What’s wrong? Look, I’m sorry for drinking too much last night and for propositioning you. It wasn’t fair and,again, it was stupid and I’m sorry,” she blurts out in a rush while looking positively adorable as she turns three shades of pink.

“Cam, it’s not that. Believe me, if you hadn’t drank so much, you wouldn’t have had to beg me to stay. It’s about my work.”

“Oh God, you called me Cam. This must be serious. Are you moving, tell me you’re not moving, you’re freaking moving after we just reconnected. Just my luck. I finally find the guy and then, of course, he would move away. Fuck a duck,” she rattles out in quick succession.

“Whoa...you done? Can I explain now?” I’m trying with all my might not to outright laugh at her clear spiral.

She looks at me with wide eyes, and I can tell she’s embarrassed that she just blurted out her inner thoughts, but she nods for me to continue.

“So, I’m not sure if you really understand what I do, for work I mean. But um...we are part of a unit that goes in to set up communications for special operations teams.”

Again, she nods and waves her hand for me to continue, looking equally interested and scared to death.

“We usually go into a place before anyone else. Sometimes we have to parachute in and sometimes we can drive. Either way, there isn’t anyone there typically, so we get everything set up for the teams to come in and carry out missions.”

“Are these places dangerous?” she asks.

“Not always, but it’s hard to ever say or know exactly what we will walk into.”

“Okay . . . what else?”

“Well...we don’t always know when we will have to go. Sometimes things are pre-planned and we have warning, can make arrangements, stuff like that, and other times it’s spur of the moment and needs to be done quickly and quietly.”

“So, you don’t always know when you’re leaving. But you must get some notice. I mean, they can’t just expect you to be available at all times. What if you were on vacation?”

“No, there have been times when we didn’t have any notice. We keep a bag ready at all times and keep it with us. Vacation doesn’t really happen; we have to be able to make it to base within two hours unless we have special approval.”

“What? That’s insane. How do you know when you have to go?” Her face is a perfect picture of annoyed and confused at the confines of this job.

“There’s a chain of command. I get the first call and then I call the next person on the list, Smith. It moves on from there. We can complete the list from start to finish in six minutes if everyone answers.” I say this with too much pride, but that shit takes lots of practice to perfect.

“What happens if you don’t answer?”

“We always answer.” I look at her matter-of-factly because the consequences of not answering would be dire. It’s not even something we can allow ourselves to think about.

“I call bullshit. You can’t possibly be saying no one has ever missed the call, fallen asleep, been in the shower, for fuck’s sake?”

“No, not since I’ve been here. If you miss the call, there are consequences. We make sure we never miss the call.”

“Hmm, okay. Are you telling me this for general awareness, or...Why are you telling me this?” There it is, the understanding settling in that I’m not having this conversation just to rile her up about the demands of working for the government.

“Well, believe me, if I could avoid it, I would. But there is something coming. Not sure when or for how long, but it’s going to happen and it’ll be soon. It’s been a while since they called us up, after Thatch we got a break, but it’s our turn.”

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