Page 10 of No Man Left Behind

Catching Up

Marcus enjoyed watching Elina’s face as she discovered each man on the team not only remembered her but had talked about her. She’d thought she’d been forgotten. She’d thought she was forgettable.

Impossible.

Marcus knew his own feelings were different from those of the other men. He’d always found Elina fascinating. She’d drawn him like a magnet. None of the others had been drawn to her in that way.

She’d dressed to fit in with the Afghan women, so seeing her in American-style clothes was new, but those eyes, that face. Those were familiar and enticing. She was beautiful inside and out.

Something intangible had bounced between them from their first meeting. Since he’d been old enough to be interested in girls, he’d never felt anything like it. He was hyperaware of her, and his protective instincts surged to an all-time high whenever he thought of her.

He hated knowing something disturbing had happened to her after he and his team had left the area. He wished he’d been able to protect her from whatever, or whoever had hurt her. With the village in distress, someone should have looked out for her. Except, his remaining team had been called in to support in an emergency elsewhere.

What had she been through? What had she suffered? How could he make it better for her and clear the shadows in her eyes?

He decided to put that aside for the moment and enjoy the present. Maybe she would drop a hint or two as to what had happened. He leaned back in his chair as Elina related the story of how she’d found their town.

Troy pointed his finger at all of their team. “See. I told you that Phail was a great name. Now, maybe you’ll believe me.”

Everyone groaned, but Marcus silently agreed. If the name Phail had brought Elina back into his life, he was all for it. Not that he’d admit that to his buddy.

Branna and Sean returned from the kitchen and set down plates of appetizers on the table for the group to share, then took seats of their own where they could keep an eye on the other patrons as well. Marcus knew one or both would pop up whenever anyone needed anything, but it was nice having the entire group together. Elina fit in perfectly.

Piper smiled at Branna. “Maybe it’s time to think about hiring some help.”

Branna grinned. “We’ve been talking about it. For the most part, I can handle it if no one’s eating, but running the kitchen and the bar can get tricky, especially if Sean’s doing his other job.” Sean ran Falcon Construction and helped in the bar when needed.

Nina grinned. “Maybe I can help.”

Addy laughed, but Heath elbowed their daughter. “You’re thirteen. You’re not working the bar.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Why not? It’s not like I’d be drinking any alcohol.”

Marcus jumped in to help his buddy. “You’re out of luck there, Nina. I’d have to arrest Branna if she let you work the bar.”

Nina studied him with a twinkle, knowing full well he’d never have to arrest Branna because she wouldn’t break the law and hire a kid to work the bar. “Any laws against me learning how to run the kitchen?”

Marcus shook his head with a smile. This girl wanted to learn everything and anything. She loved working with the animals best, but she’d also learned how to work in Phail General, and was helping Zuri Johnson clean and organize in Phabulous, her salon and tattoo shop. The girl soaked up knowledge like a sponge, and she was interested in everything from hamsters to space stations to cartoons.

Nina fluttered her eyelashes at her dad. “I could help with the cooking and the cleanup, even learn how to do the ordering. Branna wouldn’t mind.”

Heath sighed dramatically. “You’re relentless.”

“You always tell me that hard work and determination get you to the right places in life.”

Heath laughed. “You’re too smart for my peace of mind, Spitfire.”

Nina turned her attention to Elina, making Marcus smile. The girl would help him get to know more about Elina, and he wouldn’t have to ask a single question.

“It must have been interesting being a teacher in those different countries where you lived. I know from Dad that a lot of the villages didn’t have a lot of money for extras, and most of them didn’t have electricity and computers. Did the kids have any books? Or newspapers? How did you teach them to read?”

Elina smiled. “You’re right, there weren’t many books or newspapers. I had a few chalkboards and chalk. I traveled with a box of books, some in English, some in Pashto, and some had both languages.”

“That would be hard. Did the people want to learn English too, or did you mostly focus on teaching them to read in their own language?”

Beside him, Elina shrugged. “Most of the kids wanted to learn everything they could in both languages. I didn’t speak much Pashto when I first moved to Afghanistan, so there was a lot of trial and error as I learned. We drew a lot of pictures to communicate back and forth at first. We taught each other words by pointing at objects. Nouns are usually the easiest words to learn in a new language. Verbs get complicated quickly.”

“Can you show me?”

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