Page 24 of A Pen Pal for Christmas

“The base is about 50 miles outside Seoul,” he continued, leaning forward slightly and resting his arms on the counter. “There’s this place on base called Wolf Pack Park. It’s at the top of this big hill, right in the middle of the base. At night, they lock the gates around the base, so if you’re on night crew, you’re stuck.”

I slid the pint onto the tray as one of the waitstaff whisked it away. “Locked in? Like, no way out?”

“Pretty much. The guys on day crew got to stay out in town at a nice hotel. Balconies and everything. But, us night crew guys?” He shuddered dramatically, the gesture so exaggerated it made me grin. “Not so lucky.”

“How bad was it?” I asked, crossing my arms as I leaned against the bar.

Before he could answer, Derrick strolled in, his jacket dusted with snow. He gave me a warm smile as he approached the bar. “Hey, Sofia. Can I get another Snow Hill Sleigh Ride?”

“Coming right up,” I said, flashing him a quick smile. I pulled out the ingredients and started mixing the cocktail while keeping an ear on Hudson.

He leaned back slightly, his expression turning mock-serious as he answered my question. “Well, let’s see… The squad bays—these long metal buildings with rows of beds—looked like something out of a horror movie. Dirty mattresses with no sheets, spiders everywhere, bugs crawling out of the walls… Oh, and the portapotties outside? That was the bathroom situation.”

As I handed Derrick his drink with a quick, “Enjoy!” before I glanced briefly at the door. It was an old habit that had resurfaced since running into Dane yesterday—this subtle hyper-awareness of my surroundings. I hated that I felt like this. Hated even more that Dane’s presence in Snow Hill had dug up old instincts I thought I’d buried back in Philly.

I tried to shove it down again, turning back to Hudson, my nose wrinkling at the thought of everything he’d just described. “You didn’t have running water in the squad bay?” I asked, my voice tinged with disbelief.

He shook his head solemnly. “We kinda did… But the water was brown, and it smelled like rust.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish. The laundry machines were all broken, too. It was like living in a haunted campground.”

“Did you ever see anything that made it feel haunted?” I asked, intrigued.

“Not me, personally. But there were grave markers all over the place on the hill, and a lot of people said it was haunted. And there were these deep gashes in the metal on the outside of the squad bays.”

“From what?” I asked, eyes wide.

“Don’t know. Looked like a werewolf had tried to claw its way in.”

“You’re lying.”

He held up his hands. “I’m not. I swear.”

“Okay, now I’m picturing you guys up there, surrounded by werewolf scratches, just hoping to make it through the night.”

He shook his head, taking a sip of the whiskey he’d been nursing for over thirty minutes. “Night crew, remember? The only bright spot was that we were on the flight line on the other side of the base when it was dark outside. It wasn’t all bad. We tried to make it fun.”

“Which, I’m assuming, is what led to you falling off your bike?”

He laughed, the deep, warm sound washing over me like a balm. “Yeah, we rented bikes to get back and forth to work. One day, the other guys started jumping their bikes off dirt hills on the way back from the flight line. I’d never ridden a bike on anyterrain other than Snow Hill’s streets when I was a kid… But I thought, ‘How hard can it be?’”

“Oh, no. Famous last words.”

He pursed his lips as he nodded solemnly. “I flipped right over the handlebars. Hit the ground so hard I thought I’d cracked a rib.”

I winced at the image, feeling the impact almost as if I’d been there. “Um… is now a good time to thank you for your service?”

“Nah.” He held my gaze, his lips quirking slightly. “My time at Wolf Pack Park doesn’t even make the top ten worst things I’ve dealt with as a Marine.”

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the bar as if getting closer would help me grasp how he could be so nonchalant about such a miserable experience. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Not even close.” He shrugged, his easy demeanor making it clear he wasn’t exaggerating. “And I’ve heard recruiting duty’s supposed to be one of the worst duties you can get.”

“Worse than haunted squad bays with brown water?”

He shrugged. “Mentally, yeah. But I’m not planning on riding a bike to work, so at least I’ll be safe on that front.”

---