The Purple Heart Read online

  Appointment scheduled for 10:30 am today. Incoming.

  I began to read up on my new one and only case. This guy must be someone special, or more likely, be related to someone in the high ranks. Sergeant First Class Aiden Thane. He was seriously decorated, too. He had the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Distinguished Service Cross. I hadn’t met a soldier decorated with all of those medals before. He had no family listed, and no formal education after high school. He seemed to have joined the military right after graduation. In fact, there was really no more information listed, other than his army career. He was being granted an honorable discharge. I’d get the whole story in person from him, I was sure.

  With no other work to do until half past ten, I grabbed my coffee, and set off to visit Cheryl, who worked Triple-D (Death Detail Duty) as we called it. It was her task to deal with the dead, those poor souls who never returned from war. She was given lists of all the deceased, waited for their bodies to be delivered home, and then made sure they arrived safely to wherever they needed to go. I was so much happier working with the living. She seemed to prefer working with the deceased, because she didn’t have to worry about every soldier hitting on her. Her wife Gina greatly appreciated her work ethic. Cheryl was downright gorgeous. She had shoulder-length, bleached blonde hair and a face that could have any man crouching at her feet. And the gorgeous didn’t stop there. It went from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She was just stunning. Gina was quite the looker, too. She was the tiniest thing, and every movement she made was a bounce full of energy and grace. Her reddish-brown hair was cut into a cute bob, which hugged her petite facial features. She was a dance teacher, which probably explained the bouncy, graceful part. She was a delight in every way; always happy and never a bad word escaped her lips. The only way to describe her would be as angel embodied in human form. You just couldn’t help but to be drawn in by her enthusiasm for life.

  “Hey, babe, what’s happening?” I smiled and said, as I graced the edge of her desk with my backside.

  “Oh, I’m doing just great; ten more incoming this morning alone. It’s such a shame. All babies, too. Good morning back, by the way. How about you?” She sat back in her chair and put her feet up on her desk, and smiled.

  “Well, looks like I’ve been given a special assignment,” I said, making quote marks in the air above me. “They pulled all my other cases for this one guy.”

  “Seriously? What’s so special about this one?” Cheryl was the best sounding board for pretty much everything. Since I no longer had my dad, she was my go-to-girl.

  “Highly-decorated. You should see the list of medals he has. Other than that, I’m clueless. Guess I’ll find out at 10:30; we have a scheduled appointment already.” I gave her the double-eyebrow salute. I usually scheduled my own appointments, but this one really was making its own path.

  “Well, this should be interesting. I love hearing about all your guys,” she teased. She was always pushing me to date, and often with soldiers I worked with.

  “Okay, I’ll stop back after I meet with him. Are you and Gina still coming for pizza and a horror flick this Friday night?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” she said as she spun her chair around to face her computer. She lazily waved goodbye to me over her shoulder.

  “Right. See ya later, babe.” I turned and headed back to my office to get all my paperwork in order for my meeting.

  Since Cheryl and Gina were my only social life, we had designated every Friday night as pizza and horror flicks at my house. This was not to be confused with Chick-Flick-Sunday, the second Sunday of every month, which was always held at their apartment. We ordered Chinese or Thai food, and made sure we each had our own individual box of tissues. I knew the girls wanted to start a family soon, and were in the process of looking for a house and a good sperm donor, so my time with them as my entertainment was limited. I had to enjoy every little bit. Soon they’d be leaving their little one with Auntie Nini (they had already informed me of my name and future babysitting job). It was fine with me. I loved kids and couldn’t wait. It seemed the chances of ever having my own were pretty slim at this point in time.

  I often wondered if I would ever find the kind of love they had. What they possessed was not your traditional marriage, but their love was constant, unconditional, and unbreakable. I was sure many people would die for a relationship like they had together. I knew I would, and wanted to find someone but just didn’t click with most of the men I met. With me, the connection had to be there from the start. Maybe I was just being too picky. I never threw caution to the wind. In the end, it would probably be my downfall, and I would end up old spinster Aunt Nini.

  I got back to my office and started to ready forms by filling out what I could. I looked up at the clock and realized I only had a short time before my meeting. I grabbed the paperwork and headed for the elevators.

  I hit the button and waited for my ride to the third floor. The door opened and I noticed no one else would be sharing it with me. It was unusual for this time of day, so I leaned back against the wall to relax, watching the doors slide close. The elevator started its ascent and then I felt it bump, heard the motor stop and the lights went out. It was pitch black; not even an emergency light was on. My heart started to race as I felt my way over to the buttons to hit the alarm. Right when I reached them, the elevator jarred back to life. I felt a bit shaken. Getting stuck in an elevator was really not my cup of tea. I giggled with relief when I reached my destination, and the doors opened. I literally leapt out before they had a chance to close, trap me inside and cause my early demise by some freak accident.

  I headed over to Incoming to meet my important soldier. The third floor was entirely empty. No one was bustling around as usual. Strange. This entire day was just not sitting well with me. The place was freezing, too. I was really wishing I hadn’t worn my short skirt to work today. I could feel the goose bumps starting to rise on my arms. I peeked down the long empty hallway, and saw one lone man sitting on the benches. He looked like a ghost in a deserted town.

  Chapter Two: Aiden

  “Excuse me, Sergeant Thane?”

  The soldier stood up, perfectly at attention, and addressed me with a serious, military tone and utter respect.

  “Yes, Ma’am.” He offered his hand to shake mine.

  My breath hitched in my throat immediately. Any man in uniform was to die for, but he was just drop-dead gorgeous. His dark, messy hair was longer than it should be for someone returning from a tour, and appeared as though he had just rolled out of bed. Sex hair is what I would call it, although others might refer to it as bed head. He must have been at the infirmary for some time. His face was squared and chiseled, and accentuated by a shadow of scruff. His eyes seemed to be piercing right through me. They were a deep shade of blue, but somehow had the appearance they were glowing. I bet now that he was home, all the girls would be knocking down his door, if he didn’t have someone already waiting for him. I couldn’t imagine he wasn’t already spoken for, unless he was a player.

  I reached out to shake his hand, and when we touched, I could feel this humming vibration thing happening, from his skin directly to mine. It was reminiscent of something, but I couldn’t quite place it. I found myself holding onto his hand a little longer than was socially acceptable for a first meeting but just didn’t want to let go. I managed to stutter out a few words.

  “Um, hi. I—I’m Sydney Porter. I’ll be handling your case.” This reaction was so unlike me. No one ever had this type of effect on me.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said, and he released my hand with a small squeeze.

  “Maybe you can just call me Sydney, okay? You’re making me feel old by calling me ma’am.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said again, but this time, I noticed a small smirk make an appearance at the corner his lips.

  “Okay then, great. Would you like to go to one of the meeting rooms to
talk for a bit?”

  “Ma’am.” He nodded his head.

  I walked over to the nearest open office, and he followed quietly behind me. He was so silent I couldn’t even hear his footsteps. I wondered if he had been trained for covert military missions or was special ops. I showed him to a seat, which he stood behind until I took mine. One thing about soldiers, they were extremely respectful. I loved that.

  “So, I see you’re being given an honorable discharge. Were you wounded?” I moved my eyes from the file back to his. I found myself looking into them quite often, as I liked the eye contact with him.

  “Yes, Ma’am. I was wounded in the line of duty. Shot several times in the chest, four times, to be exact,” he said as he continued to stare directly back into my eyes. I wasn’t uncomfortable with this at all and I found his presence to be comforting in a strange way. I actually felt a good connection between us already, and we had barely even spoken yet. It made my job much easier when that connection was there. It allowed the soldiers to trust me, more like a friend than a case manager. Somehow this was stronger than I had experience with others.

  “I see. That’s just terrible. You’re very lucky you survived.” I averted my eye contact and returned them to my file folder.

  “A miracle, I guess,” he softly whispered.

  “Can I assume the Purple Heart you received is for this injury?”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “And the Distinguished Silver Cross?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. I saved my platoon by running cover so they could get to safety.” His words seemed uncomfortable for him to say.

  “That’s very admirable.”

  He looked down, shying away from my compliment; nodded but said nothing.

  “I’m here to help you. I’m going to get you back into the real world, okay? Are there any family members I can contact for you?”

  “No, Ma’am.”

  “No family? How about friends? Anyone at all I can call that you can stay with for a while before we find you a place of your own?”

  “No, Ma’am,” he said, as he looked down yet again.

  “It’s fine. I can find you a nice place to stay.” I reached out to touch him, but pulled my hand back. The draw I had to him was becoming more intense as the seconds passed by.

  He smiled. A man of few words, but I swear I could tell what he was thinking with every movement, smile, or glance we shared.

  I started to flip through more of his paperwork, and he began to fidget in his seat. His leg began to twitch up and down, and I could see some slight signs of PTSD emerging.

  “Would you like to go get a cup of coffee somewhere? This place is pretty… sterile. There’s a great little coffee house right down the street. We can walk there.” Sometimes being in the environment wasn’t conducive to having them open up to me. They often felt like they were being interrogated. I wanted him to feel more comfortable so he would speak openly.

  He looked up and smiled at me. His face was so warm and inviting that I found myself completely taken aback by him. Damn. All he had to do was smile. I couldn’t help but return the gesture as I stood. He also stood. I was starting to feel as though I was blushing, as I could feel the heat flush my cheeks. This was ridiculous. I had just met this man.

  “If you don’t mind, I hate carrying my cell phone, and I never hear it ring, so I have this wireless earpiece I use. I just want work to be able to contact me. It’s not normal procedure to leave the building.” I adjusted the piece into my ear. I hated cell phones becoming fashion accessories. I liked it better when technology didn’t follow you everywhere you went. Simpler times.

  We walked to the coffee shop and idly chatted about the weather. I talked about how cold it was getting, and he told me how hot it had been where he’d come from. Already the conversation was flowing more easily, and I felt like I had known him for longer than a mere twenty minutes.

  The coffee shop was one of my favorite haunts. I frequented it a lot during lunch. It was a comfortable place with large, cushioned chairs instead of the regular shop decor, and there was one of those cool mid-room fireplaces. Sometimes I went there after work, just so I didn’t have to return home to an empty house.

  We chose a table in the corner, away from everyone else for privacy. I purchased two cups of coffee, and steered myself over to the table to join him. I was actually anxious to get back to him. As I handed him his cup, he gave me that warm smile, and I melted a bit.

  “So, we have to find you a place to stay for about a week. There are lots of hotels in the area, the barracks, and a few bed and breakfast places that help us out by taking in soldiers who’ve just arrived home. Where do you think you’d feel most comfortable?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve spent a lot of time living the military life. Honestly I could use a bit of quiet and a break from it, so maybe not the hotel or barracks. I’d love to stay at one of the B&Bs but I’m …” and then he went silent. I could see he was starting to fidget again; his leg began a reminiscent twitch while he wrung his hands together.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, I just blurted out the words and even shocked myself.

  “Would you like to come stay at my place? It’s pretty big, and sometimes I feel like I’m just haunting it there all by myself.”

  He smirked, and cocked an eyebrow at me. He honestly seemed to come alive.

  “Are you sure it won’t put you out or get you in any type of trouble with work? I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this.”

  “No, no, I want to. I’ve got a spare room, and it’d be nice to have some company.” I couldn’t believe I was saying the things that were coming out of my mouth. Word vomit. What was I doing? He was a complete stranger. A highly-decorated soldier stranger. A hot, highly-decorated soldier stranger … in uniform. He was becoming seemingly irresistible to me.

  “Yes, Ma’am. I’d like to take you up on that offer.” His eyes began to burn right into mine. I was now unable to avert my gaze from his.

  “Okay. Why don’t we go get your belongings?” Now I was taking him to get his things to basically move in with me. Was I going insane? I just couldn’t resist him. Something about this man pulled me in. It was as though I had known him forever, or maybe we had met before? I had no idea. All I knew was that I just invited this Purple-Heart-toting stranger to stay in the room right down the hall from me. Oh lord.

  I just smiled at him like a complete idiot.

  “I have everything with me.” He picked up his duffel bag and pointed at it to show me.

  “Maybe we can stop off and pick you up a few things you might need,” I offered.

  He stared at me. I couldn’t take my eyes away from his again. I wondered if my eyelashes were batting.

  “I need to get something for dinner, too.” This was a true statement. I needed to get supplies for two. My house was honestly set up for only one soul.

  “Wait. Let me get this straight. Not only are you offering me a place to stay, taking me to get necessities, but you’re also going to cook dinner for me? And I just met you? You’re a woman after my own heart,” he said smoothly. I had to check the floor for puddles because I melted some more.

  I smiled, and a little sigh escaped my mouth as I turned to walk down to the local store with him for some supplies. I was suddenly very aware of every movement I made.

  We shopped together like we were an old married couple. We picked out the same colors and similar things. We laughed a lot, and I could only think we had some sort of kismet. I’d heard it said before, that once in a lifetime you met someone who you just completely connected with. Aiden and I were definitely connecting. Could I have just met a man I actually clicked with? I wondered if he was feeling anything close to what I was. The conversation even continued to flow effortlessly on the car ride home. I pointed to various places I thought he might be interested in. Like I had any idea what interested him. I hope I did.

  When we finally reached my house, I unlocked the door, and offered hi
m entrance. He instead graciously held the door for me. Soldiers. Gotta love them. I fumbled with the bags, and he sweetly came to my rescue, dropping his duffel bag at the door, scooping the shopping bags from my arms, and delivering them to my kitchen. We spent some time emptying them together, while I showed him where to locate things at the same time. Soon, everything was done, and I turned to look at my new roommate. It felt right.

  “Okay, well, let me show you to … um, your room. You can get settled in while I start dinner.”

  “That would be great. Thank you, Sydney.” It was the first time he had used my name. It was fine either way, because I would be happy to be ‘ma’am’ if it was coming from his lips. I blushed a little and turned to head up the stairs. We stopped at the first doorway.

  “This is my room. You know, if you want me during the night. Need. Need me during the night. Anything you might want. I mean need. That … that I …” What was wrong with me? It was like there was someone possessing me.

  “Thanks. Good to know.” He smiled as he rescued me from my own inability to spit out my words gracefully. At this point I think he blushed a bit, too. It seemed the attraction was mutual, or possibly he thought I was a bumbling idiot. I felt like the latter.

  I walked quickly down the hall to the next bedroom.

  “This will be your room. The only thing is, we share an adjoining bathroom.” I shrugged my shoulders nervously.

  “I’ll make sure to always knock first before entering.” This made me smile, but maybe it was more the thought of him walking in on me during a shower. Great. Now I was thinking dirty thoughts about him. I shook my head.

  “Me too. Okay, well, I’m going to head back downstairs, down the stairs. I just said that. Okay, well, I’m going now.” I walked away slowly, rolling my eyes, and cursing myself for rambling. If I couldn’t even have a small conversation with this man regarding bedrooms and bathrooms, what was I going to be like next?

  I stopped off in my room and changed into comfy clothes. Once I stepped through my front door at the end of the day, I lived in either sweats or skinny jeans; and I preferred to be barefoot. I opted for a cute pair of black boyfriend sweats and a white cami. I refreshed myself with a quick spray of vanilla-scented perfume.