Corpsman and the Nerd (26 page)

“
Guaranteed, they can’t wait
to meet you and welcome you. Fortunately, Ben is kind, so he’ll
keep them from knocking you down and trampling you in their glee,”
she whispered to help comfort her tense friend.

Janine raised an eyebrow. Her
expression reminded KC of a queen. “Are they really that
bad?”

Ben overheard her question and looking
at KC, they chorused, “Yes!”

Janine turned another shade of
pale.

Chapter 33

Ben finally calmed his mother down and
convinced her to start researching on her end, and Janine finally
displayed more color in her cheeks before Ben disconnected the
call. KC was eager to talk to Max, but fearful too. And she
couldn’t determine why.

When Ben handed the phone to her KC
selected Max’s number from her phone book and hit the call button.
She bit her lip, waiting for him to answer.

“
Hello. KC?” His voice came
across clearly. As though he was standing beside her, rather than
being more than an ocean away.

“
Max, it’s me.” She heard
the catch in her voice, and was grateful when Janine tugged Ben
around the vehicle. She wanted this time alone with Max. Needed the
time, actually.

“
Happy Christmas.” And she
heard the catch in his voice too. Feeling her chaotic emotions
well, she blinked and stared across the expanse of sand.

“
Happy Christmas, to you
too,” she whispered.

“
I wish you were
here.”

“
I wish I was
there.”

They spoke at the same time, and she
laughed with him.

“
I guess we’re still missing
each other,” he said quietly and she had to close her eyes. He
sounded as forlorn as she felt. His deep voice was so familiar, and
with her new awareness of him, incredibly sexy.

“
I guess so. But it’s nice
having Ben here.” Why did she feel so awkward? This was
Max
.

“
I’m glad he’s there too.
Everyone here was happy to hear he got to your unit.”

“
I was happy, I know that!
How’s Ryan?”

“
Ryan’s having a good
morning. I think he got everything he wanted. And I’m sure there’s
some stuff he didn’t want.”

“
Oh?” She liked the hint of
brattiness in his voice.

“
Yeah, someone actually gave
him clothes.”

“
Well, we can’t have that.
Who would do such a thing?” KC teased, some of her awkwardness
leaving as she joked with him. Joking with Max was
normal.

“
Most of the aunts. I think
Lainy and Mitch got him a jacket, which he needed, and I couldn’t
find. He’s now the proud owner of more toys than I could imagine.
Good thing I brought the Jeep.” Max sounded wistful and she wanted
to ask him whether he’d gotten everything he wanted, but she was
too afraid of his answer. KC couldn’t work up enough nerve. This
was Max, her best friend, so it should be easier, yet that
awareness of him as a man kept interfering.

You’d rather have him as
your lover than your best friend
, a little
voice taunted her. She grimaced. In fact, she’d like
both.

“
We’ve had some excitement
here. Did you hear about it yet?”

“
No, but I think Mom is
right now. She keeps squealing.” KC heard definite disgust in Max’s
voice, and grinned.

“
Since when have you not
been able to take squealing women?”

“
Hey, we became an all male
household. We don’t do things like squeal or giggle.”

“
I see. Want to know what
the excitement is about?”

“
Mom’s sure to tell us. So,
I don’t know.”

KC knew Max well enough to know he was
definitely yanking her chain. She decided to yank his back. “Okay,
well I won’t tell you, then.”

He sighed. Loudly. She had to suppress
a giggle. Clapping a hand over her mouth helped.

“
I think Ryan and I are
going to ban you when you do come home. Even though we miss you,
you’ve gotten worse.”

“
I thought you were an all
male household. Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to be tough?”
Even she could hear the mischief and glee in her voice.

“
Hey, Ryan!” Max bellowed,
not in her ear, thankfully.

“
Dad, guess what? Steve said
he’d let me play his new game!” She heard Ryan’s excited voice and
felt a stab of regret again that she couldn’t be with
them.

“
That’s pretty nice of
Steve. I’m talking to your mom, want to say hello?”

“
Mommy’s on the phone?” And
his eagerness made her smile.

“
Yes. Here, don’t
squeal.”

“
Dad, we’we men, we don’t
squeal.” Ryan sounded so mature. A ball of bittersweetness rose in
her throat.

“
Right. Is your grandmother
still on the phone?”

“
Yeah. She’s squealing.”
Ryan sounded disgusted.

“
I know. That’s why I came
in here.” Max’s voice echoed Ryan’s male disdain for women’s happy
forms of expression.

KC smiled at the conversation going on
without her. This gave her a tiny glimpse of their lives together.
That ball of bittersweetness grew.

“
Mom?” Ryan’s sweet voice
floated over the phone, and just like Max’s, he sounded
close.

“
Hi, Sweetheart. How are
you?”

“
I’m good. I got a lot of
pwesents. And Dad and me and Aunt Lainy and Uncle Mitch made
cookies last night. We ate ‘em all.” He sounded so eager, and so
solemn.

“
I see. Did you get a
bellyache from eating so many cookies?”

“
No, Dad said we had to eat
oatmeal. We made faces, but we ated it all, so we got cookies,
then.”

“
Oh. Your dad doesn’t like
oatmeal either?” Like she didn’t already know this, but Ryan
watching Max eat something he didn’t enjoy was a good
lesson.

“
No. But he ated it too, so
I had to.”

“
That’s right. Sometimes we
have to eat what we don’t like.”

“
Do you have to eat what you
don’t like, Mom?”

“
Oh yes. Ask your Uncle Ben
about the food we eat here. Actually, ask Uncle Mitch.”

“
He alweady said Granme’s
food is much bettew than what he ated last yeaw.”

“
That’s right. What did you
get for Christmas?”

And she nearly winced when he launched
into a long diatribe of everything he opened. Fortunately, Max
saved her and told him to tell her goodbye, which he did. “I love
you, Mommy. Goodbye.”

“
I love you, Ryan. Bye,
baby.”

Then Max’s voice came back on the
line. “Did you get all that?” he asked, and she heard definite
spunk.

“
You know, I do know how to
–
oh no
.”

“
What?” Max must have caught
the tension in her voice.

“
There goes the siren again.
I hoped we’d not see wounded today.” She glanced at her watch.
“We’re about five hours from tomorrow here.” Frustration welled,
but KC quelled it. Right now, they needed to get back to the base.
“I’ve got to go.”

“
Okay. We’re thinking about
you here. We miss and love you, baby.”

“
I miss and love you too.
Oh, Max, I wanted longer with you!” She wailed, and watched as the
wounded poured in. She had to go.

Janine came to get her and more
frustration spurted.

“
I know, KC, but it’s okay.
We’ll have more time.” Max sounded sure of himself, so she
nodded.

“
Okay. Bye,” she
whispered.

“
Bye.” And they
disconnected.

KC turned and hurried for the vehicle
Ben had already fired up and pointed toward the base. What a
terrible way to spend the fading last of Christmas. But then she
reminded herself that she had spent some time with Ben and taken
the opportunity to speak with both Ryan and Max. The wounded being
rushed into the camp hadn’t spent the nice time she had this
Christmas.

She realized she hadn’t gotten the
chance to tell Max about Janine and Ben.

*****

“
Did you hear?” Lainy came
up behind him as he watched the computer light flicker in front of
him.

“
Hear what?” Max didn’t feel
like talking, but he figured since the person wishing to converse
was Lainy, he could make an exception.

“
Aunt Heather just called.
That doctor whose cot is beside KC’s?”

Max frowned. “Janine,
right?”

Lainy waved a negligent hand, “That
sounds right, but anyway, she believes Ben is her
brother.”

“
What?” Max sat up in the
chair and turned to stare at her.

“
Janine thinks Ben might be
her brother,” Lainy repeated, like he was Ryan’s cohort instead of
his dad.

“
Ben’s already got three
sisters. Why does he need another one?” Max frowned as he tried to
imagine having another sister. Upon reflection he didn’t think he
approved of the concept.

“
Janine is apparently
a
birth
sister.
Besides, what’s one more sister? He’s already a professional at
being a brother.”

“
I don’t think another
sister is a good thing,” Max mumbled, wondering how Ben could be so
unfortunate.

But then he, Max, was feeling pretty
unfortunate too. Since KC was in Kuwait, and he was here, in
Hershey. Someone had to be laughing about that, but he sure didn’t
find it funny. Yes, he’d been given custody of Ryan, but that
didn’t make things much easier today.

“
Max, Ben and Janine finding
each other
is
a
good thing.”

Lainy leaned over the desk
and waved a hand in front of his face.
How
was it a good thing?

“
Sisters are annoying.” Max
felt duty bound to remind her of this minor fact.

Lainy sniffed. “We are not any worse
than brothers.”

“
Oh yes you are—”

Raising her hand, Lainy began ticking
off names. “Will, Ed, Tom, Greg, John—”

And Max winced. Okay, so that listing
was bad. Awful, actually. “Okay, so your brothers aren’t
wonderful—”

“
Max,” she ticked off,
without breaking stride and he grinned.

“
You know, I was looking
forward to a nice, quiet place in the midst of the zoo and three
ring circus going on here, and I’d nearly found it. Then you came.”
He kept his tone conversational, which tended to tick Lainy off.
She swatted at him, and he laughed and ducked.

“
I’m leaving now, since I
know my husband will be happy to see me. You just enjoy your
solitude. Oh, your kid is looking for you.”

Max blinked before shoving out of the
chair. “On second thought, maybe I’ll forget the solitude and go
find my kid.”

“
Good idea,” Lainy remarked
and laughed at him as she left the room.

“
Why in the world would Ben
need another sister? If he wants a new one, I can donate four. Or
seven.” Max felt better after he muttered that loud enough for her
to hear.

Lainy ignored him, which she knew
bugged him.

Max shook his head.

He missed KC. The holidays would be so
much more fun with her present and accounted for.

But she was attending to the wounded.
She was making this day count. What about him? What was he doing to
make today count?

Max went to find Ryan.

Chapter 34

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: General Emma and
Admiral O’Riley

Hey Lainy!

Thanks for your last
message. I miss you two so much! I’m very excited about this baby,
as you know.

You and Max both keep me informed. (Although his version
isn’t nearly as technical as yours.)

Speaking of you and Max,
I’ve asked him to give me the scoop on General Emma. Meaning, have
you noticed any sort of... extra emotion she shows toward our good
admiral? Because I’ve certainly seen something going on from my
end. He’s pretty intense for information about her.

Max has proven less than
reliable on the gossip end.

He’s such a man. It’s incredible! I asked him to
tell me anything he notices which was a ridiculous request on my
part. Like he notices such things. “General Emma interested in
Admiral O’Riley? What’s interest mean?”


Therefore, I thought I’d
put forth my suspicions to you. Have you noticed any vibes from
her? I really like him, and if she’s not feeling the same way, I
want to know. He’s a good man and doesn’t deserve to be hurt. I
really think he’s vulnerable where she’s concerned. (Which is
disconcerting to see in one’s Commanding Officer.)