In the Arms of a Soldier (2 page)

“Sure, it’s fine,” I answered.  “I need to finish getting ready anyway.  Why don’t you rest and then we can catch up tonight over dinner?  I’ll even tell you the whole miserable break-up story if you want.”

Josh gave me a small smile.  Rather than answering though, he walked over and pulled me into a quick hug.  “God, I missed you.”  Just as quickly he released me and grabbed one of his duffle bags from the living room before walking down the hallway to his room.  I stood there in the kitchen, puzzled, and wondered what exactly had just passed between us.

“Another round!” I called out to the bartender, gesturing to the drinks spread out before us.  He lined three shot glasses up in front of my friend Allie, her boyfriend Rob, and me, before filling them with tequila.  A moment later he returned with two margaritas rimmed with salt, which he passed over Rob’s shoulder to our friends Lexie and Tom, and a Corona with a wedge of lime sticking out for Josh, who was next to me.

“To Josh’s return,” Allie said with a giggle, tipping back her shot of tequila and then sucking on a wedge of lime.

“How are you holding up, man?” Rob asked, punching Josh in the arm.  “You look zonked.”

I threw back my own shot and then swiveled in my barstool slightly to face them.

“Ten and half hour time difference,” Josh said, taking a swig of his beer.  “I crashed for a few hours, but it’s already…8 a.m.,” he said, glancing down at his watch.  “According to my time.  Guess I should reset this.  Anyway, I’ve already been up for a few hours in my old life,” he joked.  “But it kind of feels like I’m up after only three hours of sleep last night.”

“Aw, you must be getting old,” I teased.  “Remember when I was in med school?  You’d stay out until all hours with that girl you were dating.  What was her name again?  Rachel?  Rachelle?”

“Don’t remind me,” he said with a groan.  “And yes, I am getting old.”

I glanced around the crowded restaurant
as Rob starting joking with him about Rachel/Rachelle.  The bar area was packed, and I was amazed that a few of us had gotten seats at all, let alone together.  We’d met earlier in the evening for dinner but had migrated to the bar afterward, wanting to grab a few more drinks but not wanting to take up valuable real estate at one of the dinner tables.  As I scanned the throngs of people, I waved in surprise to a coworker that I spotted across the room.  She was an ER nurse and had just recently gotten engaged, so I imaged that the handsome guy that she was with was probably her fiancé.  Other couples or groups of friends filled the tables, and the bar area itself was filled with mostly twenty- and thirty-somethings.  Loud music thumped from the stereo, and it was hard to hear much else aside from the people directly around you.

I turned back to my friends,
thinking how nice it was to have our group together again.  We’d all met in college and had stayed friends ever since.  Allie and I had been roommates, and despite the fact that she’d been randomly selected by the school to bunk with me, we’d become immediate friends.  We were complete opposites as far as looks go.  While I had dark brown hair and blue eyes, Allie had wavy red hair, bright green eyes, and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks that she hated but Rob always said he adored.  Allie and Rob had started dating my sophomore year, when Rob and Josh were both seniors.  He was a jock and tall like Josh, with dark brown hair and brown eyes.  Josh and I were always hanging out together, and over time he’d started occasionally bringing Rob along.  After we’d randomly decided to go bowling together one night, Allie and Rob had hit it off and started dating each other exclusively soon after.

I met Lexie later on.  She was my lab partner in Biology during my junior year. 
Unlike Allie, we looked enough alike the people sometimes asked if we were sisters.  We’d become friends during hours spent over lab experiments, and she ended up getting an apartment with Allie and me during our senior year.  We’d met Tom, who Lexie was now married to, through Rob.  They’d played college lacrosse together and were still always spending their weekends doing something athletic.  They’d gone bungee jumping a couple of months ago, but that was something I’d never, ever attempt.  Josh would have been game had he been around.  He probably even would have tried to convince me to join in on the “fun,” but leaping to my potential death wasn’t something that appealed to me.  Besides, I’d seen one too many accidents in the emergency room to even consider activities that I deemed reckless.

Lexie and Rob hadn’t started dating until after college, when I was in med school.  They’d gotten married a couple of years ago and
recently had a baby girl.  They weren’t able to get out as much anymore for obvious reasons, so I was thrilled they’d found a babysitter for their daughter so they could be here for Josh’s return home.  Our nights out together were getting fewer and farther between now that we were older, but I hoped we wouldn’t ever drift completely apart.  It was hard to predict something like that though since I was still single and had no idea what the future would hold.

“So, did you meet any women over there?” Rob joked.

“Right, like I had time for that.  I’m just happy to be back.”

“That’s cool; I know you only have eyes for one lady.”

His eyes briefly darted over to me, and I flashed him a curious look before he turned back to Josh.  If Josh was uncomfortable with Rob’s insinuation, he didn’t show any sign of it.  Maybe he couldn’t hear Rob over the loud music or just didn’t notice.  I thought it was a little strange of Rob to say anything at all since we’d all been friends for years, but Rob already had a few drinks in him.  He probably just thought he was being funny.

“Can I get you guys anything else?” the bartender
called out, shouting to be heard above the crowd.

“A Corona,” I called back,
pointing at Josh’s beer in case the bartender couldn’t hear me.

“Not for me,” Allie said, leaning closer to Rob.  He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pul
led her close to him as he bent down to whisper something in her ear.  Thankfully they’d taken a cab over to the bar, because she was looking like she’d had plenty to drink as well.  The bartender handed me a beer, and I turned toward my other friends since Allie and Rob now seemed to be engaged in some quiet couple talk.

“How long was your flight back?” Lexie asked Josh.

“Way too long.  Between layovers and changing planes, I’d say 24 hours.”

She cringed.  “I’m getting used to no sleep with a newborn at home, but that just sounds painful.”

“How’s she sleeping now anyway?” I asked.  Lexie had been telling me the other day that her daughter was up for feedings every two hours.  I didn’t know much about kids and knew even less about babies, but that was certainly enough to make me want to hold off on having any children for a long, long time.  It was hard enough putting in twelve-hour shifts at the hospital all the time.  I had no idea how I’d manage that
plus
a newborn.  Fortunately, since Mike and I had broken up, it’s not like I had to worry about that anytime soon.  There was the whole meeting a new guy, dating, getting engaged, and finally getting married thing that needed to come first.  At least for me—I knew some people were fine with less traditional routes.  Having to worry about taking care of a family was definitely something years down the road for me.

“God, I still can’t believe you two are parents now,” Josh said with an easy grin.  “I have enough trouble taking care of myself most days.”

“It’s a life-changer, that’s for sure,” Lexie said with a smile.

“What is?” Tom asked, turning back to our conversation.

“Having a baby.”

He laughed. 
“Yeah, don’t let our coming out tonight fool you.  It’s been months and months since we’ve gone anywhere alone.  Or this late,” he added with a wry smile.  “Why, is one of you wishing that you had kids already?  Because we’re always looking for reliable babysitters,” he said jokingly.

“I’m probably the last person you’d want as a babysitter,” I laughed.  “I know absolutely no
thing about babies.  Even Josh would be a better choice than me.”

“Josh?  Really
….”  Lexie glanced over at him, pretending to ponder the idea.

“You know, I would be insulted, but Jess is right,” Josh teased.

I playfully punched him in the arm.  “Very funny.”

“That’s right, you have a
kid sister, don’t you?” Rob asked, seeming to remember the ten-year age gap between Josh and his younger sister.

“Lindsey,” I said knowledgably.

“She’s not much of a kid anymore,” Josh said with a laugh.  “She absolutely idolized Jessica when we were growing up, but she’s in college now.”

“That just makes me feel old,” I groaned.
  “That and the fact that our friends are already getting married and starting families.”

Josh yawned as he glanced over at me.  “We
are
old.”

I laughed and jokingly rolled my eyes.  “Just what I wanted to hear a week before my
twenty-ninth birthday.”

“Hey, your thirties aren’t so bad.  And look at it this way: you still have an entire year to say that you’re in yo
ur twenties.”

Lexie laughed as she glanced back and forth between us.  “You guys are always too much.
  It’s so good to have you back Josh, but we have to get going soon.  I want to check on the baby—we’re not used to leaving her with a babysitter yet.”

“
Maybe we better head out, too,” I said, glancing down at my phone to check the time.  “You guys have the babysitter, and Josh probably doesn’t want to be out late after his long day.”

“That’s my Jess, always looking out for me,” he teased.

“Well someone has to.”  I swiveled my barstool back toward Allie and Rob.  “Hey, we’re all going to head out.  Are you guys staying?”

“Yeah, probably for a little while longer,” Rob said.

He and Allie turned to say goodbye to the rest of us.  Josh pulled out his wallet, but Rob waved his hand in protest.  “No man, this is on us—a little welcome home for you.”

When I grabbed some money from the small clutch I was carrying, Rob said he and Allie were treating me as well.  “I’m not the one who was deployed for six months,” I protested.

“No, it’s our treat.  You guys are practically a couple anyway.”

“More like just roommates,” I said with a laugh.  “Or siblings who don’t always get along.”  I hopped off my barstool to stand beside Josh.
  He laughed as he glanced down at me, but I saw that hint of emotion pass behind his eyes again.  Just as quickly it was gone, and I looked questioningly up at him.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” I replied.

“Should we get out of here then?”

“Lead the way, roomie.”

Josh casually slung his
arm around me as we headed out, and I smiled, happy to have my best friend safely home once again.

“Something smells good,” I
called out as I walked toward the kitchen the next morning.  The scent of sizzling bacon, fried eggs, and freshly brewed coffee had awakened me, and I happily hurried down the hall as I remembered that Josh was back from Afghanistan.  I yawned as I rounded the corner and stopped in surprise to see Josh standing in front of the stove wearing navy blue boxers and a dark grey tee shirt that showed off his broad shoulders and chiseled torso.  His biceps bulged out beneath the cotton sleeves, and I quickly looked away before he caught me staring at him.  This was my roommate and best friend for God’s sake.  Since when did I start swooning over the sight of him in his underwear?  We’d been roommates before he’d deployed.  Certainly he must have occasionally wandered around our apartment in his boxer shorts then.  Could I really never have noticed before?

A little voice in the back of my mind reminded me that I’d still been with Mike
when Josh had left.  Mike had spent nearly every night we weren’t working at Josh’s and my apartment.  Maybe I’d been too wrapped up in him to even notice the guy living right down the hall—the guy I’d known forever.  I glanced down at my own outfit—a stretchy camisole and boy shorts from Victoria’s Secret.  They were much less revealing than every single bikini that I owned, but I suddenly found myself wondering if I should have thrown on my silk robe or at least a long cardigan.  I was practically wandering around in my underwear myself.

Josh
turned to grin at me as I casually wandered over toward the coffee pot, acting as if everything were perfectly normal.  I poured myself a cup of dark roasted coffee—just the way both of us liked it.  “Morning sleepyhead,” he said.

I laughed as I turned toward him.  “Sleepyhead?  It looks like you just got up yourself.  I just pulled three
days of twelve-hour shifts—or maybe you forgot?”

“
Nah, I’m just teasing you.  I’m so jet-lagged I thought it was already afternoon.  It was a relief when I finally glanced at my alarm clock and saw that it was only 8:30 a.m.  Man, do I feel groggy though.”

“Welcome to my life,” I joked.  “Alternating between day and night shifts is no way to live—I can’t keep my days straight half the time.”