He's not wrong. It's dull for a man with a lot of energy who wants adventure. It's perfect for a boy who needs stability and a steady upbringing.
"It depends on what you're looking for."
He lies down and lines up his rifle. "I'm restless here. It's great helping Joel out with the center, but I'm like a caged animal. I need the adrenaline."
"Take up skydiving."
He chuckles. "I'm trying to convince Joel to offer skydiving classes at his center, but the overheads are too much."
He fires off another round, and I do mine. While we're changing over the targets, Marcus says, "I did some digging into Sofia Eaves for you."
It takes me a moment to realize what he's talking about. "Jake’s letters."
"Yeah. The ones Avery mentioned."
"Did you find anything?"
He fiddles with the scope of his rifle. "There are two women by that name in the state of North Carolina. One is in a nursing home in Greenville."
"It's unlikely it's her. I can't think of a reason Jake would be writing to a senior citizen."
"She might have been his pen pal," he jokes.
I shake my head but am unable to muster up a chuckle. "And the other?"
Marcus sets his rifle down and squints at me. "The other is a middle-aged woman in Charlotte."
I frown. "Maybe older women were his thing."
"Not this older woman. She married her long-term partner in a civil ceremony the day same sex marriage became legal."
I'm about to ask where Marcus gets his information but decide it’s best not to know.
"She's gay?"
Marcus nods. "She's also a psychologist."
He lets that hang in the air while he slides another round into the barrel.
"You think Jake was writing to a therapist?"
Marcus shrugs. "I don't know. I haven’t seen the letters, and we don't know if this is the Sofia Eaves we're looking for."
If Jake needed to talk to someone, the military provides services. "There are military shrinks if he needed someone to talk to."
Marcus gives me a wary look. "How many times did you see a military shrink?"
"A few. I had to after Jake died. My commander made it a condition for coming back on the team."
Marcus gives me a pointed look. "How many times did you see one voluntarily?"
He has a good point. If you ask to see a therapist, they might think you've got problems and pull you off the team. I'm willing to bet no team guy ever saw a therapist voluntarily.
"Never. If the commander got wind of me seeing a head doctor, he might’ve thought I wasn’t fit for missions."
"Exactly. It's like a regular doctor. I avoided them like the plague, but they got me in the end."
He frowns and looks away. I'm not sure why Marcus was honorably discharged from the military, but he's mentioned medical issues before.
