Page 2 of A Veteran’s Second Chance

Cassie’s tone changes. “Do you have someone there? Is it a man?”

“No.” I crouch down to pat Panda, but he saunters away with his tail in the air. “I’m talking to Panda.”

“I thought you said Peter.”

“Peter’s my spider plant.”

Cassie lets out a disappointed groan. “Oh, Savvy. Are you still talking to your plants?”

I bite my toast. “Of course. It helps them grow.”

“You really need to get out more. Meet someone to talk to who can talk back.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Cassie means well, but our lives are completely different. She’s a musician on the road, meeting people all the time. She can’t understand why I like the quiet life.

“Nah, I’m all good.”

I pull the curtain in the living room, letting the sunshine in, and let out a contented sigh at the sight of the mountain. What a view to wake up to every morning.

“What you got on today?” Cassie asks.

I check the calendar. “It’s bonfire night tonight. See, I have friends. I have a life.”

I pull a chunk of beef out of the freezer. Hailey, one of the veterans’ wives up the mountain, has just had a baby. I’ll make a pot roast later to deliver to them.

“I got to go; I need to get ready for work.”

I hang up on Cassie and rumple Panda’s fur as I head to the bedroom to get ready.

“Behave today, all right.” But Panda makes no promises.

Later that evening, my eyes are red from the smoke of the bonfire that’s burning in the backfield of Jake’s Retreat, the veterans’ center where I work. Every Thursday, Joel, who runs the place, puts on a bonfire and barbecue, and everyone’s welcome. The veterans visiting the center mill around, as well as the more permanent locals, and some veterans come down from further up the mountain.

I’m speaking to Hannah, my friend who runs the bakery in town, and wondering if it’s too early to leave. Panda awaits, and my comfy jammies, and if I leave now, I can watch an episode of Love is Blind, my guilty pleasure.

“I’m going to head home. We’ve got a new cohort of veterans arriving tomorrow.”

It’s always busy when the new patients arrive. They’re usually transferred from a military hospital, often from Germany. As the physiotherapist at Jake’s Retreat, it means a new schedule, new injuries and, no doubt, a new bunch of obstinate men who resent being injured.

“A buddy of mine’s coming tomorrow,” says Jace, a rugged-looking ex-Green Beret.

I like Jace as a person, and I’m glad he’s found peace with Kayla, but dang, he was a difficult patient. I hope I don’t get another one like him again.

“Logan Winslow.”

The name is a jolt from the past that makes my body go cold. Jace is talking, but I don’t hear the rest of his words. I’m glad we’re in a group, and it’s dark, so no one sees my reaction.

I haven’t heard that name in over ten years. It shouldn’t affect me; I’m not the young girl I was when I last laid eyes on Logan. It might not even be the same man.

I hear myself saying goodnight, and I walk quickly across the ground to my car. But all I can think about is how there is no way that can be the same Logan Winslow.

Suddenly, I can’t wait to be back in my house with my cat and my plants, who don’t talk back and definitely won’t break my heart.

2

LOGAN

Savanna hasn’t changed much in eleven years. She strides with confidence up the path that leads to the treatment clinic at Jake’s Retreat. Her blonde hair is tied back into a ponytail, and her chin juts out, as full of confidence at twenty-nine as she was at eighteen.