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I went a little pale and took a steadying sip of the liquid. It was warming whiskey, and it gave me some courage.
“Hey,” he said brushing his hand on my arm, “when your ready, of course.”
I smiled at him, relieved that he was willing to take things slow for me.
“Come on,” he said motioning for me to follow him to the kitchen.
I had to hold back a laugh; the small dining room connected to the kitchen was completely void of even a table. All there was, were two bar stools.
He slid into one and patted the other for me to join him. I did happy to have some more time just to sit and talk.
Eleven
“So Syria, huh?” Julie said after a few more sips of her whiskey.
It was a subject we hadn’t broached yet. We had talked about the good old times all through dinner and even what she had been up to in the last six years, but neither one of us had brought up my time away.
“Yeah,” I said taking the last of mine in one swig.
“The whole time?” she encouraged.
I gave her a soft smile. It was only fair that I shared with her after she had been so open with me.
“No, not the whole time. First, it was boot camp. Even though I was always going to be a doctor, they make me go with the rest of the SEALs. I’ll just say it was a lot more intense than normal officer boot camp.”
“Then what?”
“Just some more training. I didn’t deploy for the first time until three years in. I had to finish my doctorate anyway. The deal was, they do the schooling for me, and I have to give them three years after that.”
“So what did you do the last three years?”
“Uh, first it was Iraq. After that, I was in Lebanon, but I wasn’t really there much.”
“What does that mean?” Julie interrupted truly interested.
“Well the base we were stationed to was in Lebanon but when the team went out on a mission if there was a temp hospital or clinic there, I would go with them. Otherwise, I did stay at the hospital on the base in Lebanon. That didn’t happen a lot though.”
“And then Syria?”
“Yep. We were there about eight months before I had to be flown out.”
“Are you allowed to tell me what happened?”
I pulled the bottle over from the side of the bar we were sitting at. The question was inevitable, and I wanted to tell her. It wasn’t something I had ever really said out loud. The only people I talked to about the bombing were the guys there with me; I didn’t have to tell them what happened.
I poured myself another dram and drank it in one gulp before pouring another.
“That bad huh?” Julie said as she watched me drain my cup. "I don’t remember you drinking so much before.”
“Yeah, the one thing the navy is really good at is building your alcohol stamina.”
I looked over at her through slitted eyes. I really didn’t drink much while I was active duty and even less now that I wasn’t. I would need the liquid courage to tell this story, however.
I realized at that moment, for the first time that night I noticed the ringing in the back of my ears. It was probably the first time since the incident that I had forgotten about it.
“I was in the temp hospital. I was there with the team, but there were also some marines and regular army station to our small base as well. A private came back with some shrapnel in his leg. He couldn’t be airlifted till the artery was clamped.”
I looked over at her again. I could feel the cold sweat on the back of my neck as the memories came flooding back. She instinctively reached over and took my hand in hers. I gave her a weak smile.
