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Megan had wanted to be a vet for as long as she could remember and had been on track until life had other plans. Some things were more important than school. Megan’s eyes slid over to the other things.
Her most prized possessions were artfully arranged on the cleanest spot in the apartment. There were two pictures, one of her grandma holding her as a baby, surrounded by her parents and siblings, and another of just her and her grandma at her high school graduation. They sat next to an array of her grandma’s antique perfume bottles, jewelry, and her most cherished item—a music box that used to be white, but that still played the sweetest music. She knew the melody, but not the name of the tune.
Her phone beeped, right as she shut the box. She spun around and tripped over a work boot, catching herself before she fell on her face inches from her bed. The phone was still going off somewhere in the mountains of her pillows and covers strewn haphazardly all over the bed.
“Hello?” she answered, out of breath.
“Megan, it’s Laura.”
“Hey, what’s up? Have you heard anything?”
“Yeah, it’s not great, but not as bad as it could’ve been. Heart attack, but minimal damage.”
Megan stopped and sank down onto the edge of the bed. “Oh no.”
“I know. They’re calling his son now and getting him to come home. He’ll be able to live on his own soon, but—”
“His house.”
“Yeah, so you may want to give him a call or pass a message to the nurse to let him know about his dog. Give him some peace of mind.”
“Of course; I can do that today. Do they know how long he’ll be there?”
“Not sure, but given he doesn’t have a place to go back to right now, it’ll be a while.”
“I feel so bad for him.”
“I know. I talked to Carter about helping him, and he’s going to reach out and make some calls to see if there is anything he could do. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything.”
“Okay, sounds good. Tell Holden Mimi loves him.”
“Will do.”
Megan ended the call and came out of the room.
Levi flopped over and let out a yawn. As if he could read the worry in her face, he stood and walked over to sit next to her and looked up with those brown eyes. She rubbed his soft ears when he let out a low whimper.
“It’ll be okay, buddy. I don’t know how, but it’ll be okay.” She drew in a breath and added, “It’ll have to be.”
CHAPTER5
“You have got to be kidding me.” Troy had been fighting a headache since getting to work, and today hadn’t done anything to fix it.
“No sir, I wish I was. The commander wants the seating chart done again.”
Troy’s phone buzzed again on the desk, but he hit ignore for the third time today and rubbed his head.
“It’s a military ball, not a wedding. We had an easier time ordering ammo during the shortage. Alright well, what time is it?” He glanced at his watch and swore again. “You head out, and I’ll take another stab at it tonight.”
Not needing to be told twice, Sergeant Nelson thanked him with a smile and headed out. Not that Troy could blame him—as it was they were supposed to be done at five, but the army always had a way of holding on to people. It was well past seven when Sergeant Nelson left, and the clock was closing in on eight thirty by the time Troy powered down his computer and slipped his CAC card out of the reader and headed home.
It wasn’t a long drive off post to his home at Fort Campbell. He had an apartment, which was pretty decent. He liked the modern design, security, and the kitchen, but mostly it was nice to get away from work for a little bit. Sometimes, when he had time, he would drive over to Nashville, which was one of the cleanest towns he’d ever seen. The good food and the music scene always fit the bill.
Troy pulled his truck into his spot, killed the engine, and climbed the stairs before letting himself in to the second-floor apartment, welcomed only by the shrill beeping of the alarm system. He punched in his code to cut it off, before resetting the alarm for staying in, then headed for the bathroom, cranking the shower to hot. The bathroom, like the rest of the apartment, was all modern and clean lines. He didn’t care about the finishes as much as that it was new and spotless. His deployments had taught him the value of two things—good food and clean bathrooms.
Troy stripped out of his uniform and stepped under the spray, grabbing the soap and going to town, still reworking the seating chart in his head. By the time he accounted for everyone’s rank, everyone’s spouses, and everyone’s precious little feelings, he was getting a headache all over again. As it was, he had to finalize the menu and the list of speeches with the sergeant major in the morning.
He stepped out, tied one of the towels around his waist, and headed out into the kitchen, stopping to put the TV on a YouTube documentary about the Apollo Space Program on the way for some background noise.
