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“Oh my gosh,” Logan burst out laughing wildly. “Will someone get him under control and shut his mouth! I could lose my job if someone thought I was getting you… well… I’m not even going to repeat that.”
“Selkirk? Not another word,” Eric barked, and looked at Logan.
“Thank you, Morrison,” Logan began, unfolding a wad of papers stuffed in his shirt pocket. “I’m offering you the chance to write someone, befriend someone, and talk to someone who needs to talk as well. Thesepeople,” he stressed, looking at them. “These people come from all different walks of life, different situations, and are looking for different things. Nobody says you have to email more than once, and no one is telling you to get married, Peña…”
The captain smiled wryly.
“I’m just saying that it helps to talk about issues, get it off your shoulders, and unload.”
“I thought the computers and phones would be on lockdown,” Talbot said bluntly, causing the others to look at Logan again.
“The computers are, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create an email to your pen pal, and it will hold in the queue. As for the phones? I’ve got twenty minutes to call my wife, Jules, before they shut us off. So, if you want a pen pal? There are five of them here…”
Logan laid down the papers and stood up.
“The computers will be available tonight and tomorrow at any time – just see my receptionist for directions to the room. Also, write your parents, and put some dang deodorant on. I could smell you boys the second I walked in here.”
As Logan left the room, Peña walked over to the table immediately without hesitation, causing the rest of them to move forward.
Five names.
Peña, Selkirk, and Talbot grabbed a slip of paper quickly – before Selkirk handed him one… and Talbot shoved the other at Keyes.
“Man, you guys suck,” Ortega snapped.
“He might have some more and…”
Logan reappeared in the doorway.
“Oh, and Morrison?”
Eric looked up.
“Your animal showed up. Bring some paper towels, because the little demon left a present for you in my office. She’s scared, so grab something from the mess hall, too.”
“Now?!” Talbot hissed. “That’s some real timing…”
“We could have used the dog earlier!”
Eric shoved his legs through his pants and jerked on a green Army t-shirt before grabbing some paper towels, anxious to meet his dog.
He agreed.
The timing could have been a little better, but the mysterious animal was finally here, and he was more than ready to get started.
2
MADISON
Tyler, Texas
Several months later…
“Mrs. Keene?”
Madison flinched, hesitating, and then breathed a sigh of relief seeing Lily Griffin standing in the doorway. She slumped in her chair, putting a sticky note on the page where she was in her book, before setting down her sandwich that no longer had any taste to it anymore.
“I’m so sorry,” Lily began easily, walking into the room. “I didn’t want to surprise you and know how I value my hour off during the day to get caught up on things, but I had an important favor to ask.”
