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“He is. I’ll get him for you.” The volunteer rounded the desk and disappeared around the corner.
The director walked to the front a minute later. “Hello, Colonel. How can we help you today?”
“I wanted to pass along a compliment. My son is in the 82ndand just returned from deployment a few weeks ago. The USO had a strong presence at the homecoming. I appreciate all your volunteers did to make sure those without family present were welcomed home.” Graham swallowed. “There was a volunteer there. I think her name was Erin.”
“That’d be Erin Downey. She’s a new volunteer here but has volunteered at the Charlotte Center for years. She’s jumped right in working in the center and events. It’s a shame she’s only here for a few months.”
Downey. Downey. He locked the name into his memory, only to have hope sucked out of him. “Oh. Why’s that?”
“She’s here temporarily doing research for a writing project.”
“Do you know when she’s scheduled to work? I didn’t get to thank her personally that night.” That wasn’t quite a lie, even though he’d thanked her at the grill.
“She doesn’t have a set schedule. She’s been filling in when we’re short-staffed—so a lot.”
“Do you have her contact information?”
“I can’t give that out, but if you want to write a note, we can leave it at the desk for her,” the director offered.
“That’s okay.” He had no clue what he’d say, and he might waste a week or two waiting with no guarantee she’d get the note.
“She’s really good about sharing our USO posts. You might try connecting with her on social media.”
“I’m not on social media, but thanks again for all you do.” While he now knew her last name, he left the USO feeling like he’d taken three swings and hadn’t even hit a foul ball.
* * *
“Kearns, you have social media accounts?”Graham asked his unit’s adjunct officer before shutting down for the day. He wasn’t going to ask Megan about this after her warning.
“Yeah,” Kearns answered, a question in his voice.
“Can you pull up the account for the USO here?”
“On which platform?”
Graham didn’t know the difference. “Platform? Facebook, maybe.”
“What is it you’re looking for?”
“Is there a way to see who shared a post?” Isn’t that what the director said?
“Sounds like Facebook.” In seconds, Kearns had it pulled up and found the USO page. “Which post?”
“I don’t know.” Graham’s chest and ears heated. “One shared by a woman named Erin Downey.”
Kearns dropped his gaze, but not in time to hide the amused look on his face. He tapped on the tablet’s screen. “Here you go.” He handed Graham the tablet.
He squinted at the tiny picture next to the name. That was her. “How would I contact her?”
“Click on her picture. Just tap where it says ‘message.’” The screen changed. “Only I don’t think you want to do that frommyaccount.”
“Does she have an email listed?” That would be way easier.
“Let me see.” He took back the tablet and scrolled through the information listed below her picture. “Not that I can see since we aren’t friends.”
Graham caught a glimpse of Work and Education titles. “Thanks. That’ll be all.”
“Yes, sir.” Kearns closed the app, still grinning but not asking questions. Wise man.
