Catch My Fall: A Falling Novel by Jessica Scott

Author:Jessica Scott [Scott, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942102274
Publisher: Jessica Scott
Published: 2017-09-18T04:00:00+00:00

Deacon

It's hard to miss Kelsey's reaction to Caleb when he walks in. I slide behind the bar, leaning into her briefly. "I've got him."

She shoots me a quick look of gratitude as she takes another customer.

After this morning's class, I don't have the courage to ask her about letting me interview her. I know her story from downrange. I'm pretty sure she's not going to just open up and tell me how wonderful life is as a civilian. Some of us have rougher transitions than others.

I do need to figure out who I'm going to interview but that can wait until I get through the night without nailing Caleb's ass to the wall.

"What's on the menu for creative drinks tonight?" Caleb leans on the bar like we’ve just completed the Bataan Death March together or something.

"What are you in the mood for?" I ask him, trying to keep things easy and praying that he doesn't start in on the turn-the-Middle East-into-a-parking-lot bullshit.

I'd rather hear about his latest obsession with CrossFit. Or get a root canal.

He's that level of fun.

"How about a rum and Coke?"

"Sure thing."

"So, did you get a chance to talk to your professor about your research? What did he think?" he asks as I slide his drink across the bar and snag his credit card to open up a tab for him.

"Yeah. She thought it was a great idea. Now I just have to figure out who I can talk to about their adjustment to being a civilian."

He frowns as he takes a long pull off his drink. "I thought you were going to interview people about the VA."

"I am. But she wants me to get into people's sense of identity, too."

He swirls his drink. "What does that even mean?"

"It means how you see yourself. Like if I asked you to describe who you were, what would you say?"

He swallows another long pull off his drink and motions for another. "I don't know how to answer that question," he says quietly. He’s drinking tonight but at this point, he’s usually five or six drinks in. I have the impression he’s only just getting started.

I watch him as I mix his drink. "Are you okay?"

On a normal day, I never would ask. But something isn't right about him tonight. Combined with our random meeting in the library, something isn't sitting right with me.

"Yeah. Like I mentioned the other day, I'm just spending some quality time reflecting on my life choices."

"What does that mean?" I repeat.

He shrugs and turns away, leaving me to wonder some more about what’s going on with him. I don’t want to care. But I find myself curious. And I try to remind myself that not everyone has all their shit together.

Maybe there’s a hell of a lot more depth to the Caleb story than I thought.

But I keep the peace mostly for Eli's sake and the fact that I don't want The Pint to devolve to the level of drama reserved for groups of middle-aged men in bass fishing clubs arguing about who stole whose fishing hole.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.