The Marine by Cheryl Reavis

Author:Cheryl Reavis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks Inc.
Published: 2016-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

GRACE COULD HEAR a raised voice on the other side of the row of Leyland cypress trees Trent had planted when the side street had become the neighborhood shortcut. The voice was clearly Lisa’s, and Grace crossed the patio and headed in that direction.

“No, I don’t understand, Jason! Maybe you should explain it to me.”

“Lisa, what is your problem!”

Lisa’s reply was inaudible

“Well, great, Lisa!” Jason said. “Where am I going to get another blonde at this late date?”

“Try the dog pound! That’s about your speed!”

Lisa came tearing through the Leylands into the backyard. Clearly she hadn’t remembered that there was a cookout going on, in spite of the grilled meat aroma and the country western music permeating the night air.

She stopped dead at the sight of the assorted Marines, active duty and retired, Joe-B and her mother.

“I’m not answering any questions,” she said to Grace.

“Fine,” Grace said. “I don’t have any, except . . .”

“Mom! I don’t want to talk about it!” She looked down because Elizabeth had maneuvered to hang on to her knees. It was the only thing that kept her from bolting.

“I was going to ask if you wanted something to eat.”

That remark seemed to give the Marine contingent just the opening it needed. Conversation started anew, and someone handed Lisa a plate with a hot dog and some chips on it.

“What do you want to drink, Lisa?” Joe-B asked easily, handing her an ice cold can of soda without waiting for her to actually say. She stood there, looking at the plate and the can as if she had no idea how she’d gotten them. Elizabeth still clung to her legs.

“Let’s go, Spike,” Josh said, whisking his daughter up. “Diaper time,” he said to Lisa, who managed the barest of smiles in response to Elizabeth’s “Can’t help it, Dad” grin.

“Come sit over here with us,” one of the female Marines said, the one Grace remembered from the hospital when Elizabeth was sick, but whose name escaped her, the one she thought admired Josh more than perhaps she should. The Marines made room for Lisa at the picnic table.

“Was that guy thinking he could pull off some kind of group date for the prom? How many girls did he ask?”

“Five,” Lisa said, her voice a little shaky.

“Works for me,” one of the young men said.

“Shut up, Crawford,” the women said more or less in unison.

“He’s got to be a jock, right?” another of the women said.

“Right,” Lisa answered.

“Oh, man. Why are they all like that? You know what one of those suckers told me one time? I’m not lying, he said this with a straight face. He said, ‘Muley—”

“He said what?” Lisa asked, clearly trying hard to hang onto the lifeline the Marines had thrown her.

“Muley—that’s what everybody calls me—” She swept the Marines seated at the table with two extended fingers. “And anybody that tells her why is going to be sorry. Anyway, he said ‘Muley, you are too beautiful to ever eat fast food.’”

“So where were you?” somebody asked.

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