Nerd and the Marine (5 page)

You have such a caring way
about you, and your family has totally adopted me. I've never had a
family before, even one on loan, at least none for very long. While
a bit intimidating, since I've no idea how to act, or perhaps more
importantly, how to react, I am enjoying the outpouring from you
and yours.

Bentley's all I've known
family-wise, but that's a long story. I didn't even have the
opportunity for foster homes. I grew up in an orphanage, and that's
all I know. How do I react to all of your gifts and good deeds? So
far, with only a heartfelt thank you. Since you're foster mother to
my dog, perhaps you could coach me on this?

I wish I could do more for
you. Tell me what you need and if it's in my means, it will be
yours. Much thanks and by the way, I've gotten e-mail from about
half your family I think. Wow, you weren't kidding about having so
many rellys. (I like that term. We shorten everything here in the
military, so this works for me.) I've been able to answer all of
them, which has helped to relieve the sheer lack of activity
here.

I suspect we'll be called
up soon, though. Our training is almost complete and we will soon
have more duties, I hope. Which I should warn you, if you don't
hear from me from time to time, please don't worry, if you're
inclined in that direction. I might be out in the field and not
able to get to a computer. I WILL contact you as soon as I return,
though. You'll be my first priority. Please pass the word
along.

On a more serious note,
I've put you down as one of the people the government will contact
in the event of my death. (The other is my assistant at work.) Most
Marines realize this is a part of the job and we treat it as such.
If I die, I have served my country and fallen in the line of
battle. Few Marines would want to die any other way.

This is my life and what
I've committed to do. I'm here because this is what I've chosen,
and now I feel even more needed with the advent of you and your
family. I like having a family to fight for, and now understand the
intensity in some of my colleagues. They’re here for their country,
but also for their families. I can enter into that now. Thank
you.

Sincerely,

Mitch

Chapter Seven

Lainy booted up the new computer and
watched it flicker to life. The programs flashed across the screen
exactly as they should. Excitement welled up as this creation from
her brain stirred. While not pretty, the little machine promised to
be very functional. She'd sealed the ports and drives well, and
hoped no sand would wiggle in to clog the hard drive.

Some of her parts had been rearranged
again, so she must have been pretty involved. Lainy knew her
tendency to become wrapped up in a project, although she did find
it odd she’d moved things around the way she’d found them. The
arrangement went against her habits. Anyway, the computer was
finished, and now she could send the laptop to Mitch.

She hated the idea of
losing contact with him for an indeterminate amount of time. She
relied on their daily correspondence. Lainy found she thrived on
the attention she felt she didn't deserve but adored from this
incredible man. Right now, she needed a friend.
He was just a friend
.

He'd sent personal notes to everyone
who had responded to his e-mail of thanks for the package. And
there'd been no doubt that he'd appreciated every last cookie,
picture, and drawing. Most men wouldn’t have cared, but she thought
that while she and her family overwhelmed him, Mitch also basked in
their familial attention. It was as if he'd never thought he'd have
a family and when her huge one dropped in his lap, he was so happy
she could imagine him and Bentley wagging their tails in
unison.

She'd love the opportunity to observe
Mitchel Monahan's tail up close and personal. If that time came,
though, she was pretty certain she'd revert to her
shy-girl-and-I'm-a-geek mode which meant she not only wouldn't
utter a word, she couldn't for fear of vomiting on his
shoes.

Not a good first in-person
impression
. Lainy swallowed down the bile
clawing up her throat at the thought and instead concentrated on
something she did well - electronics.

The laptop moved through its paces
effortlessly and Lainy couldn't have been more proud if she'd have
actually given birth to the thing. Which, in essence, she had.
There was a satisfied feeling about taking a thought or idea and
seeing the fruition of one's labor culminate into a useful creation
for others. Or, in this case, for Mitch.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: Death is not my
favorite subject

Dear Mitch,

Thank you for explaining
I'm not supposed to worry, I do tend to do this very well, so am
grateful you attempted to ease my mind. I hate the thought of
anything happening to you. I understand we barely know each other,
yet I feel I know you well, and to lose you would mean losing a
good friend. Of course, Bentley will always have a home with me, so
no worries there. And that's all I'll say on that
matter.

I'm very grateful you're
working to keep me and my family safe, but I do hate the risks
you're forced to take to do so. I wish there was another way, and
am equally relieved you're brave where I am not. I'm having fun and
working in a safe environment, (well, you live in Hershey, too) and
you're over in a foreign, hostile land where you're doing things
that risk your life.

On to happier things. I've
finished my project. As soon as Bentley is finished clearing the
yard of heinous small animals, and the Terror, (which is a definite
service!) we'll go to the post office to mail it and run some
errands. Bentley loves car rides, especially when the windows are
down. He got a bug between his teeth yesterday and had a wonderful
time working it out and then swallowing the thing. (I'm afraid I
didn't enjoy the experience nearly as much as he did.)

The bakers have
reconvened, so expect a package any time. I hate to tell you this
but one of my brothers also ran around the lake with a DVD
camcorder, so I suspect you'll learn more about my family than you
ever wanted to know. (Sorry for that, in advance.) I suppose it
might be better than watching sand, but still. (I'm also hoping you
have the means to view this Morrison Family Treasury, or well,
maybe not.) ☺

The brother wielding the
recorder is definitely the wackiest member of my immediate family,
so you may be in for some... odd, and perhaps disgusting sights.
(Have you ever seen ducks poop? Because you might with his
recordings.) I tried to steal the DVDs but he booby-trapped the
area, and I wasn’t successful. His wife thinks these home movies
are hilarious (she’s as wacky as he is, obviously) so, she wasn’t
helpful, either.

Their kids tried to snag
the DVDs, too, but my brother is good. The kids, while not
embarrassed by their parent’s antics, are easily bribed. (You
didn’t hear this from me. I would not resort to bribing my nieces
and nephews unless the situation required such means, and this one
does.)

Ah, Bentley is back from
his duties, so off to the post office we’ll go. He’s holding a dog
biscuit in his mouth, guess where he was? Yep, Grandmom and
Granddad’s house.

Thank goodness the herd
manages to keep him active, so he’s not gained any weight, yet.
He’s not hogged my side of the bed, either. (Thank you for
providing the dog bed, but Bentley only uses it during the day.) At
night, the lush seems to prefer sleeping in my bed, using the
second pillow. I’m spoiling him, I’m afraid.

No pictures this time, as
my digital camera is in pieces. I’m cleaning it, so, next posting
I’ll send some.

Your friend,

Lainy

P.S. Just be yourself
around the rellys as that’s what families and being a part of a
family is all about. Act like you would around Bentley. (I hope
that makes sense.)

Mitch contemplated Lainy’s newest
e-mail. Actually, he contemplated the “Your friend” part. She
definitely was his friend, but he feared he’d begun to think of her
as far more than merely a friend. She’d become his partner and his
confidante. The one person who seemed to complete him.

She was Bentley’s mom.

His thinking was bent, for sure. Here
was this poor, unsuspecting woman – who’d kindly taken in his dog
and him – and now he felt like a stalker. He knew he didn’t think
of Lainy Morrison as a friend. Instead, in his mind, she’d taken on
the role of lover.

Mitch swallowed as he thought about
that. Lover. Everyone he’d ever loved had died. The past proved he
wasn’t loveable. Yet he ached for it.

Did he want a family so much? Or did
he want Lainy Morrison that much with her family as a
bonus?

As he went to sign off, Al stuck his
head around the corner. “Yo, cookie boy, we've got orders to head
to the choppers. We're off to work.” Al's exuberance was catching
and Mitch, while grateful to be able to do something in the field,
regretted he'd be separated from his computer. More than the
computer, but that he'd be separated from Lainy. And
Bentley.

Chapter Eight

“
No, send this priority,
please, Melanie,” Lainy replied to the uniformed postal worker
behind the counter. A professional, and her first
cousin.

“
Sure, Lainy. This is going
to Mitch, so I think I can send it with special rates. What’s
inside?”

“
A prototype for a new
laptop I designed and built.” Lainy wondered if she should have
padded the box better.

“
Okay, how much you think
it’s worth?”

Lainy gave a figure and bought the
insurance for the package, all the while chewing the inside of her
cheek.

“
Hear from Ben?” Melanie
snapped her gum as she placed Lainy’s box in a bin behind
her.

“
Not lately, why?” Melanie
and Ben were brother and sister, so Lainy figured Ben would keep
Melanie more informed than her, his cousin.

“
He thought he might have a
stopover at Mitch’s base,” Melanie supplied and Lainy’s heart
thumped.

“
Really?” Her breath
stopped somewhere in the vicinity of her diaphragm. After the first
hiccup, she swallowed and repressed the urge to leap across the
counter and hold her cousin down for questioning.

“
He thought so, but won’t
know for certain until he gets his orders.” Melanie snapped her gum
again as she surveyed something on the computer screen in front of
her.

Deciding she wouldn’t get
very far with Melanie, Lainy hastily thanked her and set off for
home at a faster pace than normal. She leapt out of the vehicle
before it came to a complete stop and raced to her computer. She
pounded out a quick message to her cousin Ben, not
quite
demanding he let
her know as soon as he got his orders.

Heart pounding, she thought of Mitch
meeting one of her relatives. Ben was the perfect Morrison
candidate for Mitch to meet. A military man to his very toes, he
was also a Morrison through and through. He had a zany sense of
humor, was almost as good at electronics as she, and loved his
family. Once meeting their saner relative, the others should prove
to be not quite so overwhelming. She hoped.

*****

“
Okay, guys, let's head
back to base,” Mitch yelled to his men as they watched the first of
the convoy roll away. His men piled into the humvees and, after
counting heads, he climbed into the driver’s seat of one of them.
Everyone was present and accounted for, this time.

Running a weary hand down the back of
his sweaty neck, Mitch was happy to be headed back to the base.
This job had gone well, but he was ready to return to civilization.
Even a tepid shower beat what they had.

He was certain he had sand in every
pore and probably some areas he'd rather not think about. At least
at the beach, you could run into the water and rinse. Not here.
Thinking of the beach made him think of the lake where Lainy
vacationed with her family and Bentley, which then made him think
of Lainy again.

Staring through the windshield, Mitch
struggled to keep his mind on the rolling sand, rather than the
enticing vision of Lainy Morrison that hovered just out of view. In
a little while, he'd be able to read e-mail from her and he wanted
to focus on that. He'd missed those daily e-mails and couldn't wait
to reach his quarters and turn on his computer. If he allowed
himself to be distracted now though, it'd only prolong the
time.

“
Moose, where do I turn?”
he asked his navigator. Magic with instruments and maps, Moose
could direct anyone out of the worst situations without even using
his treasured compass and GPS system. He could navigate solely on
the sun and stars if need be.

Pondering whether to shower or read
e-mail first, Mitch settled on booting up his computer while he
showered just as the dune he needed to turn at arose out of the
vast nothingness. Mitch cranked the wheel and with some major shock
usage and a few knocks, turned the humvee onto the path Moose
directed.