Valentine from a Soldier (10 page)

I awkwardly stepped back, letting him examine the damage.  “I’m really sorry,” I said.  “I slowed down, and the anti-lock brakes came on, and I got a little startled by the whole thing.”

“You’re not supposed to pump the brakes,” he said exasperatedly.

“I didn’t.  I mean, I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s any damage.”

He continued looking at his vehicle and then finally fixed his dark eyes on me.  He had dark stubble covering his face, like he hadn’t shaved this morning, and his eyes looked a little tired despite the harshness in them.  His mouth was set in a firm line, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was angry or just indifferent.  There were no military bases near our small town, and I wondered why he was wearing fatigues.  Was he here on official business?  Or maybe just visiting someone?  He finally seemed to realize that he hadn’t responded to me, and he cleared his throat.  “Look, just forget about it.  I’ve got enough on my mind without dealing with you, too.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, taken aback, confusion flickering across my face. 
Dealing with me, too?  What a jerk,
I thought.  It’s not like I’d intended to get into a car accident this afternoon.  And it’s not my fault that he’d stopped and abandoned his car in the middle of the road.  If he wanted to go check out the bridge, he should have at least pulled off the road first.

“Whatever,” I said, holding my hands up in defeat.  I turned back to my car, and as he stepped away, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground.

He walked off in such haste that he was already pulling open his door as I bent down to retrieve it.  “Hey!” I called out after him.

“What?” he snapped, turning back to
me.

I instinctively stepped back, the paper still in my hand.

“Where did you get that?” he asked angrily.

“You just dropped it,” I replied, looking warily at him.

He walked back over, this time stopping directly in front of me.  He was 6’1” and towered over my small frame.  My eyes ran up over his broad chest and shoulders, memorized the lines of his strong jaw, and eventually met his gaze.  Although his eyes seemed to soften slightly as he took in my expression, I started to feel slightly concerned.  Although this road led back to town, there were no other cars in sight.  Of course, no one could come from the opposite direction, leaving town, with the tree blocking the bridge.  There could be a whole traffic jam on the other side of it for all I knew.  I was stranded out here with a complete stranger, one who seemed to be a bit of a jerk at that—a handsome jerk, but not that it mattered.  I needed to get going and didn’t want to waste another minute figuring out what his problem was.

“Here,” I said, thrusting the paper at him without even glancing at it.  “Have a nice life.”  I turned and walked back to my car, angrily climbing inside the driver’s seat.  I watched as he
shoved the paper in his pocket and walked away. 
“What a jerk,”
I muttered to myself.  I grabbed my cell phone from the dashboard and realized that I didn’t have any reception. 
Great, just great,
I thought.  The sensible thing to do would be to turn around and drive to the highway.  I’d certainly get reception from there, and I could call my parents and tell them I’d be there to pick up Hannah in a couple of hours.  I hated the idea of disappointing Hannah, though.  She’d so been looking forward to our evening together.  I could just pull off the road and leave my car here, take a quick twenty-minute hike through the woods, then call someone to pick me up when I reached the road from the other side of the creek.  Hannah and I could still have our mother/daughter evening together, and I could come back to retrieve my car tomorrow.

Deciding the latter would be my
plan,
I quickly gathered a few of my things and stuffed them into my backpack.  I’d leave the Christmas presents that I’d purchased in my trunk, but some of the things I’d picked up for Hannah and me to use tonight made it into my pile of what to bring with me: sugar cookies, frosting, and sprinkles for our cookie decorating; a tin of chocolate shavings for making our special homemade hot cocoa, and candy canes that we’d use when decorating our tree.  I tossed in a bottle of water and finally added my small purse, containing my wallet and cell phone.

Opening my door to get out, I noticed that the mysterious solider still hadn’t left either.  He’d pulled up a few feet though, probably as eager to get out of here as I was.  I decided it wasn’t really my problem what he did, and I quickly walked around my car to head into the woods.  With any luck, in twenty minutes I’d be in my parents’ warm car, riding home to Hannah.

“What are you doing?” the soldier’s angry voice called out.  I heard him slam his door and come stomping toward me.

I wheeled around to face him, annoyed that he was still even here.  His dark eyes blazed as he looked at me, and I wondered why on earth he cared where I was going.  “Cutting through the woods,” I said shortly.  “So like I said earlier, have a nice life.  Goodbye.”

“You can’t cut through there,” he said in disbelief.

“Uh, sure I can.  And what’s it to you anyway?  You told me you have enough problems to deal with.”

“I’m not letting you run off and get lost in the woods.”

I laughed, thinking this guy really was crazy.  A few minutes ago he’d wanted nothing to do with me, and now he was suddenly concerned about my wandering off alone.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, rolling my eyes as I turned away.

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“You are not coming with me,” I said, glaring at him.

It was his turn to look slightly confused.  “Look, I figure you
’ll need
help finding your way through the forest.  I need to get into town tonight also.  We’ll make our
way
back to the road, then each be on our way.  You’ll never have to see me again.”

I sighed, exasperated.  “Look, I’m not letting some strange man come traipsing through the woods with me.  You could be some serial killer for all I know. 
Or maybe just a complete lunatic.
  I’m in kind of a hurry here, so for the last time, goodbye.”

A slight smile tugged at his lips, and I could tell that he was trying not to laugh at me. 
Annoying, cocky, and handsome,
I thought to myself. 
Perfect. 
“Well I’m glad you find it so funny,” I said, sulking.

“Wait here,” he said, starting to turn away.  “I want to show you something.”  He jogged back to his Jeep and pulled out his gear.  It certainly looked like he had every intention of
following me.  Both our cars were here, so they could probably trace his plates if something did happen.  But really, I knew better than to wander off with some random stranger.  It looked like I was going to have to make the long drive after all.

He grabbed a newspaper from his front seat before slamming the door shut and walking back to me.  With his long stride, he quickly made it back to my side.  “Here you go,” he said, tossing the newspaper at me.

I looked at it, confused,
then
glanced back up at him.

“Open it up.  That’s all you need to know.”

Curiosity getting the better of me, I unrolled the paper, glancing at the front page.  In bold, black letters, the headline jumped out at me. 
“Local Hero Returns Home.”
  Underneath was a picture of my mystery man, along with the caption, “Local Soldier Trent Harrison Returns Home
After
Saving Comrades in Afghanistan.”  I stared at it, dumbfounded, until Trent reached over and grabbed the paper back from me.

“See?  I’m not a psychopath or a serial killer; I’m just a soldier on my way home.”

The snow had stopped falling at this point, but the cold, dry air left me chilled to the bone.  It’d be warmer if we got moving, and the less time we spent standing around arguing, the sooner we’d be home.  Since he obviously wasn’t really a threat, I might as well let him come along.  He’d probably have better luck finding the way through the woods than me since I’d never so much as even been camping before.  He probably knew all sorts of survival techniques for the wilderness, so a quick hike would be a walk in the woods (ha!) for him.

“Fine,” I said, giving in.  “You can come with me.  I’m Meghan, by the way.”

“Trent,” he said, reaching out and engulfing my hand in his.  His large hand felt warm despite the chill, and I wondered how he wasn’t freezing to death out here, too.  Before I could say anything else, he quickly released my hand, his face returning to stone, and turned to walk toward the woods.  I silently followed behind him, hoping that I wasn’t making a big mistake.

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