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★☆★☆★
I’ve never seen Jace’s eyes so big, and he gasped with his hand on his chest. “Dammit, Miranda, what are you doing in here? You scared me half to death!”
I sat up straight on the bed, no longer feeling sexy, but very confused. “What the hell are you wearing?” I gasped, pointing at his Marine Corps uniform.
But I knew exactly what he was wearing; I had seen those uniforms a million times. There was even a name patch on his left front chest with his last name on it. The digital-looking green and beige camo pattern covered his whole body, and I just sat there with my mouth open, waiting for him to answer me.
He set his rucksack down and made his way over to me, but he wasn’t fast enough. I was off the bed, throwing my T-shirt and shorts on while beating back the tears that were already forming along my lashes.
“Miranda...”
“Jace, how could you? How could you keep this from me?” Shock and hurt didn’t even begin to describe the emotions that were flying through my heart at warp speed.
He reached out a hand and tried to touch me, but I took a step back. “You don’t know how many times I wanted to tell you. But it seemed like every time I would try, you’d be harping on military guys. Telling me sordid tales about your past experiences or bagging on your friend for dating that Army guy.”
“That has nothing to do with you lying to me!” I screamed.
His teal eyes flew open wide and the look on his face rivaled something I would expect to see if I would have slapped him.
“Miranda, you’re being ridiculous. I’m just in the reserves. I can get out soon.”
I snorted and brushed past him, picking up my bag on the way. “You and I both know that’s a lie. I’m sure you owe them a lot more time.” I stopped in my tracks and leveled him with a serious stare. “When’s your contract up, huh, Jace?”
“In about a year,” he answered, emotionless.
“Well then look me up in a year,” I seethed, slamming the door behind me as I flew through the parking lot to get to my car on the street.
I could barely see through the tears in my eyes and I went home and cried myself to sleep.
***
I woke the next morning with a complete emotional hangover, pounding head and everything, and I hadn’t even had anything to drink. My phone was completely dead, so as I slogged out of bed to use the bathroom, I plugged it in and went to lie back down.
As the phone drew a charge, it began to chirp with notifications. I had five texts and two missed calls from Jace. I didn’t want to read them or listen to the voicemail I had, which I’m sure was him. I set the phone down and slammed my head back on my pillow and rolled over.
I stared without seeing at the white curtains billowing from the morning breeze that was blowing into my room. After sleeping on it, I was still upset, but my anger had ebbed and had turned to sadness. I was lying there, trying to decipher what had made me seethe with rage on seeing him in that uniform.
I think shock played a huge role. I had been so desperate to find out where he went once a month, and now I knew. And the fact that it hadn’t clicked made me feel kinda stupid. “Weekend Warriors” – that’s what they were called. Duh, Miranda. But I guess my brain had already told me that Jace was a computer guy, a baseball guy – nowhere did any sort of military training come into play when my mind and heart thought about him.
I was also hurt he didn’t tell me. He shouldn’t have kept it from me. Did I shit-talk military guys that badly? I began to wonder if I had. I knew in my heart that they weren’t bad. Most were good. My experiences with them weren’t great, but whose fault was that, really?
I shook my head and wiped my tears. Was I totally overreacting here? Probably. Was I going to get over this and move on soon? Probably not. I had a lot to process here. I now had a lot of questions for Jace, but now wasn’t the time I was going to ask them. I was still too angry and hurt that he had kept something so big from me. How in the hell did he have time for the reserves anyway? Baseball season, his side computer business... overachiever much?
I sat up and slowly pulled my phone from the nightstand and typed in the passcode and looked at the messages from Jace. They were all basically the same – I’m sorry, we need to talk, I love you, I don’t want to hurt you, please call me... and when I dialed the voicemail and listened to them, more of the same. I sighed as I hung up, wondering what I should do next. So I did what I always did when I needed to talk, I called Cara.
“You’re up early,” was how she answered.
“I didn’t sleep well,” I said woodenly.
“What’s wrong?”
I laughed without smiling. “There’s just no easy or believable way to say this, so I’ll just come out with it. Jace is in the reserves.”
Cara had been eating something as she spoke to me, and I heard her choke, then cough. “What?” she mumbled.
“You heard me.”
She coughed again. “You just now found this out? And how in the world does he have time for that?”
I shook my head. “I was wondering the same thing. And yes, I just found out. He came home wearing his uniform, and I was there to surprise him. But it was me who got the surprise. I left outta there so fast...”
“Well, you don’t sound too happy about it,” she mused.
“I’m not happy one bit. And he’s in the Marine Corps reserves, too. Unreal.”
She started laughing. “You’re the one who’s unreal. You’re not actually mad, are you?”
“Hell yes I’m mad! We’ve been dating almost a year and I’m just now finding this out? I feel betrayed.”
She yelled something to Aiden, then came back to the phone. “So you’re mad he didn’t tell you, and not just generally mad that he’s in the military. Is that what you’re telling me?”
I paused for a minute, digesting her words. Then I squeaked out, “It’s both, I guess.”
“Girl, that boy is hot. I’d love to see him in his uniform. You should have jumped his bones, not jumped in your car and left.”
“I was too mad, too full of rage to think clearly.”
She chuckled. “That sounds like you.” She was quiet for a minute, then said, “Has he called?”
“Oh yeah, texts, voicemails. He’s worried, I can tell.”
“Then call him back and let him say his piece. I think he deserves that, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. I’m kinda numb right now.”
“Well, Aiden and I are heading to church. I will call you tonight to find out how it goes,” she said.
“Church, huh?”
“Yes, it’s nice, and Aiden’s making friends. I needed someplace to clear my head from all this negativity and find some peace.”
“Well, pray for me,” I said, bidding her goodbye and hanging up.
I was glad she was finding peace after what she’d been through, because as for me, I was pretty sure I was headed into a full-scale war.