One Year to Forever (Halos & Horns Page 19

  “I can’t wait to have you home.”

  “I can’t wait to have you in Hawaii. Honestly Haley, there’s so much I need to tell you. So much I want to say to you.”

  “I know, Ben. Me too.”

  Silence, heavy and thick, lingered between them. It churned with emotions and feelings too important to reveal under the current circumstances.

  Haley released a long sigh, but rather than pollute the airwaves with melancholy, her words and tone of voice radiated hope and optimism. “We’ll have time to say everything we want to say to each other. I know we will.”

  Ben closed his eyes wishing he was there with her to kiss away her loneliness. “Soon, babe. So soon.”

  “Hey Bones, you nearly done?”

  He lifted one hand at the Marine waiting his turn for the sat phone. “I need to let you go, Haley. Are you gonna be okay?”

  “I know. I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

  He smiled, knowing good and damn well she was fighting back tears for him. “That’s my girl. It’s only five more months until I’m out for good. And what’s five months, babe?”

  “Compared to forever? Not a damn thing. I’ll talk to you later, babe.”

  He laughed and stood, saying the two words that would end the conversation. “Roger that.”

  Five days later, he led his team back to base from his very last deployment mission with the United States Marine Corps. He made the cross back into friendly lines grinning from ear to ear. As missions go, this one had been somewhat anticlimactic. Three longs days of surveillance and waiting hadn’t produced a damn thing. The Taliban group they’d hoped to intercept at a village two kilometers east of them never made an appearance.

  “Thanks man.” Ben accepted the fresh bottle of water thrown at him. He made his way to his corner and dropped his gear before cracking open the H2O to down it. He sat for ten minutes straight, contemplating the road ahead of him.

  “Hey Bones.”

  He turned to his TL. The man looked unusually chipper for some damn reason.

  “We got our transport out of here scheduled for Tuesday morning. Are you sure you don’t want to re-enlist, Corporal Bonin? We could use more career men with your abilities.”

  Ben shook his head. “I’ve got other plans, some that include hot and cold running water, all damn day long.”

  His Sergeant grinned at him. “What? All of a sudden, you’re too good for baby wipes like the rest of us?”

  “You got that right. Five months or so from now I’ll be back in the land of chicken and sausage gumbo, crawfish etouffee, ice cold beer, and holding the prettiest girl around.”

  “Hell, I might have to take a road trip down to your part of the country.”

  Ben held up one finger to make a point. “But first, she’s coming to spend a week with me in Kaneohe Bay.”

  The sergeant issued a low whistle. “All that celebrating, Hawaiian style. Good for you, man.”

  Ben grinned at his Marine brother in arms. “It’s got to be good for both of us, or it won’t count for shit.”

  A low snort accompanied the other man’s reply. “You got that right.”

  As his TL turned to leave, Ben called out to him. “Hey, is the phone here?” A big thumbs up from Sarge had him jumping up. Haley deserved to know he’d made it back from the last mission safely. A quick “Hey, babe, I’m okay,” and if God was willing, the next time they spoke he’d be looking right into that beautiful face of hers via Skype session. The thought added a little extra zip in his step as he went off to wait his turn for the phone.

  Sniper platoon arrived at Forward Operation Base Delhi in high spirits, ready for a little down time. First stop was the equipment clean-up and checkin at the armory. He walked out of there with the usual—his M-4 rifle, M-9 pistol, and night vision goggles, along with his considerably lighter backpack. All thoughts of hitting the showers vanished as the aromas coming from the mess tent had his stomach growling in anticipation of real food.

  Badge fell into step beside him. “That doesn’t smell like MRE’s to me, Bones.”

  MRE’s, another part of military life he wouldn’t miss. Although Delhi offered a better selection than he’d had at the patrol base, still nothing to bust a wad over.

  “It smells like Italian, Badge.” He nudged his buddy with his elbow. “Maybe they’re treating us today.”

  Night meals were usually the fully cooked meals flown in and reheated by the cooks, far superior to the standard MRE. As luck would have it, today’s lunch offering was spaghetti with real meat sauce. He was hungry enough for a decent meal not to wonder about what kind of meat was used in the sauce. He and Badge got in line, and by the time they found a spot to sit and eat, Ben had already shoveled two rolls into his mouth. He wolfed down a massive amount of spaghetti, along with some kind of fruit cobbler. It disappeared from his plate before he’d taken the time to think about what kind of fruit it contained.

  “Oh man, that shit was good. What kind of cobbler was that?”

  Ben sat back, patting his full belly, his appetite sated for now. “I have no idea. By the time I realized how good it tasted, it was gone.” He looked at Badge and grinned. “I’m foreseeing some midnight food raids in the future.”

  The two of them made their way back to the tent. Ben dropped his gear on his bunk and sat on the wooden box used as a seat. Inspecting his bag of dirty laundry, he put aside a relatively clean set of workout clothes and gathered the remaining pile of stink into one sack. He stood up and lifted his bag to his shoulder and addressed his buddy. “Man, I’m gonna hit the showers. I can’t stand myself anymore. I’m dropping my laundry off first. You want me to bring yours?”

  “Nah, I’ll bring mine over in a while. Hope there’s warm water for you.”

  “It’d be nice, but at this rate I don’t really give a shit.”

  He detoured to the full service laundry area, a rarity in the Afghan desert.

  The man in charge took the bag from him and grinned. “You want extra starch in those boxers today?”

  Ben shook his head, giving him the standard answer. “The usual amount will do.”

  Still clutching his semi-clean sweats, he hit the showers with a vengeance. It wasn’t easy ridding himself of the two week build-up of sandy grit and grime, but he did his damnedest. It suddenly hit him that from now until he left the Corps, he’d be able to shower almost any damn time he wanted to.

  Step one of post deployment life. Oohrah.

  He emerged from his shower, a real shower, red-skinned from scrubbing. A full belly and being half-ass clean, two things he could definitely get used to.

  On the walk back to his tent he approached the MWR center. The only people he wanted to communicate with were all sleeping soundly at the moment. But he did step inside and connect to a computer long enough to shoot Haley a quick message on Facebook, telling her he’d Skype around 4:30 p.m. her time. He knew from experience this place would be packed from about 6:00 until 10:00 p.m. He still preferred waking up around 2 a.m. to make his calls in relative peace, with nobody waiting on him to finish. Once he’d messaged her, the search for something to do in his down time became all important.

  As luck would have it, there was a game of poker brewing in his platoon’s tent by the time he walked inside, just the distraction he needed to make the time pass a little faster.

  Ben wiped the sleep from his eyes and slipped into his shoes to make the trek to the M-dub shack. Today’s temps had hovered around the mid-seventies, and it wasn’t much cooler than that now. At least that’s what the thermometer hanging outside the tent indicated. Two more weeks, give or take a few days, and he’d be back in Kaneohe Bay with sand and surf to keep him company. Even better, he’d have Haley there with him. May 5th couldn’t get here fast enough.

  He entered the shack, pleased to be alone, and took a seat to fire up a Skype session, first with his mom. Within seconds, he’d connected and his mother sat there, her face lit up at the sight of h
im.

  “Benjamin … How’s my baby boy?”

  He frowned then chuckled. “Mom, really?”

  She flapped her hand at him and made a face. “You will always be my baby boy. If I can put up with worrying about you over there, you can put up with a little embarrassment from your mother.”

  He nodded and smiled at the woman who’d supported him throughout this journey of his. “How’s everything going over there? Those kids driving you crazy yet?”

  “Oh, you know, everyone’s got the end of the year itch. The weather’s nice and warm, and those kids are tired of being cooped in a classroom.”

  Ben cracked a grin at his mom. “I bet the teacher does too. Admit it, mom. Toledo Bend is calling your name.”

  She leaned forward and grinned. “You know your mother too well, Benjamin. Hell yeah, I’m ready for long, glorious days of fishing at the Bend. Mrs. Chapman is suffering from severe end-of-school-year burn out.” She waved it off. “Enough about me. How are you? You’re obviously back at Delhi or we wouldn’t be Skyping. How long before your next mission?”

  He leaned toward the monitor, knowing he was about to make her day. “No more missions, Mom. I’m done. My company will be here at Delhi for a couple of more weeks to show the incoming company the ropes. Then we’ll drive to Dwyer and be there until they can fly us out.”

  Monica Chapman covered her face with both hands for a moment, and then wiped a tear from her eye. “I suspected you were done, Ben. I didn’t want to jinx it by saying it out loud.” She blinked several times and took a deep breath. “So, this is step one of the journey home. How does it feel?”

  “It feels freaking awesome.”

  After several minutes of playing catch up on family members back home, Monica relayed a message from his Dad and Step-mom. “Oh, I spoke to Paul and Paula the other day. She said to tell you that she’s perfected her Bloody Mary recipe for you.”

  “That sounds good. Tell her I said thanks, and I can’t wait to give it my seal of approval.” He grinned to himself, always thankful that his divorced parents were on such friendly terms with each other, as well as his two step-parents.

  “How’s Haley doing, Benjamin? Does she know you’re finished with the missions?”

  “As far as I know she’s fine, and she will soon. I called you first.”

  “Oh, I know what that means. I’ll talk to you later, okay son? I love you, and eat something. You’re too thin.”

  “I will now that I have something other than MRE’s. Love you too, Mom. Talk to you later.”

  He ended the session and checked his watch, knowing Haley would anxiously be awaiting his call. He clicked her name on the contact list. In seconds her beautiful face appeared, beaming, her eyes bright with anticipation. “Hey, beautiful.” He braced himself, eagerly anticipating the sound of her voice.

  “Hey, baby.” She took a deep breath before asking. “Are you done with being shot at for a while, Marine?”

  He grinned at her. “As far as I know, I am.”

  She let out a whoop of excitement and raised both arms in the air. “Yes!”

  He couldn’t stop grinning at her reaction. “Did I make your day, babe?”

  She nodded, covered her mouth with her hands, as her emotions got the best of her. She lowered them, revealing a broad smile as she blinked back tears. “Thank God.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Making Memories of Us

  Twenty-one Skype sessions and several phone calls later found a much beefier Corporal Ben Bonin boarding a large aircraft that would carry the Weapons Company of the 3/3 on the last leg of the Afghanistan journey. They’d arrived at Camp Dwyer two days earlier, and were flying to Manas air base on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

  As promised to himself, his girl, and his mom, Ben had packed on fifteen pounds of muscle by eating massive amounts of protein no less than five times a day, and lifting weights religiously while at FOB Delhi. Back in shape, and anxious to start his trip back to the states, the last three weeks had dragged by like the dog days of summer in south Louisiana.

  Bad luck being what it was, the fourteen days at Delhi had stretched into eighteen, and the one day holdover at Dwyer had taken three, so far. As a result, here it was, the 2nd of May, and Haley was due to arrive in Kaneohe Bay on May 5th. He should have been the one to greet her at the airport upon her arrival. But, at the rate things were going, she’d be waiting for him. Even though his sniper training had taught him patience, it irked the hell out of him to have his plans thrown off kilter enough to inconvenience Haley. She was flying in alone and staying with the family of one of his Marine brothers, who’d rented a home on the beach. He knew she wouldn’t be alone, but any time spent without her in his arms was a reason to be disappointed.

  The plan was to fly from Dwyer to Manas air base, then American Samoa, and on to Hawaii. In hindsight, that had sounded simple enough. More than three and a half years as a Marine, however, had proven that the Corps had its own definition of simple, and it was anything but.

  A sixty-hour combination of waiting, processing, plane changes, refueling, airplane maintenance, crew changes, and delayed flights finally paid off. Weapons Company had finally arrived in Kaneohe Bay.

  Ben stared out the window of the plane as it finally taxied to a stop at the hangar. Antsy as hell to get a glimpse of Haley, he searched for a sign of her through the tiny window at the back of the plane. He couldn’t help himself, even knowing it was foolish to do so at this point.

  The plane emptied from the front, with the highest ranking officers exiting first to greet their families inside the huge building wrapped in sheet metal. As anxious as he was, the twenty minutes it took to make his way to the front made him want to scream. Finally, he stepped through the plane’s opening into the warm Hawaiian sunshine. He made his way slowly across the tarmac, one Marine in a crowd of many, and barely kept from shoving people out of his way. He saw dozens of Marine brothers and sisters, all anxiously waiting for their own family reunions. He faced the front, looking out over the sea of cammie uniforms and concentrated his efforts on the barely visible crowd of civilians.

  He saw the sign first … GIRLFRIEND of CPL BEN BONIN … written in thick, black lettering on a bright yellow poster board. He kept his eye trained on it, waited until slim fingers raised it enough to clear the crown of light auburn hair. If a four star general had ordered him not to call out her name, he doubted he’d have been able to stop himself from doing that very thing.

  “Haley!”

  The sign lowered the same moment a big guy stepped aside and he finally caught his first glimpse of her face. There she was. His girl, looking every bit as beautiful as the day he’d left her. She caught her first sight of him and screamed his name. He tried to make his way to her through the crowd, but in the end it was all her. His Haley shoved, pushed, and scooted her way through the sea of people until a path opened, allowing her to launch herself into his open arms.

  The airfield’s hangar had steadily filled all morning long with family members waiting for their loved ones. Weapons Company was flying in together on a plane the military had chartered for this occasion. Chattering among the family members rose to a fevered pitch as someone announced the plane had landed on the strip. Several minutes later it finally taxied to a stop beyond their line of sight. She knew the highest ranking officials unloaded first and tried not to be annoyed when they appeared to take their sweet time greeting their own families. Move along, dammit.

  A full ten minutes later, the officers began to veer off, finally making room for the other types of Marines, the NCO’s like hers. They approached the entrance as one conglomeration of digital Marpat cammies, high and tight haircuts, and close shaves. A huge group of backpack-wearing, rifle-toting, pistol-packing Marines, all sporting lei’s of some type of shells painted in patriotic red, white, and blue.

  “Oh my,” she breathed, at the awe inspiring impressiveness of the group of men and women, alike. All had sacrificed
so many of their own freedoms to serve their country in one way or another. Haley prayed every single one of them had someone waiting who appreciated their contributions as much as she and Ben’s family did. She thought of her own parents, who’d put her on a plane, alone, for her very first flight. Both her mom and dad had cried, terrified of sending their only daughter on a four thousand mile flight, most of which was over open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Yes, they’d sacrificed too.

  For the next ten minutes she stood on her tip toes, her neck craned, straining for a glimpse of him. She stepped forward, holding up the sign as high as she could in hopes that Ben would see it and come to her. After what seemed like an eternity she finally heard what she’d been waiting for.

  “Haley!”

  She turned her head to the sound of the voice, and caught her first sight of the man she’d boarded three separate planes to see.

  “Ben!” The sign fell from her fingertips as she pushed her way through the sea of Marines toward him. Finally, the crowd parted. He extended his gun free arm and she turned into a human projectile, launching herself at him, too choked up with emotion to utter more than a single cry.

  “Ben …”

  No words, nothing could have described that first feeling of being wrapped in her Marine’s embrace, pulled so tightly to him her toes skimmed the cement. All background noise faded, dimmed in comparison to his presence. She tried to pull back to kiss him but he held tight, as though afraid to let her go, his face buried in her hair. The thought that this man, after all he’d been through, couldn’t hold her tight enough thrilled her to her core. Finally he relented, pulled back and kissed her. The Ben that had no compunction kissing her in front of his family, obviously as comfortable doing so in a large crowd of fellow Marines. That first kiss lasted long enough for her sense of surroundings to return to normal.

  He pulled back, touching his head to hers. “We did it, Haley.”

  Haley couldn’t stop smiling. “We did.”

  The depth of sincerity in his eyes grew more intense as he spoke the words that took her breath away. “I missed you, baby. Do you know how crazy I am about you?”