Logan
There are a thousand things I wish I could forget. The screams of a man when he gets shot. The smell of burning flesh. The feeling you get when you know you’re in the enemy’s sights, but you can’t do a thing about it but pray you and your team survive it. But probably the biggest thing is when my friend, my best friend, Noah sacrificed his life to save me. I watched it all happen as if in slow motion. He pushed me out of harm’s way and took the brunt of the bomb that went off. Seeing him sacrifice it all is something that plays over and over in my head, and I wish I could forget it.
It, of course. Not him. I don’t ever want to forget him.
He was the best friend a person could have. Noah had my back always and no matter what. He proved that up to the very end. And he told me exactly what I needed to hear, even if I didn’t want to listen.
Man, I wish he was here right now so I could tell him he was right about Harper.
Harper is my fiancée. We’ve been engaged for six months, and the whole time, Logan warned me that she was a tag chaser and wasn’t really interested in me. Well, the last month I’ve been in the hospital proves that.
It’s getting old, looking at the same white ceiling for a month now, but that’s all I can do. I knew the moment they put me on a stretcher that my life would never be the same, and already my theory is proving right. I’ve never been one for lying in bed, but that’s all I seem to be doing.Damn, I can’t wait to get out of this hospital.
I’ve tried not to think about Harper. She knows I’m here, and I’m only one hour away from home, so there’s not really any excuse that she can give for not coming to see me. And then I got the text this morning that she was on her way. Since I read it, I’ve thought of everything I need to say. Being alone is scary, especially this time when death was literally at my door, but I know I need to end it with her. Heck, she’s probably coming to end it with me.
There’s a knock on the door, and I sit up in the bed and try to keep the discomfort off my face. I refuse to complain. I suffered a bad concussion and a severed artery in my arm. By all rights, I should be dead, and if the field doctor hadn’t been ten feet from me when it all happened, I would be six feet under right now. But none of that matters now. I can live with a mangled arm and a headache that won’t seem to go away.
Expecting to see Harper, I let out a sigh when I see my old high school friend, Tommy. He’s come in every day to check on me, and I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have no family and no fiancée that shows up. I never knew my mother and father, and I was raised in foster care. Harper was finally going to be the family I’d always wanted.
As soon as Tommy walks in the door, I smile begrudgingly at him. “I told you that you don’t have to keep coming in. I’m fine.”
I grew up with Tommy. He always dreamed of joining the military, but because of a heart defect, he wasn’t able to. It didn’t stop him from serving in his own way, though. He now works in the veterans’ hospital in the counseling department.
He struts in the door, unfazed by my unwelcome attitude. “Really? I literally work in the next building. I needed to get my steps in anyway.”
I resist rolling my eyes at him. “Right... so how’s it going?”
He sits in the chair next to me. “I think I should be asking you that. You get to go home today, right?”
I shrug. “That’s the word on the street, but I’m not going to believe it until I see it.”
Tommy is watching me closely, and I know what his next question is going to be, so I figure I might as well just get it out in the open. “Harper’s coming.” I drop the bombshell and then shrug like it’s not a big deal. “I mean, she texted and said she was.”
He tilts his head to the side and doesn’t even blink as if he’s trying to read my thoughts. “How do you feel about that?”
I laugh because I know exactly what he’s doing. “Quit trying to psychoanalyze me.”
He just continues to stare at me, and I shake my head. “I don’t feel good about it. I mean, I’ll be honest with you. If she had shown up the day I got flown into the States and was waiting for me, yeah, I’d be a little happier now, but...” My voice trails off, and I think about the last month and everything I’ve experienced.
Tommy leans forward. “But it’s been a month, and this is her first time coming to see you.”
I blow out a breath. “Yeah, that about covers it.”
I barely get the words out and there’s a knock on the door before it opens. “Hello,” Harper says as she pushes her way into the room.
Tommy and I both turn to look at her. Before now, I wouldn’t have wanted to take my eyes off her because of how beautiful she is. But looking at her today, she seems to have lost some of her shine. We stare at each other, and Tommy stands up. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later, man. Let me know if you need anything.”
Without taking my eyes off Harper’s, I tell him, “Thanks, Tommy.”
He walks out of the room without even a glance at Harper, and I almost smirk. It’s probably a good thing he doesn’t start talking to her because I know Tommy, and he’d say something to her for deserting me the last month.
When the door shuts behind him, I motion to Harper and point at the chair. “Have a seat.”
She walks toward me quietly. “Uh, you look good. I thought you were, uh, you know...”
Her voice trails off, but I’m not letting her off the hook. “You thought I was what?”
She looks at the machines I’m hooked up to and then back at me. “They said you’d survived a bombing.”