CHAPTER1
GHOST
Ghazni, Afghanistan
“No,I appreciate that, Mom… but I really am doing well out here and enjoying this assignment. It’s different, you know?”
“Jax, you could see about getting assigned here. Isn’t there an airbase near home, so you could spend more time with your family?”
He sighed.
This argument he’d heard at least a hundred times from his mother since the very first moment he had arrived here in Ghazni. He understood. His mother wanted her baby boy to come home – but going home meant the same places, the same people, the sameeverything.
There was no excitement, no wonder, no mysteries for him… and no chance at finding someone to fall in love with.
“I’m sure there is, but I want to travel, experience everything, and find someone special for me. Maybe when I finally re-up my contract…” his voice trailed off to keep from saying his true thoughts aloud.
Plentywood, Montana wasn’t where he was going to find his dream girl. With a population of sixteen hundred people, close to the Canadian border, there just wasn’t many people in the area – and half of them he’d already tried talking to. It was hard to date someone that you’d known all your life. There was no mystery, no magic, no great reveals.
Nope.
They all went to the same high school, had the same teachers, passed the same grain elevator on the way into town. Everyone knew everybody, and if you were caught acting up – word usually made it home before you did. He loved his parents, his home, his world… but just couldn’t help but feel free for the first time ever when he left.
The Air Force Academy let him escape… and his mother would never understand that. He’d cried when he got his acceptance letter, because he felt like he’d been given his ticket to freedom. He didn’t want to be a teacher or a farmer. The land was flat. He hated the heavy snows and was so tired of it all…
“Hey Mom, my calling card is almost up. Can I call in a few weeks?”
“Of course, baby. You be safe, okay?”
“I will. I promise. Love you – and tell Dad I said ‘hello’…”
Jax hung up the phone and froze as he heard someone nearby singingHappy Birthdaysoftly into the phone – and crying. All of the pilots were close, some more than others, and while he didn’t want to intrude? He recognized the voice and the desolation in it.
Handsy.
Swallowing, he almost got up… and froze again.
His own eyes stung for the other pilot. He had no idea what the man had going on in his life, and it certainly explained the somber vibes he was picking up from the far side of the barracks. He just had thought maybe they were standoffish or in a clique… but no.
It was a deep depression bringing the man down, and he now understood why.
“Right? Needless to say, I was really upset – until we figured out how to do some tricks with it… then I liked it. There is a blue yo-yo that is supposed to be there tomorrow from Amazon. Can you put it with him the next time you go visit?” Handsy’s voice broke as he started crying again. “Tell him Daddy loves him and wishes he could have met him. I’m sorry – I wish I was there with you right now… and I’m so sorry that I’m not.”
Jax felt his heart stagger in his chest with the understanding that this man had lost a child, and it was his wife he was talking to.
They sounded like they were barely making it through this trauma – and a part of him wanted to cry for the duo. They’d found love and were fighting to hang on through all the heartbreak… and losing the fight.
So, what is wrong with me that I can’t find someone of my own?Jax thought wildly, feeling like some sort of freak. He wanted a family, someone to love too.
He didn’t think he was ugly, and fully believed in the idea was that there was someone out there for everyone – which included him… right? He had a good job, steady income, wouldn’t be a bother because he was far away… yet no one would even give him a chance.
“You can have the divorce papers waiting,” Handsy offered in a hushed voice, before saying his goodbyes to the woman he was talking to.
Jax looked up over the privacy divider at that moment and met the other man’s turbulent eyes. Handsy was emotional, crying, and Jax handed over a tissue silently in understanding.
“I’m sorry, brother,” Jax whispered quietly – wishing he knew more of what to say and not wanting to hide the fact that he was there. No, he wanted to support the man that was hurting, offering a hand or shoulder to cry on, if he needed it.
“Thank you,” Handsy replied quietly. “Are Caboose and Reaper in the barracks?”