“You see him? Over there?”
I follow her gesture and scan the bar. There are an assortment of guys sitting there, most with their chins tilted up toward the TV and the assortment of sports that are being played right now. There are a couple of guys in shorts and flip-flops. A couple in T-shirts and camouflage pants.
“Do I see who? Where?”
She swallows, hard.
“Carson is here,” she whispers, leaning even closer.
Her eyes are wide with excitement, and I can practically see her pulse in her throat. Her cleavage heaves out of the low-cut V of her skintight dress.
“Carson? Are you serious? Which one is he?”
As soon as I say the words, I realize who he must be. At the far end of the bar, a man sits astride a barstool, backward so his legs jut out. He is half in shadow. Piercing gaze. A jaw so square you could slice paper against it. Shoulders the width of the door.
Special Forces. I’m almost sure of it. I’ve seen that look before.
“Oh… Wow!” Is all I can get out.
Mostly what I am thinking is, Carson is a real person?
“I know, right?” she answers excitedly.
“I didn’t even know he was around. Didn’t you just tell me he was out of town for a couple of weeks? So you didn’t have to shave your pubes into a heart or rhombus or whatever?”
“I know!” she squeaks, and it is clear she is barely listening to me. “I can’t believe it either! So…this is great, right?”
I smile supportively. “Yeah! Totally great! You must be so excited!”
Mona has been talking about Carson for as long as I have known her. In fact, she talked about him so much that at first I was convinced he didn’t exist. He sounds like a fantasy some adolescent girl makes up, not like a real person. Mysterious missions. A man of few words with a secret life. He can’t talk about his past or his future. The sort who arrives suddenly and sweeps her off her feet for a few breathless days, then disappears again with barely a word.
That’s not totally weird around here, with all of the military shenanigans going on. But until this moment, I was not 100 percent sure that he was anything more than a daydream.
“You didn’t know he was coming?”
She fans herself with her hand. Tiny tendrils of hair fluff out around her face, which is so red I can see it, even in the half-light.
“No! I’m totally shocked! Like… totally shocked!”
“That’s so great!” I say, because I am an awesome friend.
She gives me a scared, strained smile. “So, hey, can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure,” I shrug, handing off a couple of Bud Lights to a townie with a long ponytail.
That’s another two dollars for me in the apron. Ka-ching.
“Seriously? Oh, you are amazing.”
I shake my head. I do not understand.
She shrugs her shoulders almost to her ears. “See? The thing is? Carson wants to get out of here. Normally I would be stuck, you know? Like with nobody to cover my shift?”
“Okay?”
She claps her hands. “So you’ll do it! That is amazing!”
I raise my palms. Wait.