Page 102 of Just One Night Together
“I regret losing him.”
“It’s amazing we weren’t all lost. It was because of you.”
“No. I was the one who reminded him of R.O.E.”
“You were the one who kicked that sucker away. If Foster hadn’t jumped in the same direction because of that enemy fire, he would have been fine.”
Damon frowned. “I don’t remember the enemy fire.”
“Because you took a hit to your helmet. Don’t you remember, Damon? You went down, but you kicked the grenade as you fell. I grabbed you and jumped out of the way. Foster jumped in the other direction. It was just rotten luck that the grenade went the same way he did. It could have been either of us or all three of us.”
“But your hand. That was the grenade.”
“No, that was the enemy fire. Foster took all of the grenade.”
Damon rubbed his forehead, aware that his partners were watching him. “That’s not how I remember it.”
“I know. I see that now.” Nate gave him a look and then a tight hug. “You’ve been blaming yourself, haven’t you?”
“I thought it was my fault. I thought I let you down.”
“Not a chance, bro. You were the rock of the platoon. I can’t believe you didn’t know it.”
Damon shook his head, unable to accept that things had been so different from his recollection. “The therapist said I might be remembering it wrong. He said I should talk to you, but I couldn’t do it.”
“Dumb ass,” Nate said and slugged Damon in the shoulder. Then he looked guiltily at the priest who pretended not to have heard. “That’ll teach me to let you duck my calls.”
“Yea, it will. I’ve learned my lesson.” They grinned at each other. “I want you to meet my friends,” Damon said and turned to his partners. “This is Nate Buchanan. We served together.”
“Ooo-rah,” Kyle said and got a laugh from Damon and Nate.
Damon continued. “Nate, these are my partners at Flatiron Five Fitness...”
“That fitness club?” Nate asked, then turned on Damon. “Wait a minute? Was thatyouon that billboard? I thought it looked like you, but you were never that big when we served.”
“He’s been working at it,” Kyle said. He touched his own chest. “He had a really good coach.”
Damon snorted.
“Kyle’s absurdly modest, as you can see,” Cassie said to Nate.
Kyle offered his hand to Nate. “Kyle Stuyvesant. Good to meet you.”
“Wow,” Nate said after the introductions had been made. “You really have accomplished something. That place is hot.”
“Have you been to F5F?” Theo asked.
“Are you kidding me? I could never afford it.” Theo produced a day pass and handed it to Nate whose eyes lit up. “You’re kidding me.”
“No, come on down and try it out,” Ty said.
“Thank you!” Nate nudged Damon. “I’m thinking it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to come close to the number of push-ups you can do.”
“Maybe not now, but you can get the jump on some training,” Damon said. “I’m going up to Boston for a month next week.”
Understanding dawned in Nate’s eyes. “You’re on. We’ll square off when you get back.” They bumped fists, then Nate looked down at the card again. “I can’t wait to see this place inside. How long can I stay?”
“All day,” Kyle said. “We’re open six to midnight.”
