I scrunched my nose, already embarrassed for saying anything. “I don’t recall saying anything about a date.”
At that moment, Private Lizzie Copeland—a twenty-six-year-old wife and mother of two from Wisconsin—took a seat across from us with a tray containing a hamburger and a slice of the same dry cake I was losing interest in by the second.
“Who’s going on a date?” she asked, her eyes volleying between Sid and me.
“Serg is gonna ask Laura on a date,” Sid filled her in, and she turned to me, wide-eyed and excited.
“Well, will you look at ol’ Sergeant Tin Man?” she gushed, laying a hand over her chest.
I rolled my eyes at the nickname. It was dumb and unfounded and had only come about after my squad learned I had been casually seeing the same woman since I was eighteen without any clear desire for commitment—thanks to Sid and his big, dumb, unfiltered mouth.
“I never saiddate,” I clarified once again, growing more irritated by the second. “I said maybe I’d take her out somewhere.”
“Well, are we talking dinner or, like, the supermarket?” Lizzie asked, lifting her burger in both hands and bringing it to her mouth.
I shrugged. “I dunno. I haven’t thought about it.”
Lizzie looked at Sid, and both of them burst into snorts of laughter, their mouths full of food.
“Oh, wow,” Lizzie said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her eyes danced with mischief. “How romantic. She’s gonna love that.”
“Nothin’ says love like the dairy aisle,” Sid agreed sardonically. “Milk and butter with a side of hot, sweetlove.”
“You’re both assholes,” I muttered. “I’m gonna make both of your lives hell later.”
“What, you gonna make me drop and give you twenty?” Sid asked, slinging his arm around my shoulders and giving me a little shake. “Baby, I’ll give youfiftyif you tell me you’re gonna take that little lady on an actual, honest-to-God date.”
I looked around at the other areas of the mess hall. The different tables, separated mostly by platoons. Higher ranks didn’t typically fraternize with the lower ranks, and the lowers were usually unlikely to fuck around with the highers, the way Lizzie and Sid were fucking around with me right now. But I didn’t like that—not that I cared to be fucked around with in this way, especially when it came to personal matters. But I didn’t want to act like I was better than anyone—even if I was. We were a team, a squad, a platoon. And I didn’t want my title to give me a reason to sit atop some sort of pedestal and look down on those I worked with, the people I relied on to function as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.
Mostly, I didn’t want to be my father.
A groan tore through my throat as my lips tipped in a reluctant smile. “I’m not—"
“Sergeant Tailor.”
I turned to see an older, uniformed man I barely recognized. Judging from the insignia on his shoulder, he was a sergeant major, making him my superior.
Immediately, I stood and saluted with my right hand. “Sir.”
He nodded his acceptance of the gesture, and I lowered my arm.
“I’m Sergeant Major Lang. I come as a courtesy to inform you that Corporal Dumass was mortally wounded in the battlefield this morning and has since succumbed to his injuries.”
A heavy, sinking weight settled in the pit of my chest and dropped to my stomach. I heard Sid deflate with a forlorn sigh and, from the corner of my eye, watched as he hung his head.
I did the same.
Greg and I had been like ships in the night since those days in basic training. We’d spent years stationed at different bases around the country, until, finally, our paths crossed again when we were both brought to the same base in Afghanistan. He was assigned to another platoon, one I had few dealings with, but we passed each other occasionally, exchanging a few words in the mess hall or on the field. We were never again as close as we had been back in the beginning, but I had always considered him a friend.
I would miss him, but not nearly as much as his wife, Christy.
God, I couldn’t imagine…
“The end of his tour of duty was scheduled for next week,” Sergeant Major Lang went on.
I nodded, training my face to remain as still as stone despite the sorrow clinging to my heart. “He told me.”
From his pocket, the sergeant major removed something in his fist, and when he unfolded his hand, I saw the glistening of a chain and a dog tag.
