Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“You hungry?” I asked, stowing some of the harnesses that littered the ground nearby. “One of the fire crews gave me a couple of sub sandwiches.”

Lucky leaned back and stretched. “Yeah. That’d be good. Last thing we ate was that godawful empanada at the festival. Even my mother made better empanadas than that, and her family hadn’t seen a drop of Mexican soil in two generations by the time I came along.”

I reached into the cabin and grabbed the paper bag with the subs. “That’s where your family is from?”

Lucky shrugged. “My mom’s side anyway. My dad was a Jersey boy. From everything I heard, I’m pretty sure his people evolved directly from expressways and strip malls. What about you?”

He took the sandwich I offered and bit into it with a grateful groan.

“We’re originally from Wisconsin but we moved around a lot when we were kids. Our dad was an engineer and our mom was a professor. We grew up mostly in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, so we had a lot of exposure to the outdoors.”

I led us down toward the water so Lucky could see the turquoise water up close. The glacial silt that gave the water such an unusual color made it a rare sight.

“What made you want to become an Army Ranger?” Lucky asked when we found a place to sit at the water’s edge. I prepared to give him the standard answer about wanting to serve my country, but when my eyes met his, the words wouldn’t come. Even worse, the things I did want to say were exactly the ones I shouldn’t.

I’d already bared my soul to Lucky once when I’d told him about Mitch. It would be way too easy to give him even more of me… more that wasn’t exactly friend-appropriate information. Hell, even Tag didn’t know any of the shit I’d told Lucky about Mitch.

But when I opened my mouth to give Lucky the standard, safe answer, it wasn’t at all what came out.

Chapter 20

Lucky

I hadn’t been sure my questions had been appropriate friend-zone territory, especially after what he’d told me about his experience with boot camp and the asshole who’d taken advantage of him, but to my surprise, he didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Not sure if there was any one thing that did it for me. I remember talking to this old guy who used to live next door to us in Seattle when I was in my early teens. He served in Vietnam and would tell me all about the different battles he’d been in. The sacrifices he and his brothers-in-arms made for our country…” Zach shook his head briefly. “I just knew that was what I wanted… no, needed to do. It wasn’t that I was eager to go around shooting the enemy… it was knowing that I could protect people like my brother and my parents that made me want to serve. I’d never been a great student or athlete or anything like that and I had no hope of living up to Jake’s greatness, but I knew I could keep him and others safe from all the evil that’s aimed at us…”

Zach paused and glanced at me. He smiled slightly and said, “Sorry, that’s probably more than you wanted to know.”

I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to keep my jaw off the floor because I hadn’t been expecting such an in-depth response. Zach was, after all, the king of one-word answers. Or at least, I’d always thought he’d been.

“No, no,” I fumbled as I hurriedly swallowed the food in my mouth. “I think it’s amazing. And yeah, your brother is a great man, but why isn’t it okay for you to be too?”

Zach looked at me in confusion.

“You always talk about Jake like you need to live up to him or something. Like what you’ve done with your life is somehow less important than what he’s done. You’re just like him, Zach. You’re saving lives. You’re making sure families get to go home to each other every night even though you don’t get to go home to yours. Even now, you’re still doing it,” I explained. “I don’t know why you left the army, but you’re smart enough and determined enough to get any job you want. Or you could start your own business. Hell, you could probably just go find some quiet cabin in the woods and spend your days fishing. But despite the things that happened to you over there,”—I pointed toward the east as if that would be enough to indicate the area of the world Zach had spent most of his army days in—“you’re here, still saving people. How many lives did you save today? I know your brother, and I’ve listened to your parents tell enough stories about you to know that they’re proud of you, Zach. So fucking proud.”