I couldn’t wait to see Miranda again, and learn if the way I felt when I met her before remained.
Maybe this time, I could coax her into having dinner with me or a drink.
I aimed to find out.
Despite being exhausted from a bad night of sleep, I knew my stuff and felt comfortable talking to them about Brimstone. Former SOF, they appreciated the work Brimstone did and were interested in helping with funding. I hoped it would mean I could continue on and not declare bankruptcy and so I left the meeting feeling better than I had for several weeks.
One of the investors, Dane O’Hara, was interested in helping out with some advising work. He was the kind of man I was looking for to step in for Graham – dual degree in Political Science and law and topped off by an MBA, Dane was smart, capable and was independently wealthy from an inheritance. He thought it would be great fun to get in on the ground floor with Brimstone during its resurrection.
As I left the boardroom, we shook hands and agreed that he’d meet me in Manhattan and sit down for a longer conversation about what role he could play in the business. He was sick of the Wall Street crowd, and wanted to get back involved in the military in a more operational fashion. Advising businesses about locating factories in war-torn areas of the world would allow him to get his very clean banker’s hands dirty again.
If things worked out with Dane, that would be well worth the trip right there, let alone anything else we accomplished this weekend.
I went back to Topsail Beach with a promise to meet up with the guys on Saturday night at one of the local hangouts. We’d share a few drinks and rehash old times over in Afghanistan.
Friday morning, I got up early to go to the fitness club and so I dressed and had breakfast, intending to go there for an early workout before returning to the hotel to plan my day. I would meet my staff as they arrived one by one, and make sure they were set up for the day in the hotel. We had a meeting scheduled after lunch, and people were arriving and staying in the hospitality suite I had booked until their rooms were ready. We’d meet in the boardroom at 1:00 and spend the afternoon reviewing numbers for the first two quarters of the year.
The next day would be in brainstorming how to replace the business Graham brought in, transitioning out of the war tourism business into more threat assessment.
So, after a quick shower and after a light breakfast, I drove my bike down the strip to the
fitness club and showed my pass to the attendant at the front desk. He remembered me and gave me a lock so I could use a day locker in the locker room. I went out to the main fitness rooms and popped in to see Fillmore.
After a round of hellos, I got down to business.
“We got a lot of students?” I asked and he handed me the clipboard with a print out of a list of students for the class. Twenty-three, including – of all people – Mira Parker.
I had to check twice, because it was too hard to believe, but I remembered her saying something about getting back into shape. Her being in the class was a fortuitous coincidence – one that I intended to fully exploit.
“Don’t be late, Tate,” he said in that raspy voice I remembered from boot camp.
“I won’t, Master Sergeant.”
Then, I walked down a hallway and saw a larger gym, so I peered inside. There, I saw Mira and the cocktail waitress who worked with her the night I met her at the restaurant. They were standing at a small climbing wall and Mira was already in her climbing harness, a helmet on her head and climbing shoes on. She looked really cute in her little t-shirt and sweat pants, but her expression suggested she wasn’t quite sure about climbing.
I stood back for a moment, trying to decide whether I should just turn around and leave, drop off her letters at Lewis’s parent’s house. It would be the more honorable thing to do, rather than keep pursuing her in hopes that something more would result.
But she was just so damn cute…
In for a penny, in for a pound, my grandma used to say.
I was in way over my head and even though I knew it, I dove back in anyway.
CHAPTER SIX
Miranda
“You know you want to do it,” Leah said.
We stood at the bottom of the climbing wall and looked up. Leah had a doubtful expression on her face.
“I want to,” I said, “but I also value my life.”
We both laughed. I looked up the wall to the ceiling and reconsidered my plan to live life more fully. I’d always been the safe one – the responsible one. The one who did my chores, who came home on time, who did my homework, who sent thank you cards on my birthday.
I always asked for permission instead of forgiveness.
Dan made me brave. I did things with him that I would never have done on my own, but now that he was gone, I had to find the courage in myself. My old life was over. Living safely hadn’t turned out well for me, so from that day onward, I was going to live on the edge. Like Dan did.