A Hero to Come Home To Read Free Page B

gave her smile a decided feline look. “Hey, guys, we turn our back on her for one minute, and Carly’s off making new friends.” She heaved herself into the cave and, though there was plenty of room, nudged Carly toward the man before dropping to the stone beside her. She leaned past, offering her hand. “Hi, I’m Jessy. Who are you?”
    Carly hadn’t thought of offering her hand or even asking his name, but direct was Jessy’s style, and it usually brought results. This time was no different, though he hesitated before extending his hand. “I’m Dane.”
    “Dane,” Therese echoed as she climbed up. “Nice name. I’m Therese. And what are you doing up here in Wagon Wheel Cave?”
    “Wishing he’d escaped before we got here,” Carly murmured, and she wasn’t sure but thought she heard an agreeing grunt from him.
    The others crowded in, offering their names—Fia, Lucy, and Marti—and he acknowledged each of them with a nod. Somewhere along the way, he’d slipped off the ball cap and pushed it out of sight, as though he didn’t want to advertise the fact that he’d been Airborne. As if they wouldn’t recognize a high-and-tight haircut, but then, he didn’t know he’d been cornered by a squad of Army wives.
    Widows , Carly corrected herself. They might consider the loose-knit group of fifteen to twenty women back in Tallgrass just friends. They might jokingly refer to themselves as the Tuesday Night Margarita Club, but everyone around Tallgrass knew who they really were, even if people rarely said the words to them.
    The Fort Murphy Widows’ Club.
    Marti, closest to the entrance, leaned over the edge far enough to make Carly’s heart catch in her chest. “Hey, Ilena, say hi to Dane!”
    “Hello, Dane!” came a distant shout.
    “We left her down below. She’s preggers.” At Dane’s somewhat puzzled gesture, Marti yelled out again, “Dane says hi!”
    “Bet you’ve never been alone in a small cave with six women,” someone commented.
    “Hope you’re not claustrophobic,” someone else added.
    He did look a bit green, Carly thought, but not from claustrophobia. He’d found the isolation he was seeking, only to have a horde of chatty females descend on him. But who went looking for isolation in a public park on a beautiful warm Saturday?
    Probably lots of people, she admitted, given how many millions of acres of public wilderness there were. But Turner Falls wasn’t isolated wilderness. Anyone could drive in. And the cave certainly wasn’t isolated. Even she could reach it.
    Deep inside, elation surged, a quiet celebration. Who knew? Maybe this fall she would strap into the bungee ride at the Tulsa State Fair and let it launch her into the stratosphere. But first she had to get down from here.
    Her stomach shuddered at the thought.
    After a few minutes’ conversation and picture taking, her friends began leaving again in the order in which they’d come. With each departure, Carly put a few inches’ space between her and Dane until finally it was her turn. She took a deep breath…and stayed exactly where she was. She could see the ground from here if she leaned forward except no way was she leaning forward with her eyes open. With her luck, she’d get dizzy and pitch out headfirst.
    “It’s not so bad if you back out.” Despite his brief conversation with the others, Dane’s voice still sounded rusty. “Keep your attention on your hands and feet, and don’t forget to breathe.”
    “Easy for you to say.” Her own voice sounded reedy, unsteady. “You used to jump out of airplanes for a living.”
    “Yeah, well, it’s not the jumping that’s hard. It’s the landing that can get you in a world of trouble.”
    On hands and knees, she flashed him a smile as she scooted in reverse until there was nothing but air beneath her feet. Ready to lunge back inside any instant, she felt for the ledge with her toes and found it, solid and wide and really not very different from a sidewalk,