12 Seconds (#1 in Military series)

Chapter 31

Julia looked at their joined hands, narrowing her eyes when his words struck a chord in her, “How would you know?”

“Huh?” Ray had used all of his wisdom on the last sentence until he couldn’t speak coherently anymore.

“How would you know that if I hadn’t moved you, you be dead now? You’re blind, you couldn’t see what was happening.” It wasn’t meant to be an insult, Ray knew that.

“I heard the RPG, I felt the earth shaking and,” Ray looked away, “Carlos told me.”

“Ha!” Julia let her head fall back, “Carlos, huh?” She looked back at Ray, “When did he get in here, we’d just arrived?”

Ray shrugged the way someone guilty would, “There’s this nurse here and-”

“-Oh, I see how it is,” Julia laughed, “You’re incorrigible.”

“Hey,” Ray leaned back and raised his arms out to the side, “What are you gonna do when you’re bed bound for days?”

Julia tipped her head, the laughter dying on her lips, as she remembered what was happening tomorrow.

Jules swallowed and licked her lips, “Ray,”

Ray dropped his arms and looked pensive, “Julia?”

“We’re being sent home tomorrow,” Julia murmured, unsure of how to feel about that.

“That’s good,” Ray nodded but he knew then, the same as she did, that this was the end. They would probably never see each other again.

“Yeah,” Julia looked down at her fingers, her voice barely audible as she tried to fake her happiness, “Yeah, it is.”

After a few moments of silence passed, each of them remembering the time they had spent together, Ray bolted upright in a flurry of movement that shocked Julia.

Jules stared at him, still sat on the bed, but with his back as straight as a rod, his eyes sparkled in such a way as if to suggest an idea had occurred deep inside them.

“Have you got a pen and paper?” Ray burst out.

“Um . . .” Julia patted her pockets and found a half-empty blue pen in her breast pocket but no paper.

Looking around her, the tent was filled with cots, sheets and medical equipment but was very bare of paper.

It seemed paper was a hot commodity in the desert.

“Hold on,” Jules looked at the front of the tent and saw that it was clear.

Getting to her feet, Julia pulled Ray’s chart out of its holder, found a piece of paper that didn’t look too important and ripped a strip a few inches wide off the bottom.

“What do you want these for?” Julia asked, keeping hold of them since she assumed she would be doing the writing.

“Write this down,” Ray spoke clearly and continued to say his address and phone number.

Julia had to get him to repeat it twice before she got it all down accurately but she soon had it.

“When I’m back in England come and see me,” Ray told her, “We can talk about old times.”

Julia folded the paper delicately, treating it like a priceless artefact, and securing it in her breast pocket for safe keeping.

“I’ll do that,” Julia promised, a smile coming to her lips.

“Make sure you do,” Ray levelled her with a look, “Or I’ll come looking for you.”

Julia didn’t doubt it.