Leo returns home as a veteran with serious baggage, but the woman he left behind, Jessica, is battling demons of her own. Together, maybe they can beat them.
*****
Leo Villeneuve...
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I'd never seen anyplace so brown.
The tents. The uniforms. The vehicles. Everything was covered in a fine, tan dust.
On most days, even the sky took on a haze from the microscopic particles, leaving the heavens above a swirly, near-colorless blue. The guys at Camp Leatherneck called the sandy substance moon dust, and I thought that was appropriate.
Because Afghanistan was as far from my lush, native New Orleans as the moon.
I hated moon dust.
Muscles aching from a beast of a workout at the on-base gym, I stood outside my tent and stretched. The early evening sun was still hot, and I was sweating like a whore in church.
The IDF alarm went off, but after two weeks on base as a private first-class rifleman, I no longer flinched inside when the loud wail echoed through camp.
Surely this was another raid siren test, so I waited for the surreal, computerized voice to come over the camp loudspeaker and tell everyone it was just that—a test.
The pitch of the alarm rose and fell, rose and fell. The sound pierced my ears and left me dizzy, made me feel disembodied. Then the robotic, recorded female voice giving the all clear bounced off the dusty earth, sounding almost warped with her formal, stiff English accent.
"This is a test of the all-clear alarm... This is a test of the all-clear alarm..."
"Yo, V!"
I looked up to see my buddy Steve from North Carolina. As usual, Steve was grinning. Guy couldn't stop, even in a damn war zone.
"What up, bro?" I grabbed the towel hooked into my waistband and wiped my face. Damn, it was hotter than anything I'd ever felt in the swamps of Louisiana.
"She's kinda got a sexy voice, that computerized British chick. Or do you Cajuns not understand what she's sayin'? 'Who dat' and all?"
I chuckled. "Bro, you know I like a sweet southern accent on my girls."
Well, one girl in particular.
I kicked a rock on the ground, thinking about the girl I'd left behind. I should've gone to college near Jessica in Florida, not joined the Marines like all the other men in my family. God, I missed her so much. Now, she was probably pissed at me, after I'd followed Dad's order to stay away.
That pregnancy scare had just about caused World War III the way my dad and her mom carried on.
Well, I might have lost Jess for now, but dammit, I was going to try to win her back once I got out of this hellhole.
If I got out of this hellhole.
Kicking the rock had caused a cloud of dust to swirl up from the toe of my boot, and I stared, captivated. My stomach churned, and my brain felt as hazy as the sky.
