Read Online Disarm by June Gray - Free Book Online

asked.
    â€œAbsolutely miserable,” I said.
    â€œListen, I have to get going. Other guys have to call home,” he said. “I love you, Elsie. I miss you so much already.”
    â€œI love you too,” I responded, and much too quickly, the call ended. I hugged his pillow to my chest and for the first time in so many days, I finally breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Henry was okay.
    Three days down, a bajillion more to go.
----
    The first week of deployment was definitely the toughest. The imbalance to my routine was terrifying, and I often fumbled around like I’d forgotten a step. At night I sat in the apartment, feeling so lonely I thought I’d go out of my mind, and watching those sappy romcoms that Henry refused to sit through certainly didn’t help—in fact, it had the opposite effect.
    My body also physically ached from missing him, a feeling that was wholly new to me. After Jason died I missed him intensely but I never felt an ache in my bones, as if I were walking around with a missing limb, like I was currently experiencing with Henry.
    Then it started to get better. Thankfully.
    After that initial month, I finally started to sleep in my own bed again. Partly because I missed my pillowtop mattress, but also because I knew I couldn’t sleep in Henry’s bed forever. It was high time I put on my big-girl panties and sleep in my big-girl bed.
    Henry called as often as he could, which amounted to a five-minute call every four or five days, but he emailed almost every day. He mostly talked about the base and his job, but sometimes he’d write out long, graphic emails detailing what he wanted to do to me. Those emails would get me so aroused, I eventually had to go into the back of my closet and break out my stash of battery-operated buddies.
    The best part of Henry’s emails was always at the end, when he’d write that he loved and missed me, that he couldn’t wait to come home to me. I didn’t think I’d ever tire of seeing those words.
----
    In the third month, the emails stopped. So, too, did the phone calls. I called Beth in a mild state of panic, and she confirmed that she hadn’t heard from Sam either.
    â€œBut they’re probably just on a base comm lockdown or something,” she said. “They do that from time to time.”
    She promised she would call if she heard anything, so I sat on my hands, trying to remain cool. I waited with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, that little ball of dread growing with each passing moment.
    One night, while I was trying to distract myself with a
Firefly
marathon, my cell phone rang with a call from an unknown Oklahoma number. The caller turned out to be David Novak, Henry’s buddy from another squadron on Tinker.
    â€œHey, Elsie,” he said. “How are you doing?”
    â€œI’m okay. Trying to keep busy. You?”
    â€œDoing good. Just got back from a TDY in Vegas.”
    TDY stood for Temporary Duty, a trip that sometimes lasted a few days, sometimes weeks. “Sounds rough.”
    â€œOh, it was. All that sun, booze, gambling, women. I’m exhausted.” He laughed. “Anyway, Logan asked me to check up on you before he left. So this is me checking up on you.”
    My heart warmed at the thought. “That’s sweet. Thanks, I’m fine.” I bit my lip, wondering if I was crossing any boundaries, but ultimately decided the question needed to be asked. “Although, I did want to ask if you’d heard anything from Bagram.”
    Dave was quiet for a long time. Too long.
    My heart began to beat at double speed. “Is Henry okay?”
    He cleared his throat. “Well, it hasn’t been released to the media yet. So I can’t tell you.”
    â€œIt?”
    â€œThere was an incident.”
    The hair rose on my arms. “But is Henry . . . Is he okay?”
    Dave sighed. He was in the same squadron that my brother was in,