A Chance of a Lifetime Read Online Free PDF

hungry.”
    “Hm. I’ve never had that problem in my life. But you have to eat something. If you don’t, the dietitians find out, and they come and rag on me, and then I have to pull rank on you.”
    “Which is hard since I outrank you.” Barely. She was a lieutenant, one paygrade below his own rank.
    She smiled as she straightened. “You’re on my turf now, Captain. Those bars don’t mean a thing here.”
     A few years ago he would have made some joking remark—would have checked to see if there was a wedding band on her left hand and then flirted with her whether there was or wasn’t. This morning, he couldn’t quite remember what that was like, joking and flirting with a pretty woman. There was a part of him, though, that damn wanted to.
    “I understand that home is somewhere near here.” She gestured toward the tray, and he automatically picked up the fork.
    “The northwest part of Tallgrass. Neighborhood called the Flats.” He lifted a chunk of egg to his mouth. He still wasn’t hungry, and it was as tasteless as he’d expected, but if he ever wanted to escape the close scrutiny brought on by his suicide attempt, Chaplain Reed back in Washington had told him, he had to try. He could never quit trying.
    It sounded like a life sentence.
    But better than a death sentence.
    “The Flats?” the nurse echoed. “I’ve only been here at Fort Murphy a few months, but from what I’ve seen, the entire county is pretty much flat.”
    “Aw, don’t say that. The elevation of West Main Street is a good fifty feet higher than East Main.” That was kind of joking, wasn’t it? She did laugh. “There’s plenty of hills outside of town. They just come on so gradually that you don’t really notice them.” Along with a lot of trees, wide-open spaces, and gullies cut deep by heavy rain and hard winds. Minus the trees, it didn’t sound so different from the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. “Where’d you come from?”
    “Fort Stewart. Winn Army Community Hospital. Before that I was in school at UCSD. I grew up in Southern California.” She shivered, pulling her jacket tighter. “I joined the Army so I could experience life outside of San Diego County. I never stopped to think that might mean twenty degrees and ice in October.”
    He had joined up for the same reason. He’d seen far more than he’d bargained for. “It’ll warm up again. We get occasional days in the seventies and eighties to get us through winter.”
    “And frequent summer days of a hundred degrees plus all summer long to make you long for it again.”
    He swallowed the last bite of eggs, cut the sausage patty in half, and ate one piece. It wasn’t as bland as the eggs, with at least a hint of sausage flavor. The orange was good—not much the hospital kitchen could do to a piece of fruit—and the toast was dry. When he finished, he looked at Valentina. “Satisfied?”
    Her laughter as she pushed away from the bed was warm and cheery and reminded him of better times. “It takes more than a clean plate to satisfy me. Keep your cereal. Waste not, and all that.”
    “Want not,” he finished the saying for her, even as he took the sealed plastic cup from the tray.
    “Want the milk?”
    “Who puts milk on cereal?” That was teasing, too. Twice in one conversation must be some kind of record for him.
    “Yeah, I don’t, either.” She carried the tray from the room, calling from the door, “I’ll be back…”
    He looked out the window and grimly murmured, “I’ll be here.”
    Picking up the coffee again, he turned to stare outside. The sun reflected off the ice that coated everything, bright enough to blind even though it wasn’t far above the horizon yet. He remembered going out to play after a heavy snow or, yeah, even just sleet, bundled in layers, two of everything except shoes and gloves. He would stagger down the steps and into the sun, baseball cap under knit cap, brim pulled low to block the glare. Most times, by the time