It Had To Be You Read Online Free PDF Page B

Besides,
the jobless rate was staggering among vets. Limping, he followed
Lela into the small room and didn’t look down at the prosthetic at
the shin of his right foot. The sight of it disgusted him almost as
much as the raw and bumpy skin, which was all the best the doctors
could do after he’d been ambushed by an IED carrier.
    As Lela got out supplies from a row of white
cabinets near a big window, and he changed the paper on an
examination bed, she talked. “We had a bad car accident victim come
in last night. It turned out okay, though. The fire department
medics had done a good job.”
    He nodded. She didn’t seem to mind if he
didn’t talk, and her voice was soothing. He imagined she calmed a
lot of injured guys over there.
    “ One of the firefighters was in
Afghanistan.”
    Nick’s head snapped up. “They let him work as
a firefighter?”
    “ Yes. It’s part of the Hire Our Heroes
national push.”
    He glanced away. He was no hero. None of them
really were.
    “ Ironically, I met him at a support
group for PTSD sufferers and their families.”
    “ You said you were gonna go to that.
How was it?”
    She met his gaze and wrinkled her nose.
“Really hard.”
    Nick liked that she didn’t bullshit him.
“Yeah, I bet. I’m sorry you got an ex with this thing.”
    “ I know. That means a lot to
me.”
    Cocking his head, he took a seat on the
stool. “Why, Lela?”
    Her brown eyes widened. “Because you can see
my side. I’m wondering why you can’t see Amy’s.”
    Again, he looked away, regretting he’d
confided in this woman so much. “Oh, I see her side as much as
yours. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about her living
with this,” he pointed to his face, “And this.” He motioned to his
foot.
    “ She wants you in her life.”
    He shook his head. “Tell me more about the
firefighter guy. I like success stories.”
    Which was true. Nick enjoyed hearing about
men who’d come back from war who weren’t so broken like
him—physically and emotionally—that even all the King’s men
couldn’t put them together again.

Chapter 3
    “ Can we talk about our kids?” a
firefighter asked at the third PTSD support group meeting. The guy
had gone down to work at the pile after 9/11 and afterward, had
horrendous flashbacks.
    Jack Harrison surveyed the members, most of
whom nodded. “Go ahead, Paul.”
    “ I had an attack at home when Shelia
was using the hair dryer and the smell was like burning flesh. We’d
had a charred body the week before in a bad fire. I was making my
kid breakfast. She freaked.” He went on to explain how his daughter
had been remote since then and wouldn’t let him hug her.
    “ Anyone else deal with issues like this
with their kids?”
    Pretty Lela Allen, dressed in a
blue-and-brown skirt, which flowed around her calves, and a brown
blouse, spoke first. “I have a boy. Josh. He’s seven. He’s, um, one
of the reasons I’m divorcing Len. In the midst of a rage, my
husband knocked me across the room. Josh saw it. I made Len move
out the next day.”
    “ How’s Josh now?” Harrison asked.
“You’ve been separated more than a year, right?”
    She nodded, visibly shaken by the memory.
“He’s remote with everybody but me. Mostly with adult men.” She
rolled her eyes. “Not that there’s been any in my life since my
separation. But he had a male teacher and we had to switch him to a
woman.” Her lovely, brown eyes clouded. Beck could see her reaction
from across the room. “The school recommended he have a few
sessions with the school counselor, but he wouldn’t open up. I
tried taking him to a professional therapist, but he hid under a
desk the whole time.” She nodded to Paul. “It breaks my heart.”
    Though his own heart started to beat at a
clip, Beck forced himself to speak. The least he could do was match
the others’ honesty. “I, um, have a boy who’s ten. He’s got
behavioral problems and is remote, too.” Beck’s head began to