LikeTheresNoTomorrow Read Online Free PDF

of some bureaucrat’s pen.
    Julia pulled her shoulders back on a deep breath, focusing
on the room around her and not her agony. It was more than she expected from
one’s typical Marine. Jim’s age might have a lot to do with it. His sofa,
recliner and the obligatory tables surrounding them were solid construction.
The dark blue gave color in a place where Navajo white was the color of choice
for walls. Family photos splashed one wall. The resemblance was clear. Nothing
up there showed any of the children were his—all group family shots.
    The place was clean, even the bathroom was spotless. The
only thing out of order was the dusty backpack left inside the front door. Had
he just returned from deployment of his own, getting ready to deploy too, or
was it merely a field exercise?
    What did it matter? Why should she care?
    Oh but it did. She wanted to know everything about him. More
importantly, she wanted him to know the real her, not the crazed freak who’d
done him in the bar.
    Leave , her conscience commanded. She could stay at a
hotel until it was time to leave. Anything to keep from having to stay in her
empty house alone. Yeah, as if she had money to blow on something like that. As
if she hadn’t lost enough dignity, now she was considering caving up. She had a
home she loved, might as well enjoy what she could of it with what little time
remained.
    Another deep inhale pulled her feet to the floor. Her heart
raced with the approaching panic attack. Tears swam into her vision. She
fumbled for her purse and missed, knocking it onto the carpeted floor. Julia
lacked the energy to retrieve it. Fortunately, she didn’t have to.
    Jim had the best-looking feet of anyone she’d ever met.
Mesmerized by his toes, Julia lifted her gaze up those long, muscled jean-clad
legs as he walked toward her purse. He was bare from waist up, looking like a
playground for fallen women. Equally great-looking fingers, fingers that had
plunged deep into her body over and over again, picked up her purse and placed
it on the coffee table. Then Jim sat beside her, so close she could feel the
heat of his body wrap around her, so close all Julia wanted was to lean into
him and forget everything else.
    He lifted her chin on the pads of his fingers. Her quivering
chin. Damn it all, she was going to cry. His gentle kiss only made it worse.
She couldn’t have him thinking the worst of her. She just couldn’t.
    “Julia Hunicutt. That’s my name. I know it sounds trite but
I’ve never done anything like this before. Everything’s a mess. I’m heading out
for a third deployment. I barely survived the last.”
    His eyes followed her movement when Julia touched the back
of her head.
    “It wasn’t supposed to happen. They sent me orders here to
be close to my family while I recovered. I’m living in my great-grandparents’
old house. I get bad headaches the doctors say are my imagination. I planned a
life here. Got dogs. Planted a garden, revived the yard and orchard.”
    Tears poured down her cheeks. Julia couldn’t stop them. She
expected horror on Jim’s face. Instead, he brushed away tears with his thumbs,
drawing her closer.
    “My mother won’t stop crying. My father is on the phone
constantly to his congressman, senator, anybody he thinks will listen trying to
get this resolved. My brothers rant and rave, then balk at the concept of
adding my dogs to their mix of pets. All I wanted was to do something wild and
crazy tonight. To forget all of this and live again. I’m scared, Jim. So
scared. And I have vegetables ready to harvest. I revived the yard. No one
wants the responsibility of caring for it. Oh, they say they will but they
won’t. It’ll all be dead, just like me if I go over there. Tomatoes, zucchini
and…and…”
    And she was cradled in his lap, head on his shoulder, his
arms so tight around her it would take a nuclear explosion to pull them off.
    “I know. I know. Cry it out, baby. Just cry it all out.
You’re safe