A Soldier Saved
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Cheryl Harper
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CHAPTER ONE
“HEY, PROF, HEADS UP!” At the shouted warning, Dr. Angela Simmons hurried toward the steps in front of Sawgrass University’s administration building. She brushed a bead of sweat off her forehead as she watched a group of rambunctious kids trot to their next target. The eternal game that raged in the center of campus, no matter how many students had already left for the summer, was similar to golf, but Frisbees hurled at a high rate of speed replaced dimpled golf balls.
Benches, lampposts, the hydrant near the corner of campus...those were the targets, and pedestrians were the hazards. At some point, the university would have to put in a dedicated course, but the lack of official equipment didn’t slow down the game.
Freshman boys were enthusiastic about it. And loud.
Even at the end of May, when the heat should encourage more indoor games.
This sidewalk, the shadiest spot on campus, was always littered with kids in flip-flops, and the Monday before the first summer term started was no exception.
Since she’d fallen in deep, deep love with her job and the kids who came through her classes, Angela was happy there were plenty of students milling around the building that housed both the registrar and the campus bookstore.
Did she sometimes wish for a helmet for her own protection as she crossed from her parking spot to her office? Yes. But this building, the wide, tree-lined walkway leading up to it, and her beautiful office inside had convinced her Sawgrass University could be home.
“Play on, gentlemen,” she called as she trotted up the low, flat steps leading to the building that was all angles and glass. Instead of brick and ivy and academic architecture, Sawgrass University’s planners had gone all in on the mid-twentieth-century concepts of how the future would be built.
It had taken some adjustment, but Angela had learned to appreciate the clean lines. The overwhelming white surfaces and the glint of sunshine blazing across the glass in the early afternoon could still stop her in her tracks.
Angela covered her eyes as she took the last steps and watched an older woman swing open the door and make the “hurry up” motion to the guy following slowly behind her. He did not walk faster.
“It’s good advice to hurry,” Angela said. “You never know when a stray Frisbee is aimed straight at whatever you’re standing next to.” She turned to encourage the man and stopped at his ferocious glare. It lasted only a second before all expression bleached from his face. Deep lines around his lips suggested pain or fatigue.
“Right. Sorry.” He motioned to the older woman ahead of him and then waited patiently for Angela to follow her. Uncertain as to what she’d done to earn the hostile look, Angela hurried through the door and paused as the woman held out her hand.
“I was wondering...” Her voice was overly cheerful, but she turned a distinctly cold shoulder to the man stepping through the door behind them. When he braced an arm on the wall, Angela wondered if she should offer him a seat. “Could you give us directions to the registrar’s office? My son needs to register for classes for the summer term. This stifling heat and that trek across campus have worn me out.”
Angela would have bet all her money that the son was the one struggling. But she was happy to help. She pointed down the hallway and then noticed the scowl was back. Since he was pushing forty, she was certain she understood the source of some of the anger.
Her own daughter was sixteen and she’d insist her parents never follow her to school if she could get away with it. Since someone had to pay Greer’s tuition, her ex still managed to tag along.
Even through the door that had closed behind them, Angela heard muffled shouts. The guys throwing the Frisbee had done something worth celebrating. It didn’t take much.
“That’s what I meant about hurrying. Disc golf gets pretty cutthroat around here. You don’t want to be a casualty of a Frisbee to the head.” Angela expected agreement or some kind of acknowledgment, but the woman gave her son a worried frown. He carefully straightened but did not speak.
“Directions?” his mother reminded them all, her eyebrows raised. “He needs to sign up before the office closes for the day.” Did she regret asking for directions or the entire Sawgrass visit? Since her son had edged back toward the door and appeared ready to forget the whole thing, Mom needed to keep things moving.
Angela had been through snippy rants delivered by her own daughter, usually after embarrassing her at school, so she was sympathetic. The woman’s son was struggling after the walk. He needed to sit down somewhere soon.
“Sure. You’ll follow this hallway. About halfway down, another hall turns off to the right. Go all the way to the end. It’s not too far. Someone there will help you get your classes set up.” Angela shifted the strap of her briefcase on her shoulder. Should she offer to call someone to help them? “Welcome to Sawgrass. I hope you’ll love it here.”
The woman waved a hand. “Tell that to him. He’s convinced I’m torturing him. All I want him to do is take some accounting classes, do something safe for a while, you know?”
Safe? Her word choice stood out. Angela wasn’t sure where all the tension between the two of them was coming from, but this guy? He was no accountant. His clothes were all right. Pressed khakis and a button-down were solid accounting wear, but his expression, the careful stare, even his too-long hair added up to rugged or even rough. Not safe. He agreed. The grimace was a big hint.
“Accounting is a good area. You passed the building all the business classes are in when you parked.” Angela tipped her head to the side. “But part of the fun of the summer term is experimenting. Try something other than accounting. These are short, quick classes. If you’re a freshman, it’s awfully hard to know exactly what you want when you walk in the door.”
She’d tried to tell Greer to keep her options open. It was impossible to know what would make her happy for the rest of her life at her age. This guy might have a better suggestion. Angela bent toward him. “Mothers don’t know everything, even if we try to pretend we do.”
He blinked slowly at her and then rubbed his forehead, as if the whole conversation was giving him a headache. “Thank you. Tell that to her.” The words were polite. His tone was grim, but the corner of his mouth turned up.
Angela soaked in the air-conditioning as she watched them walk away. The woman was fluttering around her son while he made a slow, measured pace down the hall. Before Angela turned to climb the stairs to her office, he called, “If I decide to take your advice, what’s the easiest class Sawgrass offers in the summer?”
Angela gripped the railing, one sneaker on the first step. “Hard to say. It depends on your interests and what you enjoy, but I’ve heard that an A is almost guaranteed in the Intro to Creative Writing class. And no matter what you do in the future, the ability to write well will serve you in the long run.”
That was the sentence her own college advisor had delivered when Angela was a freshman. It had been good advice. The fact that she loved teaching creative writing above all else was a bonus.
If he chose her class, she might have one annoyed student on her hands.
He studied her for a second. “Writing?” He glanced at the papers rolled up into a tube in his right hand.
She dipped her head and then started up the stairs. The school administration took up the top floors of the building, but she’d garnered a plush office on the second floor.
When she reached the landing, her phone rang.
Pleased to have a moment to regain her breath after the climb, Angela dug her phone out of her briefcase.
“Hey, baby, give me a minute to unlock my office door. I’m almost there.” Angela squeezed the cell phone between her ear and her shoulder. More people were on this floor, since the professors and teaching assistants, as well as admin people, were preparing for the summer semesters. It was a beautiful day to be almost anywhere else than inside, but it was hard to complain.
“Hello?” her daughter yelled through the phone, so Angela quickly stepped into her office. “Are you still there, Mom?”
Sixteen was a trying age.
For everyone involved.
Angela dropped her bag on her desk and gripped the phone firmly. “Yes, Greer. Sorry, baby. It took me a minute longer to get to my office. A bunch of my colleagues are here, prepping for their classes and there was a bigger group for registration than I expected. So I had to dodge a few people in the hallway.” And one handsome, grumpy guy. What was his story?
Opening the blinds was always Angela’s first move. By virtue of her minor fame as a published poet and the university’s desire to keep her happy, she had one of the prettiest views on campus. A small lake glimmered behind the ring of buildings that made up the main campus.
“Did you get my text?” Greer demanded. “You need to check out Dad’s latest post. I mean now. Do it now.”
“You were going to send a picture of your chemistry final grade. The test you were so nervous about? That’s what I asked to see.” Angela sat down and opened up her laptop. “I haven’t had time to check your text yet. Why am I getting the feeling it’s about something bigger than whether you made an A or a B? Whatever it is, we’ll handle it.” The emotion in her daughter’s voice caught Angela’s attention.
“Go to his page. You need to see the photos.” Greer huffed out a breath. “I’m going to wait.”
Angela navigated quickly to Rodney’s page, determined to be upbeat and cheerful no matter what was waiting. The two of them hadn’t been on easy speaking terms since he’d informed her of his last-minute long-weekend trip to Europe and his plan for their daughter to remain in Nashville. Alone.
Bringing Greer to Miami during the last weeks of school hadn’t been an option. Greer had finals and parties and summer plans.
After the divorce, this was exactly what Angela had been afraid would happen, but she’d let Greer choose Nashville and her school and her friends over making the move to Miami with her. Accepting the offer at Sawgrass University had been difficult.
The only thing harder would have been staying at the same college where her ex-husband was the department chair.
“Okay, okay, okay, I’m there. On the page. Let me find your father’s posts.” Angela scrolled down quickly, certain she was going to find some extravagant purchase or a tale of woe that he’d split from Kate, the real estate lawyer he’d been dating for six months or so. He’d taken to being single again like the proverbial duck to water, dating soon after the divorce and often. Kate had lasted longer than most. Then the Eiffel Tower rolled past.
Paris. A weekend in Paris. That had been his plan.
And when she found the couple posed in front of the Eiffel Tower, the ring carefully displayed by their entangled fingers, her breath caught in her throat.
“They’re engaged.” Greer’s quiet voice was the reminder Angela needed that she had to say something.
But what was there to say?
If she’d been pegged in the forehead by a flying Frisbee, she would be less stunned.
To buy herself a minute to catch up, Angela cleared her throat. “Well, that’s great.” Her flat tone couldn’t be fooling anyone, so she tried again. “An engagement and a once-in-a-lifetime trip. That’s awesome. Are you mad they didn’t include you?”
Angela wondered how bad the arrow to her heart would have hurt if Greer had been swept up into the extravagant event. At least she had company standing here on the outside. As it was, the bitter question about why Rodney had never taken her farther than Atlanta was better off ignored. He would have, if Angela had made all the plans, packed his suitcases and buckled his seat belt on the plane. The last part might be an exaggeration. “If they’d waited a month or so, you could have gone with them.”
“A month? Not even. A week, Mom,” Greer grumbled, a disappointed little girl seeping around the edges of weary maturity. “Did he choose the last weekend I couldn’t go with them so I couldn’t go with them?”
Angela slumped back in her chair. If they’d waited a week, she would have agreed to a European jaunt because Greer would have been so excited Angela would have had no other choice. The fact that Rodney had moved ahead without his daughter... There was something there, but Angela couldn’t put her finger on it.
It was too spontaneous. Nothing like him.
“You can be disappointed and happy for them at the same time,” Angela said as she scrolled.
“I am disappointed,” Greer admitted, “but dragging a teenager along would seriously hamper the grand gesture, so I guess I’ll let that go.” Her daughter’s heavy sigh cut across the distance, and Angela had no trouble picturing her familiar grimace of teenage angst. “But there’s more you should know.”
Angela inhaled slowly, her mind spinning as she evaluated possibilities and eliminated them. One wouldn’t stay quiet.
It was the only answer that made sense of the hurried timing.
“She’s pregnant.” Angela rolled her pen across the desk as she absorbed that blow.
“Yeah,” Greer said and then waited. “As soon as they got home, Dad told me. I haven’t seen Kate since they left. I’m guessing that’s because no one is sure how well I’m going to handle the news. They’re moving her stuff in here this weekend.”
Moving her stuff into the house Angela had shared with Rodney.
The same place Greer had and always would call home.
Angela braced her elbows on her desk and covered her eyes with one hand. In the short, world-changing conversation, her first worry had been for herself, but her daughter was going to be the one with the biggest challenge to face.
Switching from only child to big sister would take some adjustment.
Happy teen in a comfortable, spacious mansion to one sharing life with a new stepmother and a baby.
“It’s a pretty big change,” Angela said slowly. “How are you handling it?”
Greer groaned. “I’m confused.” She didn’t say anything else but the tense silence between them spoke for her daughter.
Angela wanted to jump in with solutions. That was who she was, who she had been for her whole relationship with Rodney Simmons.
That was why they were divorced. Happily divorced.
Still, Greer was her daughter, and solving her problems was a part of a mother’s job description. “Why don’t you stay with me for the summer? You can have a break from normal. That might clear up some of the confusion.” Angela straightened in her chair. If this development gave her a chance to spend more time with her daughter, it might have a silver lining. “We’ll go to the beach. We’ll make it to Key West finally. Just you and me, and when school’s ready to start, you’ll have had plenty of time to adjust.”
“But the internship,” Greer said. Angela was almost sure she could hear a flop, a loose thud of teenage girl bouncing on her mattress. “I worked so hard to get this job with Senator Gonzalez. Do you know how that will work in my favor when I’m applying to law school, Mom?”
Angela tightened her lips. In a world with some stereotypical lazy teens, Greer had been born with a keen sense of responsibility. And someone had taught her to plan for the future.
Rodney had been happy to follow all of Angela’s plans until he’d faced forty and decided there was more to life than work.
More to life than the marriage they’d built and the family that Angela had sacrificed her own ambition to have. He’d risen to faculty chair, while she’d taken a ten-year break and then started at the bottom again.
But she did have Greer.
And the poetry. That break had meant the world to her poetry. That work had been what got her the job at Sawgrass, leading the English department. She’d never regret that time spent raising her daughter.
“Maybe there’s something similar here,” Angela said as she tried to come up with a match, but nothing sparked. Greer’s father had met Senator Gonzalez at a university fund-raiser. Angela stayed near the refreshment table at fund-raisers because she wasn’t a fan of schmoozing.
Refusing to examine how that might be another good reason her ex had risen faster in his career than she had, Angela bit her lip and reconsidered her suggestion to Greer. “Or not. If you came here, you’d spend the summer stuck in my house or working retail while I teach summer term and deal with preparations for the fall. Staying in Nashville is the smart thing to do. But we don’t always have to be so smart, G.” They didn’t. That was what she’d learned about the same time her husband had changed his mind about their marriage. It was only a working theory, however. She hadn’t done much to test it.
“Really? We don’t have to be smart?” Her daughter’s drawl eased some of Angela’s worry. “That’s kind of our thing, the whole family. Who are you and what have you done with Dr. Angela Simmons, shining star at Sawgrass University?”
Angela shook her head. “Sometimes I wish I could unteach you some of the things we worked so hard to give you. Life is short. You need to enjoy it.” When she turned eighteen, Greer shouldn’t have to pick the career that would last her whole life. She should know how to have fun while she was still young.
“I want to come to Miami. I do,” Greer said, “but how hurt would Dad be if I did that? And Kate? She’s nice, even if I’m not quite ready to welcome a new brother or sister. I’ve been to Senator Gonzalez’s office already and it’s what I always imagined, so...”
Angela rolled the pen across her desk again. She wanted to fight, but the one promise she’d made to herself after the divorce was that Greer would make her own decisions. She’d chosen to stay in Nashville to complete high school. She’d chosen not to leave her friends or her father, and it was working out well. She and Greer spent weeks together during breaks and talked on the phone at least once every day. Once Greer graduated, Angela would press harder to become her home base.
Or that had been the plan.
With a baby brother or sister on the way, that plan was in danger.
“I didn’t mean to derail your whole day. What are you doing at work today?” Greer asked. “Any handsome freshmen boys I need to know about?”
Angela laughed as the image of the guy she’d nearly pulled inside the doors downstairs popped into her brain. Handsome? Oh yeah. Boy? Definitely not. “Nah. I’ll keep my eyes open for you, though.”
“I’m hoping that means they’re all on the East Coast in some Ivy League towns.” Greer had planned for as long as Angela could remember to get into the best university. Which one that was changed now and then, but they all had East Coast addresses.
“Which one are we targeting this month?” Angela asked, grateful for a change in subject.
“Senator Gonzalez is a Princeton graduate. I figure he can give me the inside scoop to help me move it up the list or cross it off completely.” Angela and Rodney had both done fine at state schools, but obviously Senator Gonzalez was going to be the expert on hand.
The knock on the door on Greer’s end of the phone was loud and clear. “Just a minute, Dad.” She waited a second before returning to the call. “Dad’s going to drop me at Senator Gonzalez’s office to fill out some paperwork, so I gotta go. Wish I knew what I was going to say to Dad.”
Angela closed her eyes. She wanted to help Greer, but she was also so relieved not to be in the same spot. Eventually, she’d have to congratulate her ex, but not yet. “Be honest with him but remember that he loves you, G. This is all going to work out. You will love being a big sister.” Angela hoped it was true. Greer was smart and responsible and yet so young. The road might be bumpy.
“Are you going to be okay, Mom?” Greer asked, her voice tentative, as if she wanted to know the answer but was scared to ask the question.
“Yes, ma’am, I’ll be fine. It’s a beautiful day here in Florida, hot enough to make you sweat inside a full-size freezer, with beautiful sunshine and enough students wandering around to keep me busy for a few weeks.” Angela made sure she said every word through a smile because the last thing she wanted was her daughter worrying about her. “You take your time with all these changes. It’s going to work out. You’ll see.”
Greer didn’t answer at first. Eventually, as Angela was gearing up to contribute something else, her daughter said, “It would be cool if you had an awesome date for the wedding.”
It might be cool, but it wasn’t going to happen. Until that second, Angela hadn’t even considered attending the wedding. She rested her head against the desk. Before the summer was over, would she be wishing Rodney and Kate all the best in person? Great.
Why hadn’t she started dating before the ink on the divorce decree was dry? Rodney had.
Oh yeah. The job. The career. The move. Enjoying the freedom to make plans for one for the first time in a long time.
Greer was young and as romantic as most teenage girls. She’d never understand that.
“Um, well, I guess, but...” Angela wasn’t sure about the rest of that statement, so she let it sit there, a big old nothing in the middle of all the unsaid words that paused outside of the frame.
“They haven’t announced the date yet, but it’ll be before school starts again.” Greer hesitated before she added the last part. “Early August was mentioned.”
Two months. The idea that it would be that soon had never occurred to Angela. Why? Because she didn’t want to study any of this too closely.
“Before school starts again.” It made sense. If this weird Parisian jaunt had been out of character for her ex-husband, wanting to be married before the baby came fit his new character perfectly. “Okay. I’ll keep my eyes open for a suitable guy. How’s that?” Muttering the words knocked her pulse up a notch.
Actually carrying through with that? Not going to happen. If she went, she’d go solo. There was nothing wrong with that.
Did ex-wives attend weddings of ex-husbands?
It depended on the split.
And the sinking sensation in the pit of Angela’s stomach convinced her that an invitation to the wedding would arrive.
She’d have to attend. If the school term was eliminated as a reasonable answer, she had no plausible excuse.
“Check out the other professors. There’s got to be a cute one somewhere on campus. He’d be an idiot not to accept your dinner invitation, but you should get a move on. Inviting dates to weddings is one of those things you only do with someone you’ve been dating for a while. Otherwise, they assume you’re hoping for a ring yourself. You only have a couple of months.”
“How do you know this? You might as well be a dating expert, and I am certain your parents only allowed you to start dating this spring.” Angela closed her eyes and tried to stifle the words that might have an edge of irritation to them.
“Mom.” That was Greer’s only answer. She wasn’t entertaining any of this foolishness.
“I’ll keep my eyes open, okay, boss?” Angela offered. “But how many times have I told you to be the hero of your own story. No sidekick required.”
Her daughter’s groan eased some of Angela’s worry. “I’m watching out for you, but you’re not going to listen to me, are you?” The last word was a dramatic, drawn-out wail that was sixteen all the way to its core.
“If I go alone, they’ll sit me at the kids’ table. I’ll be happy there.” It would be there or with the collection of odds and ends gathered together at one table in a dark corner.
And no matter what, it would be okay. She’d get to visit Greer. That would make it all worthwhile.
“They mentioned a destination wedding—I hope it’s in Paris,” Greer said.
“Go do your paperwork. Get your internship. Remember that your father loves you and that you’re going to be an awesome big sister. Whatever destination it is will be fun. We will make sure of that. This is all going to work out. I promise.” Saying it strengthened her own confidence.
Greer’s “Okay” had a distinct tone of “If you say so” that implied she wasn’t sure.
“I say so. Call me later and tell me all about the senator’s office.” Angela ended the call after Greer’s usual “loveyoubye” and put her phone next to her computer.
Before she could stop, one finger slowly scrolled through her ex-husband’s page. The photos in Paris were beautiful. Every picture of him and his bride-to-be shouted romance and happily-ever-after.
Angela bent forward to study the photo. No baby bump. Not yet.
When she realized how invested she was getting and how each new photo hammered harder on the “I don’t measure up” spike, she closed the lid of her laptop and turned to stare out the window at the lake.
She lost track of time as the possibilities floated through her head. She might not even be invited to this destination wedding. What a relief that would be. If she didn’t have to put on a brave, independent face, all of this would be easier.
But she wanted time with Greer.
“It’s time to plan a trip to Nashville.” Angela tangled her fingers over her stomach and frowned at the lake. She hated going back. Her whole world had been turned on its head, but the city where she’d spent the biggest part of her adult life went on without her. Greer kept growing. Life kept going.
And in Miami, nothing changed. Ever. She worked the job she loved. Teaching the classes she wanted to teach was fulfilling. Her condo with a view of the beach was small but it was comfortable. If her life was a body of water, it was the lake outside her window. Nothing much disturbed the surface.
Except her ex-husband had chucked a big rock right in the middle and the ripples were going to spread.
“Great metaphor, prof,” Angela muttered to herself. “You should be a creative writing teacher.” She spun her desk chair back around and reopened her laptop. She quickly closed the window on Rodney’s page because there was nothing she could do about that.
Her lake was here and now and she needed a completed syllabus before class started. Everything else could wait because she had work to do.
