Jules tried to mingle, but word spread fast about the fighting in the boardroom, and that put a damper on the party. Soon people started finding excuses to leave. A few expressed support, but the rank and file didn’t want to choose sides, and Jules couldn’t blame them.

 

After a few members left, Jules also made his goodbyes, claiming his knee was hurting and he wanted to get off his feet. He started home, but changed his mind and decided to stop in at He’s Not Here. It was starting to feel more like home than the clubhouse.

 

***

 

As soon as Rachel saw Jules walk in, she started pulling him a draft. “Where’s everyone else? And what the hell happened to you? You look you got the shit kicked out of you.”

 

Jules smiled as he sat down with a sigh and rubbed at his sore knee. “No. A little accident on my quad this morning. As far as the rest of Forsaken 99… let’s just say I’ve managed to piss just about everyone off.”

 

“Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good. What happened?”

 

“We have a problem. Vallecito has a problem. The cartel… they’re tired of us interfering in their business. I heard from our contact that they are going to be sending us a message – a warning. After that, it’s going to get ugly.”

 

“What are you going to do?”

 

“That’s the problem. Todd and I ended up in a pissing contest today over what to do. He wanted to go straight at the cartel. I wanted to wait and see what they do. Our contact isn’t sure of his information and I didn’t want to start a war if we could avoid it.”

 

“Makes sense. I don’t see why anyone would object to that.”

 

“Well, there is the school of thought that says the best defense…”

 

“Is a strong offense. Yeah, I’ve heard that one,” Rachel said. “Seems like I also remember one about the nail that sticks up gets hammered down... or something like that.”

 

“Yeah. It’s also easier to defend a position if you are dug in.”

 

“So who won?”

 

“I did… if you can call it that. Rachel, I’m pulling the club apart and I don’t know what to do. If I go along with Todd, I’m afraid it’s going to get very ugly very quickly, but if I keep pushing against him, I’m going to destroy Forsaken 99.”

 

Rachel looked at the pain in Jules’s eyes and her heart went out to him, so much pain. “Hang tight a moment, okay?” she asked as she moved off to serve another customer.

 

As she pulled two beers, she watched Jules out of the corner of her eye as he picked the beer up and offered a small silent salute to someone unseen before taking a sip.

 

When she returned he hefted his beer again. “To William Wallace, your brother, the Marine. May the path he walks always slope downhill,” he said solemnly and took a sip.

 

Rachel was surprised at how hard Jules’s words hit her, and she had to wipe tears from her eyes. “Thank you, Jules. Thank you so much.”

 

“The honor was mine, Rachel.”

 

Rachel laid her hand on his and squeezed it gently, smiling at him as she fought her tears, then found a reason to step away for a moment so that she could gather herself.

 

***

 

Jules sat nursing his beer for the next several hours. Rachel would wander up and talk to him when she could, occasionally pulling him another. It was pleasant conversation and he felt a small measure of peace.

 

As they talked in short bursts between her waiting on other customers, he told her of the looming conflict. Rachel had lived in Vallecito de Grande her entire life and she remembered well the dark times before Forsaken 99 had arrived and started pushing the drug trade out.

 

“No idea what, or when, this warning will come?” she asked.

 

“None. That’s the problem.”

 

Rachel glanced at the clock over the bar. “Last call, people,” she said loudly. It was only nine forty-five, but traffic had dropped off considerably in the last hour and she had intended to close at ten today.

 

“I guess I should be going,” Jules said as he slid off the stool. Getting off the knee for several hours had made it feel a lot better.

 

“What? You don’t want to stay and help Angie and me close up?” Rachel teased. “What if the cartel shows up? We’re just two helpless women. We might need a big strong man around to protect us.”

 

Jules snorted a laugh. “I’ve seen you with that shotgun. I would be more worried about the gunmen.” He paused a moment, thinking. “But sure. I can stick around if you want. I’ve pushed my share of brooms,” he said as he sat down again.

 

By ten-fifteen the last customer was leaving. “Angie… you can go. Jules is going to stay and help me clean up,” Rachel said.

 

“Are you sure?” Angie asked.

 

“I’m sure,” Jules said. “Enjoy an early night.”

 

Angie kissed Jules on the cheek. “You’re such a sweetheart. Thank you!” It took her only a moment to count out her money pouch and throw it on the bar. “Last chance to change your mind, Jules. If I make it to the door, the only thing you will see of me is a dust cloud.”

 

Jules grinned. “I got this, Angie,” Jules said as he continued to wipe down the tables then stack the chairs on top. “I’m sure Rachel will keep me in line. She has a shotgun behind the bar, after all.”

 

Angie giggled. “Okay, you two… I’m outa here. Y’all have fun,” she said then began to giggle again.

 

As Rachel locked the door behind her, she turned to Jules as he continued to clean the tables and stack chairs. “What do you suppose she was implying?” she asked with a grin.

 

“I have no idea.”

 

“I’m going to load the glassware into the washer then count out the register. Once you finish cleaning the tables, please sweep the floor. The broom and pan are in the storage room, just inside the door.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

“You yes ma’am me again, I’m going to kick your ass. It makes me feel old.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Jules said with a grin, then ducked as a bar towel flew in his direction.

 

***

 

After she loaded the glassware into the washer, she returned to the bar to count the register. Jules was working on the last few tables. He wasn’t as fast as Angie, but she could tell he was thorough as he wiped the tables several times in a crisscross direction to make sure he didn’t miss any places, then repeated the procedure with the oiled towel that made the wood glow. As she counted, she grinned. She might have to put him on the payroll.

 

With the count finished, she took the cash drawer into her office, made up her deposit, and locked the register drawer in the safe. She then moved back to the kitchen to put away the glassware.

 

When she returned to the bar and began to wipe down the wood of the bar with the oiled towel, Jules was about halfway across the room, methodically moving the bits of debris along with sure strokes of the broom.

 

“Angie would have been done by now. I may have to dock your pay,” she grinned as she caressed the wood with the towel.

 

“It’s so hard to find good help these days,” Jules replied, but the tempo of his strokes never wavered.

 

She was putting away the second load of glassware from the washer when Jules appeared beside her. “What now?”

 

“Now, you can go. As soon as I put the rest of these glasses away and load the freezer with mugs, I’m out of here too.”

 

Jules gathered four mugs in each hand, carried them to the freezer tucked under the bar by the taps, and slipped them inside. He had just finished stacking the mugs when Rachel arrived with a tray of twenty more.

 

“Work smarter… not harder,” she said as she sat the tray down. Hand over hand, Jules passed Rachel the mugs and the tray was empty in moments. “We need six more then we are done. Thank you, Jules. You were a big help.”

 

“I’ll get them,” he said as he stepped away with the tray. “Why don’t you get your stuff ready?”

 

He was just shutting the freezer door when she stepped out of her office, purse and deposit in hand. “You ready?”

 

“If you are. Want me to escort you home?”

 

Rachel looked into Jules’s eyes, but his face was carefully neutral.

 

“You don’t have to do that, Jules. I’ll be fine,” she finally said to give him an out.

 

“I don’t mind.”

 

She smiled. “Then sure. Thank you. Never know when the cartel may be lurking around.”

 

“That’s my thinking.”

 

As she locked HNH up, she smiled to herself. She could go to the bank tomorrow.

 

***

 

“Sorry about the mess,” Rachel said as they stepped into her house.

 

“Looks fine to me,” Jules said as he glanced around the kitchen.

 

Rachel stopped at the refrigerator. “Up there,” she said pointing to the cabinet above. She watched as Jules stretched on his tip-toes to pull down the nearly full bottle of Southern Comfort. Pulling her eyes from the view, she pulled two shot glasses out of another cabinet.

 

She poured a splash into each glass and handed one to Jules. “Memorial Day is almost over. But before it is… To Jules Rivera… and the Army of one.”

 

She tossed her drink down and banged the glass on the cabinet as she grimaced and growled though the burn. Jules smiled, held his glass up to her in acknowledgement, and tossed the amber liquid down. His glass joined hers a moment after she sat hers down, though a little more quietly.

 

“Come sit with me a while? It’s early for me and I need a moment to unwind.”

 

Jules looked longingly at the bottle, but left it on the counter. So long as he could walk away from it, he figured he was okay.

 

“Sure. I would like that.”

 

“Thank you for bringing me home,” she said as she settled on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. Jules sat and she turned to face him. “It’s just us. You want to talk about it?”

 

“It?”

 

“What has been bothering you the last week or so. No one will interrupt, and what you say in this house will stay in this house.”

 

“Nothing to talk about, really.”

 

“Oh? Everyone talks to ghosts?”

 

Jules smiled sadly. “Not ghosts, exactly. Just memories.”

 

“Bad ones?”

 

“Some, yes. But some good ones, too.”

 

“Anything I can do to help?”

 

“You already are. Just offering to listen if I need to talk. Caring. That means a lot to me.”

 

“I do care about you, Jules. I worry about you seeming so sad.”

 

“I’m not sad.”

 

“Not all the time, no, but more than you should be. This last week especially.”

 

“It’s always the worst this time of the year… around Memorial Day. This is when I… had my accident.”

 

“The accident that forced you out of the Army?”

 

“It didn’t force me out, but I didn’t want to stay in and work a desk. That’s not why I joined. But yeah. The Friday before Memorial Day.”

 

“I’m sorry, Jules.”

 

“Not your fault. But what about you? I just found out your dad has Alzheimer’s. How are you holding up with that?”

 

“Okay… I think we all knew it was coming for a long time. Even before Mom died he would forget stuff. We used to tease him about it, but that’s how these things go.”

 

“How did your mom die?”

 

“Bee sting, believe it or not. She was allergic. She was out working in her flowers. Bee got her. Even though Dad got her the EpiPen, it wasn’t enough.”

 

Jules sat in shock. “I don’t know what to say.”

 

“Nothing to say. I was at the bar when it happened, getting ready to open. I was too young to work the bar, but I could waitress. Dad was just getting ready to leave when Mom came in and told him what had happened. He gave her the pen, and called 911, but he was giving her CPR when the ambulance arrived. There was nothing they could do – nothing anyone could do. For a long time I wondered if it might have been different had I been there. But eventually I came to realized it wouldn’t have mattered. ”

 

“My god, Rachel. I’m so sorry.”

 

Rachel smiled at him and patted him on the arm. “That was almost eight years ago. It’s okay. You learn to let go and accept what is.”

 

“Easier said than done, sometimes.”

 

“True. But it can be done.”

 

***

 

Rachel and Jules sat and talked quietly about whatever subject came up. She watched as Jules slowly relaxed, settling into her couch, his head back and eyes closed as they talked. She had made several gestures of encouragement… touching him, caressing his arm, holding his hand as he spoke of growing up in Montana and joining the Army, wanting him to take her to bed. But he didn’t seem to notice, the darkness once again clouding his eyes.

 

Finally he stopped talking, his breathing becoming slow and regular. Poor Jules. So alone, even in a crowd of people, she thought. She thought about waking him, but decided to let him sleep. He had told her of his problems sleeping, and if he could get a good night sleep here on her couch, then she would be glad for him to have it.

 

She gently rose from the couch and looked at his face. Such a handsome face, especially now, when he was at peace. She walked into her bedroom and returned with a light blanket that she carefully draped over his shoulders.

 

She kissed him softly on the lips as she touched his face. “Sleep well Jules,” she whispered. “May your dreams be pleasant.”

 

***

 

Rachel opened her eyes, unsure of what had awakened her. She looked at her bedside clock, its glowing number telling her it was almost four in the morning. She had been in bed just over two hours. She listened to the silence of the early morning, then she heard it again – a voice from the front of the house. She lay perfectly still, unsure she of what she was hearing until the voice came again, almost below the threshold of hearing.

 

She crawled out of bed and put on her robe. Maybe Jules had turned on the television. She hoped so because she could think of something a lot more entertaining to do this morning than to watch television, but the room was dark.

 

Jules spoke again but she couldn’t make out what he was saying, his words muddied and blurred in his sleep. She listened carefully until she could make out that he was talking to someone named Haynes, and someone else named Bryan or Bryant. She debated waking him, but didn’t. His dream seemed peaceful. As she watched, he moaned softly, in pain or pleasure.

 

“No!” he shouted, the word bright and clear in the silence, making her start. “No, no, no…” he murmured as his voice trailed away before he moaned again, twisting slowly under the blanket. “I tried,” he wept. “I tried… I’m so sorry. Please forgive me,” he said before his voice, once again, trailed away into whispers that she couldn’t understand. But he still twisted and moved under the blanket, panting and gasping.

 

“Jules!” Rachel whispered as she sat down beside him. “Jules, wake up! You’re having a nightmare.” She could just make out his face in the glow from the streetlight. It was twisted into the most profound agony imaginable. “Jules!” she hissed a bit louder as she touched his face and felt the wetness of his sweat, and perhaps tears.

 

His shriek at her touch as he lunged up and away from her made her cry out. He turned to look at her, his eyes wide and unfocused as he panted.

 

“Jules! Are you okay? You were having a nightmare,” she gasped as she tried to slow her own thudding heart.

 

She watched as he swam up out of the nightmare, his eyes finally focusing on her. His face twisted, and he reached for her, pulling her into an embrace so tight she feared her ribs would crack. As her arms went around him, he began to shudder and jerk and she heard him gasp as he was racked with sobs.

 

“Shhh…” she purred as she rocked him, her hand on the back of his head, holding him to her shoulder. “It will be okay, Jules. It will be okay,” she murmured as her own tears began to fall. So much pain...

 

***

 

Rachel started awake when Jules stirred, his head still in her lap. The sun was bright in the sky and she could just make out that the clock on the microwave had only three numbers glowing, so it was sometime before ten in the morning. Jules stirred again and then sat up, blinking rapidly, a confused look on his face.

 

“Good morning,” Rachel said brightly. She smiled as she watched him flush in embarrassment.

 

“Rachel! I’m so sorry about—”

 

“Hush now. Nothing to be sorry about. If I had minded you spending the night, I would have kicked your ass out.”

 

“But—”

 

“Shhh. Everything is okay. I was glad to be here for you.”

 

Jules looked at her a moment. “Thank you. I’m sorry I woke you up. And I’m sorry that you had to see that. I…”

 

“Jules… what happened to you? It’s obvious it was no accident.” She paused, but then continued. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, but I would like to know.”

 

Jules looked into Rachel’s eyes for a moment, then decided it was the least he could do. She deserved to know after last night. “I was Sergeant for Second Platoon, Charlie… never mind that… it isn’t important. Anyway, we were on a convoy escort duty and ran into an ambush.” He paused, but she waited, letting him go at his own pace. “It was bad. Real bad. We were pinned down, in the middle of nowhere, with no one to help us.”

 

When he didn’t seem to want to continue, she spoke. “You were injured?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Haynes and Bryan?”

 

“Haynes was a corporal, and maybe my best friend. First Sergeant Bryant was the Platoon Sergeant. They were both KIA… killed in action.”

 

“But you survived, obviously.”

 

“Yeah. I was lucky. The cavalry arrived just in time.”

 

Again, Rachel could tell there was more to the story than Jules was telling. While that may have been traumatic, it didn’t explain everything. No… there was definitely more to the story than he was telling, but she didn’t want to press too hard. He had started to open up to her and she could be patient.

 

“It’s too damn early in the morning to drink a toast to the cavalry, but I’m glad they arrived when they did.”

 

“Yeah,” Jules said, but his tone of voice told Rachel he didn’t mean it.

 

“Get up. I’m going to shower while you are going to fix us lunch. Then you are going to take me for a ride on the back of your bike.”

 

“I am?” Jules asked with a lopsided grin.

 

“Yes. You are. You’re the boss… you’re allowed to play hookie. Then after that, you are coming back here and I’m fixing you that dinner I promised and you agreed to.”

 

“What about you. Don’t you have to work tonight?”

 

“I’m the boss. I’m allowed to play hookie,” she said with a grin, but then she turned serious. “If you want to, of course.”

 

“I’ll have to put gas in the bike,” he deadpanned, then smiled.

 

“Well, in that case, forget it,” she grinned back then stood. “Everything for sandwiches is in the fridge. Make mine a thick one. I didn’t realize it until just now, but I missed dinner.”

 

“Me, too. And breakfast. No wonder I’m starving,” Jules said as he stood.

 

She grinned at Jules then started to turn away to shower when he took her hand and pulled her gently back to him. He held her hand for a moment before he released it and tipped her chin up so he could taste her lips. The kiss was slow, soft and gentle, and she felt herself all but go weak in the knees.

 

As he pulled back he looked into her eyes. “Thank you again… for caring… and for being there.”

 

She smiled at him and touched the side of his face before rising to her tip-toes to kiss him fleetingly on the lips. As she lowered herself she said nothing, but smiled at him again before turning away, pulling her hand away in a slow caress. As she swished back to her bedroom to bathe, she hoped he would follow. But if he didn’t, there was no way in hell he was getting out of here tonight without making love to her.