Chapter 1

Jake was sitting in his usual place in the back corner of Sadler’s. The bar was a rough place of that there was no doubt. It was fairly early in the day so there were only about five customers and Beth the owner. The bar had been her husband’s dream so she used his death benefits to make it happen. Chad More had died somewhere doing something for his country. Beth didn’t know where or what but she loved him still forty years after his death and this bar was a shrine to him and the men like him. The walls were hung with photos from all over the world with the faces blacked out. The captions stated the location and date on some, others just had a date. The wall behind the bar held the photos of the fallen. Each photo had a small shelf with a doubles glass of the Solders favorite drink covered over with plastic wrap. In recent years the Memorial wall had stretched from behind the bar into the room as more and more seemed to be added.

Jake team had brought him here for the first time after he was stationed with the 1st SFG (Special Forces Group) at Fort Lewis. The team had said they were taking him to church. He didn’t understand then how bar qualified as a church, but he understood now though. He had personally placed three of the photos on the wall behind the bar. When he was medically retired he purchased a home fifteen miles away and came almost daily for lunch and to pay his respects. The bar with its odd mix of music and cadences playing in the background, and the pictures of fallen Special Forces soldiers watching over the bar, was the only place he felt at peace. He didn’t know if that qualified as a church or not, but in many ways this bar was his temple. Beth brought over his lunch and a large glass of juice and sat them on the table. “Need anything else Jake?” she asked with her always present smile fixed in place.

He smiled in return and answered, “Just your undying love and devotion Beth, and maybe a night of heaven in your arms. What more could any man ask?”

She snorted and let out a full body laugh. At her 5’5” it was always a pleasure to see her little old body shake, and Beth was old if you asked her. She was 68 and told most she was 62. Her once reddish brown hair was so gray it looked white with a few streaks of its original color thrown in. She refused to have it colored. She said she had earned every one of her gray hairs first with her husband Chad and then with her son Timothy who had followed in his father’s footsteps and been buried next to him. When she quit laughing she said, “I’m not sure I could survive that.” She shook her head as she walked off saying, “Boy have times changed me, I used to tell you that you couldn’t survive a night with me.” She chuckled as she returned behind the bar.

Jake was taking the first bite of his steak sandwich when the door opened. He paused with it almost to his mouth as he glanced to see who had come in. After a quick assessment and decision that it was no threat he took his bite and began chewing as he watched the new arrival. The girl shouldn’t have been here that’s for sure. She couldn’t be even eighteen and certainly wasn’t twenty-one. Then again he had noticed some of the guys who came in with the teams looked too young to be in here also. “Must be getting old” he thought. The girl, or maybe young women was a better term as she did have the hips of a woman, looked around the room like she was searching for someone. Her hat and glasses hid her eyes and most of her face, but her posture slumped and she looked defeated when she didn’t see who ever she was looking for.

She walked over to the bar and cleared her throat. Beth turned and the two started talking as Jake chased down another bite of his marvelous lunch with his juice. He was totally absorbed with his lunch when Beth swept by refilling his glass. She shocked him as she whispered, “She’s looking for you Jake and if I had to guess she is scared.” That caused him to straighten up and pay attention. “She says she is supposed to meet Cath and you here.” She raised an eyebrow asking a question.

“I haven’t a clue. I haven’t seen or heard from my Ex in two months. You remember the last time she came looking to get her itch scratched. The next morning she left a note while I was showering. All it said was “Thanks I needed you! I’ll call”. I tried to call her three times and sent her flowers on her birthday, but well, you know how she is. She has a new life with Jill her partner and doesn’t want me reminding her of the old days. Besides that Jill hates me. I don’t know why she lets Cath come around like she does.”

“Are you sure Jill even knows she comes around?” she asked

“Oh yeah I’m sure. I made Cath call her and I talked to her the first three times. The third time she said if Cath shows up there in the future she has my permission and don’t call. I don’t need the reminder that my girlfriend is with a man.” Jake shook his head. “I don’t know why I keep letting her back in my bed when she comes calling.”

Beth snorted then said, “Because you still love her it’s as easy as that. Oh I know you wish you didn’t but you do. I think it’s both sad and beautiful how much you love that crazy woman. Hell I know a dozen women who wish they could take her place.” Jake raised his eyebrows at that. She waived it off as he put another of the steak fries in his mouth. “So what about the girl? Should I send her over?” Jake thought for a moment then nodded. Beth headed back behind the bar, and Jake started studying the young woman in more detail.

She was 5’ 8” or 9” but it was hard to tell with the way she was all slumped over and hiding in her sweatshirt. As he looked he realized it wasn’t her sweatshirt she was wearing but his. It was one of the shirts his ex-wife swore she didn’t have. He was trying to decide if he was mad or just resigned when Beth pointed him out to her. He waved his hand inviting her to come join him as he stuffed the last of his sandwich in his mouth. She still had on that big hat and large sunglasses even though the bar was rather dim. He watched as she walked to join him. Her steps were hesitant then resigned, but there was something else also. She was injured. It all clicked in a heartbeat. The hat and glasses weren’t to hide her, they were to hide her injuries. And the way she was walking there were more injuries than just the ones on her face.

He stood and covered the last few steps quickly and as he reached out his hand to help her she flinched from him. “I won’t hurt you. I was just trying to help.” She nodded and took his hand guardedly at first. Then she seemed to falter and almost collapse. Jake’s other arm was around her in a flash. As he gently scooped her into his arms she laid her head on his chest and began to sob. He couldn’t understand what she was saying through the sobbing but he tried to comfort her as best he could. As he turned to look for Beth she was there glaring at him from less than two feet away. “All I did was offer her my hand to help her to her seat. She is injured!” he said to the older woman defensively.

Beth nodded then turned and motioned for him to follow her. As they went through to the back she told Tiffany to take over the front for her. Tiffany waved and continued to work on the orders. Once through the kitchen they turned down a wide short hall to the back door but Beth opened what Jake thought was a broom closet revealing stairs to her apartment above. He had known she lived up there but figured she just used the stairs on the side of the building to come and go through the back. At the top of the stairs she opened a door into her apartment. Jake had helped her bring in her new refrigerator and visited her a couple times but had never ventured down the hallway. Instead of turning in the direction he knew was the living room Beth turned towards what must be the bedrooms.

She opened a door going into a bright room with a beautiful four post bed and stood back as Jake carried the young woman through. He tried to lay her on the bed and step back but she wasn’t having any of that. She clung to him like a drowning man to a life preserver. He looked to Beth for help. She stepped over and tried to comfort the young women. “There now, you’re safe. Why don’t you let go of the brute and you and I will have a little talk and see what the matter is.” Jake thought that sounded like a great idea to him, but the young woman just shook her head and clung even tighter. At some point her hat had fallen off and her red gold hair had tumbled out and now seemed to be everywhere.