It was at Rowdy’s, a country-western place about a mile out of town. She was sitting with two other girls and as soon as I set eyes on her I knew I just had to try or I’d regret it forever.

The band was Without a Net, and they were playing a twostep. I walked over to their table and asked her for a dance. She smiled, said she’d love to, got up and moved out onto the floor. She felt good in my arms. We fit. It was like we were made for each other. I learned her name was Amanda, but she preferred to be called Mandy.

The twostep ended and the guitar picker said, “Everyone out on the floor for the Electric Slide.” The Slide was followed by a Tush Push and we stayed out for both of them. Then the band took a break and I walked her back to her table and her friends and she invited me to join them. I was introduced to Pam and Shelly and they learned that I was Augustus Weaver, but I preferred Auggie to Augustus.

Mandy asked, “What brings Auggie Weaver to Rowdy’s on this fine summer evening?”

“I just felt like dancing tonight.”

“You wanted to dance but you came without your girlfriend?”

“Don’t have one, but then I don’t need one to line dance.”

“Why don’t you have a girlfriend? Something wrong with you?”

“Not that I’m aware of. I just travel a lot and I’m never around long enough to get into a relationship.”

“What is it you do that causes you to travel so much?”

“I’m in armament sales and I’m always going somewhere to make a sale or train people on our products.”

That was a flat out lie. I was in fact Sergeant Auggie Weaver, I was in the Army and on a three-day pass, but I had learned the hard way that the local ladies didn’t cotton much to soldiers. Probably because when they got interested in a guy he got reassigned and transferred and left them behind.

Before they could dig farther I asked them what they did, and Mandy told me they were nurses at the local hospital out to shake off the stress of dealing with sick and afflicted and have some fun. Before the talk could go any farther, the band came back and Shelly said, “My turn,” and we went out onto the floor. After that I had to give Pam her turn.

When I got Mandy out on the floor again she asked, “Am I losing you to those hussies?”

“Not hardly. When I walked in the door and saw you I somehow knew you were the one I was supposed to be with. When I approached the table to ask you to dance I was scared shitless you would say no.”

“Your fears were groundless. As soon as I saw you I had the same feelings. Let me get my purse and let’s get out of here.”

Once outside she said “There’s a motel right across the street. I’m not easy at all, but I’ve got the feeling that I have got to lock you in right now.”

I felt the same so I took her hand, walked across the street and got a room. Once in the room we stripped and then sat on the bed and made out like horny teenagers. I made love to her body. I kissed my way down from her lips to her pussy. I kissed and spent a little time on each breast, then kissed and licked my way down to her belly button and I kissed and tongued it before kissing my way down to the real feast.

I ate her to orgasm and then she said, “Make love to me Auggie,” and I did.

It was the first of several, we fell asleep exhausted and cuddled up to each other.

We went again when we woke up and then we went next door to Mom’s Diner. Not kidding; it was actually named Mom’s. As we ate, Mandy asked what I’d like to do for the day and when I said “Find someone to marry us” she laughed.

“I’m ready, but it can’t be all that quick. I have to let my mother know and she is going to want to plan the wedding. You think about something we can do while you drive me home. I have to let my roommates know I’m okay.”

“Roommates?”

“Shelly and Pam. Shelly drove last night, which is why you have to drive me home.”

I drove her home and my life went to hell when we walked into her apartment. Shelly and Pam were in uniform with the gold bars of a Second Lieutenant on their collar points. As I said, it was a surprise and not a good one. I looked at Mandy and said:

“I assumed when you said you were nurses at the local hospital you meant County General.”

“To us, the post hospital is the local hospital. Give me a minute to change and then we can go.”

She left the room and once she was gone I turned to Shelly and Pam and told them:

“Tell her I’m sorry and that I’ll never forget her.”

I turned and left. Why? Because Mandy was an officer and I was an enlisted man and the Army would never have permitted us to have a relationship. It hurt, it hurt bad, but not as bad as it would have hurt if we had gotten in deeper before finding out. It killed me to walk away. She was the one. I knew it the moment I saw her, but there was no hope for us. If I was a short timer and close to getting out we could have made it, but I was only a year into my second enlistment and I still had almost five to go.

I was on a three day pass and didn’t need to be back until the next day, but I lost interest in doing anything so I reported back early which surprised a lot of people because no one ever did that.

The next two months I silently cried myself to sleep every night, thinking of Mandy and what could have been. Then what I hoped would never happen, happened. On the rifle range a private got stupid with his weapon. He turned away from the target for some reason and his rifle was pointed in my direction when one of the other noncoms saw it, slapped him on the shoulder and told him to keep his weapon pointed down range. The slap surprised the man and in a reflex he pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through the meaty part of my left calf. It didn’t hit bone, but it bled like hell.

I was rushed to the post hospital and the first person who came to look at me was Shelly. She gave me a nasty look and said:

“I should let you bleed to death for what you did to Mandy, but asshole or not, it is my duty to help.”

“I just looked at her.

“What’s the matter asshole? Nothing to say?”

“No ma’am. Nothing to say ma’am.”

“Well I’m not going to tell her you are here because I don’t want to see her up on charges for what she might do to you, but you better pray she doesn’t somehow find out.”

But of course she did find out and it wasn’t as bad as Shelly thought it would be. Mandy just looked at me for maybe fifteen seconds without saying a word and then she said:

“How could you?”

“You didn’t think it killed me to do it? I’m still crying myself to sleep at night thinking of you.”

“You will never know how much you hurt me, Auggie. The man who owned my heart from the moment I met him walked away from me without a word? Leaving me to think that all I was to him was a one night stand?”

“I’m more sorry than you will ever know, but I am a realist. I knew as soon as we walked into your apartment that night and saw your roommates in uniform that we were toast. You know as well as I do that the Army would never tolerate an officer dating an enlisted man, let alone being married to one.”

“We could have found a way.”

“No we couldn’t. As soon as the Army found out, and you know that they would have, one of us would have been reassigned as far away from the other as possible. If I was close to the end of my enlistment we could have given it a go, but I still have almost five years left on my hitch.”

Before she could say anything the doctor, a Captain, came in and said “How’s the patient, Lieutenant?”

“I haven’t looked at his chart, sir. I was discussing a personal matter with the Sergeant.”

He gave her a strange look, looked at my chart and then he took the dressing off and looked at my leg.

“Looking like you won’t be marching for a while Sergeant, but you should be able to return to limited duty in a day or so.”

He turned to Mandy, told her to bandage the wound and then he wanted to see her in his office.

“Yes, sir.”

She silently replaced the dressing and when she was done she gave me a long look and then said:

“We will talk about this later” and she left the room.

But we didn’t talk about it later. At least not at the hospital.

Forty-five minutes after he left, the doctor was back and he went straight at it.

“This place isn’t all that big so there isn’t much privacy. I overheard two nurses talking about the enlisted man that Lt. Mandrake was hung up on and when I entered the room and she told me she was handling a personal matter I assumed that you were the enlisted man. When she came to my office she confirmed it. I’ve ordered her to stay away from you while you are here. From what I hear, you have distanced yourself from her since you discovered she was an officer. True?”

“Yes sir.”

“My experience is that in the affairs of the heart what is right and what is wrong are often overlooked or ignored. Lt. Mandrake is one of my best and I can’t afford to lose her. I will be speaking to your commanding officer about this, so do not be surprised if you are suddenly transferred out to a place far away from here. I’m sorry it has to be this way Sergeant; I really am.”

A day later I was released and when I reported in to my unit I was placed on light duty. Two days later I was told to report to the company commander. When I got to his office the first sergeant told me to go straight in. I walked in, stopped six paces from the desk, saluted and said:

Sgt. Weaver reporting as ordered, sir.”

He returned the salute, said “Stand easy, sergeant. I assume you know why you are here?”

“I have a rough idea, sir.”

“When Captain Beyers called me and told me I needed to get you off post and why, I told him I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t afford to lose a noncom of your caliber. He wasn’t happy to hear that so the good doctor went higher and I received orders from battalion to transfer you out. How’s your Japanese?”