Dear John

Knowing he couldn't change my mind, Tony didn't bother hiding his disgust on his way out the door. "I just don't get you sometimes."

  When my dad picked me up from the airport, he didn't recognize me at first and almost jumped when I tapped him on the shoulder. He looked smaller than I remembered. Instead of offering a hug, he shook my hand and asked me about the flight, but neither of us knew what to say next, so we wandered outside. It was odd and disorienting to be back at home, and I felt on edge, just like the last time I took leave. In the parking lot, as I tossed my gear in the trunk, I spotted on the back of his ancient Ford Escort a bumper sticker that told people to SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. I wasn't sure exactly what that meant to my dad, but I was still glad to see it.

  At home, I stowed my gear in my old bedroom. Everything was where I remembered, right down to the dusty trophies on my shelf and a hidden, half-empty bottle of Wild Turkey in the back of my underwear drawer. Same thing in the rest of the house. The blanket still covered the couch, the green refrigerator seemed to scream that it didn't belong, and the television picked up only four blurry channels. Dad cooked spaghetti; Friday was always spaghetti. At dinner, we tried to talk.

  "It's nice to be back," I said.

  His smile was brief. "Good," he responded.

  He took a drink of milk. At dinner, we always drank milk. He concentrated on his meal.

  "Do you remember Tony?" I ventured. "I think I mentioned him in my letters. Anyway, get this--he thinks he's in love. Her name's Sabine, and she has a six-year-old daughter. I've warned him that it might not be such a good idea, but he isn't listening."

  He carefully sprinkled Parmesan cheese over his food, making sure every spot had the perfect amount. "Oh," he said. "Okay."

  After that, I ate and neither of us said anything. I drank some milk. I ate some more. The clock ticked on the wall.

  "I'll bet you're excited to be retiring this year," I suggested. "Just think, you can finally take a vacation, see the world." I almost said that he could come see me in Germany, but I didn't. I knew he wouldn't and didn't want to put him on the spot. We twirled our noodles simultaneously as he seemed to ponder how best to respond.

  "I don't know," he finally said.

  I gave up trying to talk to him, and from then on the only sounds were those coming from our forks as they hit the plates. When we finished dinner, we went our separate ways. Exhausted from the flight, I headed off to bed, waking every hour the way I did back on base. By the time I stirred in the morning, my dad was off at work. I ate and read the paper, tried to contact a friend without success, then grabbed my surfboard from the garage and hitched my way to the beach. The waves weren't great, but it didn't matter. I hadn't been on a board in three years and was rusty at first, but even the little dribblers made me wish I had been stationed near the ocean.

  It was early June 2000, the temperature was already hot, and the water was refreshing. From my vantage point on my board, I could see folks moving their belongings into some of the homes just beyond the dunes. As I mentioned, Wrightsville Beach was always crowded with families who rented for a week or more, but occasionally college students from Chapel Hill or Raleigh did the same. It was the latter who interested me, and I noted a group of coeds in bikinis taking their spots on the back deck of one of the houses near the pier. I watched them for a bit, appreciating the view, then caught another wave and spent the rest of the afternoon lost in my own little world.

  I thought about paying a visit to Leroy's but figured that nothing or no one had changed except for me. Instead, I grabbed a bottle of beer from the corner store and went to sit on the pier to enjoy the sunset. Most of the people fishing had already begun clearing out, and the few who remained were cleaning their catch and tossing the discards in the water. In time, the color of the ocean began changing from iron gray to orange, then yellow. In the breakers beyond the pier, I could see pelicans riding the backs of porpoises as they skimmed through the waves. I knew that the evening would bring the first night of the full moon--my time in the field made the realization almost instinctive. I wasn't thinking about much of anything, just sort of letting my mind wander. Believe me, meeting a girl was the last thing on my mind.

  That was when I saw her walking up the pier. Or rather, two of them walking. One was tall and blond, the other an attractive brunette, both a little younger than me. College students, most likely. Both wore shorts and halters, and the brunette was carrying one of those big knit bags that people sometimes bring to the beach when they plan to stay for hours with the kids. I could hear them talking and laughing, sounding carefree and vacation-ready as they approached.

  "Hey," I called out when they were close. Not very smooth, and I can't say I expected anything in response.

  The blonde proved me right. She took one glimpse at my surfboard and the beer in my hand and ignored me with a roll of her eyes. The brunette, however, surprised me.

  "Hiya, stranger," she answered with a smile. She motioned toward my board. "I'll bet the waves were great today."

  Her comment caught me off guard, and I heard an unexpected kindness in her words. She and her friend continued down to the end of the pier, and I found myself watching her as she leaned over the railing. I debated whether or not I should stroll over and introduce myself, then decided against it. They weren't my type, or more accurately, I probably wasn't theirs. I took a long pull on my beer, trying to ignore them.

  Try as I might, though, I couldn't stop my gaze from drifting back to the brunette. I tried not to listen to what the two girls were saying, but the blonde had one of those voices impossible to ignore. She was talking endlessly about some guy named Brad and how much she loved him, and how her sorority was the best at UNC, and the party they had at the end of the year was the best ever, and that the other should join next year, and that too many of her friends were hooking up with the worst kind of frat guys, and one of them even got pregnant, but it was her own fault since she'd been warned about the guy. The brunette didn't say much--I couldn't tell whether she was amused or bored by the conversation--but every now and then, she would laugh. Again, I heard something friendly and understanding in her voice, something akin to coming home, which I'll admit made no sense at all. As I set aside my bottle of beer, I noticed that she'd placed her bag on the railing.

  They had been standing there for ten minutes or so before two guys started up the pier--frat guys, I guessed--wearing pink and orange Lacoste shirts over their knee-length Bermuda shorts. My first thought was that one of these two must be the Brad that the blonde had been talking about. Both carried beers, and they grew furtive as they approached, as if intending to sneak up on the girls. More than likely the two girls wanted them there, and after a quick burst of surprise, complete with a scream and a couple of friendly slaps on the arm, they'd all head back together, laughing and giggling or doing whatever it was college couples did.

  It may have turned out that way, too, for the boys did just what I thought they would. As soon as they were close, they jumped at the girls with a yell; both girls shrieked and did the friendly slap thing. The guys hooted, and pink shirt spilled some of his beer. He leaned against the railing, near the bag, one leg over the other, his arms behind him.

  "Hey, we're going to be starting the bonfire in a couple of minutes," orange shirt said, putting his arms around the blonde. He kissed her neck. "You two ready to come back?"

  "You ready?" the blonde asked, looking at her friend.

  "Sure," the brunette answered.

  Pink shirt pushed back from the railing, but somehow his hand must have hit the bag, because it slid, then tumbled over the edge. The splash sounded like a fish jumping.

  "What was that?" he asked, turning around.

  "My bag!" the brunette gasped. "You knocked it off."

  "Sorry about that," he said, not sounding particularly sorry.

  "My purse was in there!"

  He frowned. "I said I'm sorry."

  "You've got to get it before it sinks!"

&
nbsp; The frat brothers seemed frozen, and I knew neither of them had any intention of jumping in to get it. For one thing, they'd probably never find it, and then they'd have to swim all the way back to shore, something that wasn't recommended when one had been drinking, as they obviously had been. I think the brunette read pink shirt's expression as well, because I saw her put both hands on the upper rail and one foot on the bottom.

  "Don't be dumb. It's gone," pink shirt declared, putting his hand on hers to stop her. "It's too dangerous to jump. There might be sharks down there. It's just a purse. I'll buy you a new one."

  "I need that purse! It's got all my money in there!"

  It wasn't any of my business, I knew. But all I could think as I leapt to my feet and rushed toward the edge of the pier was, Oh, what the hell. . . .

  Two

  I suppose I should explain why I jumped into the waves to retrieve her bag. It wasn't that I thought she would view me as some sort of hero, or because I wanted to impress her, or even because I cared in the slightest how much money she'd lost. It had to do with the genuineness of her smile and the warmth of her laugh. Even as I was plunging into the water, I knew how ridiculous my reaction was, but by then it was too late. I hit the water, went under, and popped to the surface. Four faces stared down at me from the railing. Pink shirt was definitely annoyed.

  "Where is it?" I shouted up at them.

  "Right over there!" the brunette shouted. "I think I can still see it. It's going down. . . ."

  It took a minute to locate it in the deepening twilight, and the surge of the ocean was doing its best to drive me into the pier. I swam to the side, then held the bag above the water as best I could, despite the fact that it was already soaking. The waves made the swim back to shore less difficult than I'd feared, and every now and then I'd look up and see the four people following along with me.

  I finally felt bottom and trudged out of the surf. I shook the water from my hair, started up the sand, and met them halfway up the beach. I held out the bag.

  "Here you go."

  "Thank you," the brunette said, and when her eyes met mine, I felt something click, like a key turning in a lock. Believe me, I'm no romantic, and while I've heard all about love at first sight, I've never believed in it, and I still don't. But even so, there was something there, something recognizably real, and I couldn't look away.

  Up close, she was more beautiful than I'd first realized, but it had less to do with the way she looked than the way she was. It wasn't just her slightly gap-toothed smile, it was the casual way she swiped at a loose strand of hair, the easy way she held herself.

  "You didn't have to do that," she said with something like wonder in her voice. "I would have gotten it."

  "I know." I nodded. "I saw you getting ready to jump."

  She tilted her head to the side. "But you felt an uncontrollable need to help a lady in distress?"

  "Something like that."

  She evaluated my answer for a moment, then turned her attention to the bag. She began removing items--her wallet, sunglasses, visor, a tube of sunscreen--and handed them all to the blonde before wringing out the bag.

  "Your pictures got wet," said the blonde, flicking through the wallet.

  The brunette ignored her, continuing to wring one way and then the next. When she was finally satisfied, she took back the items and reloaded her bag.

  "Thank you again," she said. Her accent was different from that of eastern North Carolina, more of a twang, as if she'd grown up in the mountains near Boone or near the South Carolina border in the west.

  "No big deal," I mumbled, but I didn't move.

  "Hey, maybe he wants a reward," pink shirt broke in, his voice loud.

  She glanced at him, then back at me. "Do you want a reward?"

  "No." I waved a hand. "Just glad to help."

  "I always knew chivalry wasn't dead," she proclaimed. I tried to detect a note of teasing, but I heard nothing in her tone to indicate that she was poking fun at me.

  Orange shirt gave me the once-over, noting my crew cut. "Are you in the marines?" he asked. He tightened his arms around the blonde again.

  I shook my head. "I'm not one of the few or the proud. I wanted to be all that I could be, so I joined the army."

  The brunette laughed. Unlike my dad, she'd actually seen the commercials.

  "I'm Savannah," she said. "Savannah Lynn Curtis. And these are Brad, Randy, and Susan." She held out her hand.

  "I'm John Tyree," I said, taking it. Her hand was warm, velvety soft in places but callused in others. I was suddenly conscious of how long it had been since I'd touched a woman.

  "Well, I feel like I should do something for you."

  "You don't need to do anything."

  "Have you eaten?" she asked, ignoring my comment. "We're getting ready to have a cookout, and there's plenty to go around. Would you like to join us?"

  The guys traded glances. Pink-shirted Randy looked downright glum, and I'll admit that made me feel better. Hey, maybe he wants a reward. What a putz.

  "Yeah, come on," Brad finally added, sounding less than thrilled. "It'll be fun. We're renting the place next to the pier." He pointed to one of the houses on the beach, where half a dozen people lounged on the deck out back.

  Even though I had no desire to spend time with more frat brothers, Savannah smiled at me with such warmth that the words were out before I could stop them.

  "Sounds good. Let me go grab my board from the pier and I'll be there in a bit."

  "We'll meet you there," Randy piped up. He took a step toward Savannah, but she ignored him.

  "I'll walk with you," Savannah said, breaking away from the group. "It's the least I can do." She adjusted the bag on her shoulder. "See you all in a few, okay?"

  We started toward the dune, where the stairs would lead us up to the pier. Her friends lingered for a minute, but when she fell in step beside me, they slowly turned and began making their way down the beach. From the corner of my eye, I saw the blonde turn her head and glance our way from beneath Brad's arm. Randy did too, sulking. I wasn't sure that Savannah even noticed until we'd walked a few steps.

  "Susan probably thinks I'm crazy for doing this," she said.

  "Doing what?"

  "Walking with you. She thinks Randy's perfect for me, and she's been trying to get us together since we got here this afternoon. He's been following me around all day."

  I nodded, unsure how to respond. In the distance, the moon, full and glowing, had begun its slow rise from the sea, and I saw Savannah staring at it. When the waves crashed and spilled, they flared silver, as if caught in a camera's flash. We reached the pier. The railing was gritty with sand and salt, and the wood was weathered and beginning to splinter. The steps creaked as we ascended.

  "Where are you stationed?" she asked.

  "In Germany. I'm home on leave for a couple of weeks to visit my dad. And you're from the mountains, I take it?"

  She glanced at me in surprise. "Lenoir." She studied me. "Let me guess, my accent, right? You think I sound like I'm from the sticks, don't you."

  "Not at all."

  "Well, I am. From the sticks, I mean. I grew up on a ranch and everything. And yes, I know I have an accent, but I've been told that some people find it charming."

  "Randy seemed to think so."

  It slipped out before I could catch myself. In the awkward silence, she ran a hand through her hair.

  "Randy seems like a nice young man," she remarked after a bit, "but I don't know him that well. I don't really know most of the people in the house all that well, except for Tim and Susan." She waved a mosquito away. "You'll meet Tim later. He's a great guy. You'll like him. Everybody does."

  "And you're all down here on vacation for a week?"

  "A month, actually--but no, it's not really a vacation. We're volunteering. You've heard of Habitat for Humanity, right? We're down here to help build a couple of houses. My family's been involved with it for years."

  Ove
r her shoulder, the house seemed to be coming to life in the darkness. More people had materialized, the music had been turned up, and every now and then I could hear laughter. Brad, Susan, and Randy were already surrounded by a group of coeds drinking beer and looking less like do-gooders than college kids trolling for a good time and a chance to hook up with someone of the opposite sex. She must have noticed my expression and followed my gaze.

  "We don't start until Monday. They'll find out soon enough that it's not all fun and games."

  "I didn't say anything. . . ."

  "You didn't have to. But you're right. For most of them, it's their first time working with Habitat, and they're just doing it so they have something different to put on their resume when they graduate. They have no idea how much work is actually involved. In the end, though, all that matters is that the houses get built, and they will. They always do."

  "You've done this before?"

  "Every summer since I was sixteen. I used to do it with our church, but when I went off to Chapel Hill, we started a group there. Well, actually, Tim started it. He's from Lenoir, too. He just graduated and he'll start on his master's degree this fall. I've known him forever. Instead of spending the summer working odd jobs at home or doing internships, we thought we could offer students a chance to make a difference. Everyone chips in for the house and pays their own expenses for the month, and we don't charge anything for the labor we do on the houses. That's why it was so important that I get my bag back. I wouldn't have been able to eat all month."

  "I'm sure they wouldn't have let you starve."

  "I know, but it wouldn't be fair. They're already doing something worthy, and that's more than enough."

  I could feel my feet slipping in the sand.

  "Why Wilmington?" I asked. "I mean, why come here to build houses, instead of somewhere like Lenoir or Raleigh?"

  "Because of the beach. You know how people are. It's hard enough to get students to volunteer their time for a month, but it's easier if it's in a place like this. And the more people you have, the more you can do. Thirty people signed up this year."

  I nodded, conscious of how close together we were walking. "And you graduated, too?"

  "No, I'll be a senior. And I'm majoring in special education, if that's your next question."