Chapter 19
One Week Later . . .
Ring-ring. Jill held her breath as she waited for Jack to pick up.
“Savage.”
“Jack, this is Jill.”
“Jill, what’s up?”
“I want to run two items past you. First, good news about Juan-Carlos. The latest intel report says he survived the helicopter crash and is doing fine.”
“I am sorry to hear that. On the other hand, that was our mission, so that is good news.”
“And the second item is really big news.”
“Okay, don’t keep me waiting. What is going on? Do we have another mission?”
“No, Jack, it’s even bigger than that. This last mission went so well, and it was so important, we are going to get medals for it.”
“Oh, I don’t think that is such a big deal,” Jack said. “I have gotten medals before for successful missions, and I guess now I will have another one to throw in my dresser drawer.”
“Those medals in your dresser drawer . . . did any of those medals come from the president?”
“The president? You mean the president of the United States?”
“That’s right, Jack, we are going to Washington!”
“Hmm, that is special. When do we go?”
“The ceremony is next Friday. Can you get off work?”
“I suppose.”
“Good. Also, remember when we first met in Major Phelps’s office?” Jill asked.
“How can I forget?”
“Remember how Major Phelps slipped and said we should do some ‘male bonding’?”
“Yeah. He had a pretty embarrassed look on his face after he said that,” Jack said.
“Well . . . I thought, if it is okay with you, we could take some time to finally do that ‘male bonding’ thing that he talked about.” Jill held her breath as she waited for Jack’s response. The silence that followed lasted much too long for Jill.
“Male bonding . . . What do you have in mind?” Jack asked in a neutral tone of voice.
“After the medal ceremony, we could take a Hummer Friday night to Dover Air Force Base. Then Saturday we could check out the Air Mobility Command Museum that’s on the base. They have a Stearman, a C-7 Caribou, a C-130 Hercules, a flight simulator, a—”
“Yeah, I have heard about all the planes they have.” Jacks voice was still a monotone. Jill wasn’t sure if he was interested or not.
“After that, I thought we could go to Lewis, Delaware. There is an old World War II fort at the mouth of the bay that has been converted into a nice area to relax. We can take a swim, eat some burgers and fries on the beach, climb the observation tower, look at some cool artillery guns, and . . .” Jill’s speech was speeding up the more nervous she became.
“That sounds like fun,” Jack said.
“Oh . . . good . . . wonderful. Then it’s a date . . . well, I mean… an appointment. Hmm, not an appointment. You know what I mean . . .” Jill knew she didn’t word that quite right.
“It is ‘male bonding.’” Jack’s voice was not monotonic anymore.
“That’s what I was trying to say.” Jill breathed a sigh of relief. I was afraid Jack wouldn’t want to go. I would have felt like an idiot if he said no.
“About clothes. We can wear fatigues most of the time, plus we need to take swimsuits for the beach of course, but bring a nice knit shirt and trousers.”
“What for?”
“When we landed on the aircraft carrier, you had the cook make me a nice strawberry shake, remember?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“That was so sweet of you. But you ended up getting a hamburger instead of the steak you wanted. So, I would like to take you out for a really nice steak dinner Saturday night.”
“That would be wonderful, Jill.”
“Okay then, it’s a date.” Jill purposely did not correct herself this time on her word choice. I hope Jack realizes this is more than just male bonding.