Freedom of Love (Letter From Home #2)(13)

Chastising myself for looking at her that way, I finally gave up when I realized that the woman was now an object of my fantasies as well as a pen-pal who loved books. I went through some of her pictures, but it seemed as though she had not updated in a while. There was one of her with a younger teenager, tagged as her sister. Clicking back on her profile picture, I hit print. Yeah, it’s official…I must be fifteen f*ckin’ years old!

Her profile listed her job as a waitress at a chain restaurant and also a student at a local community college. That’s odd…she hasn’t updated this to list working in a library. Scanning back through her posts I observed that her last update was almost a year ago.

Rubbing my chin, I found her disappearance from social media to be surprising but, then, I was hardly a social media hog. Clicking over to my profile, I realized I hadn’t update in months either. Chuckling, I signed off and picked up the picture of her from the printer. Carefully folding it, I headed back to my tent.



Two weeks later, as I got off duty, Todd called out as he reported in. “Hey, I was told to let you know the MWR got in a box. They said you’d be interested.”

A smile replaced my normally taciturn expression and I thanked him. Seeing him stare at me strangely, I asked, “What?”

“Just never saw you smile so big! I thought maybe it was due to that girl you’ve been writing to.”

Flipping him off as he walked into the Dustoff command center laughing, I hustled through the summer sun to the MWR tent. Afghanistan was now securely into the hot weather, but I knew the real scorchers were to come. Walking into the cooler MWR tent, my gaze landed on the worker behind the desk. I called out my greeting but before I could ask about the box, he was already hustling over, a big smile on his face.

“Sergeant Molina! I’m glad you came by! We’ve got the box of books in that you said to be on the lookout for. In fact, I haven’t had time to open it yet, so I’ll let you do the honors.”

Taking the scissors from him, I stalked over to the table where the large box was located and slit the top. Opening it carefully, I peeked in, seeing it was packed just as neatly as the others had been. Lifting out the top books, I noticed several mysteries that Molly and I had discussed. And, as a bonus, there was an envelope with SGT Brody Molina written on the front.

Fighting the urge to rip it open immediately, I shoved it into my pocket and finished unpacking the books. Stacking them on the table, I choose the ones I was interested in reading first and checked them out.

Waving to the MWR worker as I was leaving, he called out, “Did you get what you wanted?”

Patting my pocket holding Molly’s letter, I grinned, “Yeah, sure did.”



Dear Brody,

I know we email all the time, but there is something special about a handwritten note and I wanted to send this to you in a box of books. It was a risk…so I hope you are the one getting this! I have to pay for internet access so sometimes writing a letter will be easier for me.

What do you want to do when you get out of the Army? As a medic I would think that there is so much you could do with your medical knowledge. You must be so smart! I was a good student in high school and not too bad in my community college courses, but I still like to just curl up with a good book. Why can’t someone pay us just to read? (just kidding).

When I was younger, my mom would always say that I had my nose stuck in a book, and I guess she wasn’t wrong. But I love the feeling of being transported to another time and place. And with mysteries, I love the sense of suspense…wondering what’s going to happen. I have to confess, though, that I am a sucker for a happy ending. I hate it when a book has a sad ending or one that leaves me dissatisfied.

I hope you noticed the books I packed for you (and others of course). I included as many mysteries as I could get my hands on. I added both thrillers—some psychological, some who-done-its—and even a couple of romantic suspense books (don’t laugh – they’re good!)

I’ll close for now. Can’t wait to hear from you.

Your friend,

Molly

I felt the smile creasing my face as my eyes roved over her words. Now that I had an image to go with her letter, it was so easy to see Molly’s quick grin and sparkling blue eyes as she wrote the words. It was strange to feel a warmth deep inside, thinking about the amount of time she had taken to pick out books just for me and write the note she snuck in hoping I’d be the one to get to it first.

Leaning back against my pillow, propped next to the headboard, I held her picture in one hand with her letter in the other. We’d been emailing for months but seeing her neat, cursive writing made her seem so much more real.

How easy would it be to stop by Charlottesville when I get out? A month prior, that thought would have shocked me, but now it seemed right. Friends…just friends…for now. Reading the letter over again, I realized she had not included her mailing address. Oh, of course not, since there was the possibility someone else would have read it first. I’d ask her in my next email.



Todd walked in, falling down on the bunk across from me, an open box in his hands. I looked over, envious as he pulled out a bag of cookies.

“Your mom?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Grinning through a large bite, he nodded and tossed the bag to me after taking another one out. “Hell, yeah. And damn, if she doesn’t make the best cookies!”