Free G.I. BABY by Eve Montelibano Page A

wanted to know more. But what he did at work were stuff he wasn’t comfortable sharing with anybody, not even with his sister, not even the ones that can be read on wiki. He liked to keep business from pleasure.
    “Okay, sorry, your job has a lot of top secret shit,” she commented then kept silent.
    He glanced at her on the floor, so young and innocent in the ways of the world. She had no idea what he did out in the desert, what he had done, what he will do. If he told her, would she look at him in a different light? Would she feel repulsed?
    She got up from the floor and quietly left.
    He thought she was just going to the bathroom, but when she didn’t return after a few minutes, he got up and looked for her.
    He found her reading a book on the sofa in the master’s bedroom.
    He sat near her feet, touching her toes with his fingers. “Hey, you left me there.”
    “Mmmm,” she simply replied and continued reading, ignoring him.
    He sighed. She was giving him the cold shoulder and he didn’t want that just a day after their week together was over. He took the book from her hands.
    “Hey…” she protested.
    He picked her up.
    “Craig, put me down—”
    He brought her to the bed and lay beside her.
    “So, you wanna hear war stories?”
    Her eyes dropped to his chest but went back to meet his again. “Only if you want to tell…”
    "Have you heard of ISIS?”
    She nodded. “Very bad people.”
    “That’s what I’m busy about now. To protect this country and the world from those bad people. They’re relentless and very cruel, so yeah, it’s very hard for us soldiers to fight them.”
    “You’ve been in the Middle East war?”
    “For more than a decade now, yeah.”
    “Oh Craig!” Her reaction surprised him. She suddenly hugged him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. “I didn’t know! I can’t imagine…Oh God, I’m so sorry!” She sounded really distressed.  
    “Hey…” In all his times in the war, only Bella and his nieces had given him emotional comfort. Never another soul. Never a woman he was sexually intimate with. This was alien to him, a woman feeling for him, trying to comfort his battered body and soul.
    She pulled away and looked at him earnestly, her eyes moist. “I’m sorry for even asking. That was so stupid of me.”
    “No. I’ll tell you what I do. Not all but the gist of it.”
    “Okay…”  
    “Iraq had enjoyed relative peace after Bin Laden’s ass got blown to bits in Pakistan. You heard about that? “
    She nodded. “All over the news. Is it true, though?”
    He smiled. “Smart question, sugar. Even I cannot answer that with absolute certainty but the Taliban and al-Qaeda have been neutralized, so let’s presume that the ole bastard’s indeed gone. However, it was a short reprieve. Have you been watching the news lately?”
    “Some. Yes.”
    “The ISIS or ISIL forces are getting stronger worldwide. They’re expanding from their Syrian stronghold with ominous speed. They’re now making violent statements in Afghanistan, Libya, Israel, Africa and at the borders of Iraq, terrorizing civilians.”
    “Yes, I’ve read about that on the internet.”
    “The president was not keen on getting the US troops into this new war on terror again after pulling out of Iraq several years ago but it was inevitable. Last year, the US Air Force was already heavily involved in the Syrian Civil War. I was part of the US-led air strikes on ISIL forces in that region.”
    “Oh Craig. It’s really war out there again?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “How often do you fly?”
    “Often.”
    “Have you always wanted to fly planes?”
    “I’ve always been fascinated by planes. I got a license when I was eighteen. I thought at first that my decision for joining the Air Force has been fueled by my father’s indifference toward me. But after receiving my wings from The Academy, I immediately took special and extensive trainings to fly fighter jets. I knew then it was what I really