“A Marine celebrates surviving, not the killing,” Adam said quietly. “It’s not like a video game—you know for every person lost, there’s someone grieving.”
“But when they’re trying to kill you—”
“You do what you have to. But you don’t enjoy it.”
Tyler said nothing for a few minutes, watching Adam’s hands on the reins. “Did you get hurt?” he finally asked.
“I did. But some of my friends died, so my injury is just a scar that reminds me to be glad I’m alive.”
And he was glad to be alive, he thought. Not just glad to have survived, but to be alive, to experience life—to be with Brooke.
“It doesn’t sound like it’s good to be a soldier,” the kid said dubiously.
“I’m honored to have served my country, Tyler, to have made a difference. There’s always a risk, of course, but if a guy wants every day to be challenging, to experience incredible pride in what he’s accomplished, then he becomes a Marine.” Now he sounded like a recruiting officer, but he didn’t want to give the kid only one side about life in the military.
Tyler gave him a considering glance, then nodded and looked ahead to the mountains.
When they returned to the house, Adam couldn’t help but notice how Tyler kept himself on the outside of this group of kids. Since he was doing his community service, the club chaperones had agreed to give him one more chance, but Adam well remembered how Tyler must be feeling—caught between two groups of kids, trying to leave the one behind but not feeling like he fit in with the new crowd, who didn’t trust him.
Steph tried to include him whenever she could. She insisted he eat hot dogs sitting on a log beside her, not realizing that another young man glowered at the two as they laughed over something. Tyler might have competition for her attention.
As the teenagers were picked up one by one, and the sun was setting, Adam ended up sorting through tack with Tyler in the barn, the double doors behind them wide open.
“Did Steph leave?” Adam asked.
Tyler just gestured with his head behind them. Adam turned and saw Steph talking to the boy who’d been glowering at her earlier.
“Did you get a chance to say good-bye?” Adam asked.
“She’s busy. It’s not like we’re together or anything.”
Adam caught the other boy giving Tyler a victorious look before he sauntered away to his own car. Adam hoped Tyler missed it.
The two of them straightened the tack room in silence for a while, then Adam considered that since Tyler had asked him personal questions, he could do the same.
“This might be none of my business,” Adam said, “but I was wondering how your brother’s doing.”
Tyler shot him a scowl. “What do you know about my brother?”
“Only what Brooke told me, that he served his time and was out.”
Tyler took down rope and re-coiled it, though Adam thought it was just busywork to keep from talking.
“My dad was in jail a couple times when I was a kid,” Adam said. “Then he had a hard time getting another job.”
Tyler’s shoulders briefly sagged before he stiffened. “He’ll find a job. I know he’s trying. He doesn’t ever want to go back to jail.”
And there was the crux of the boy’s worry, that his brother wouldn’t find a job and end up hanging with a bad crowd again, leading to worse things.
“You’re straightening out your problems,” Adam said. “He will, too. I had to confront the same thing in myself.”
“Yeah, yeah, your dad went to jail.”
“No, I spent two nights there.”
Tyler stilled, then turned to face him, his expression one of wary disbelief. “What you’d do, get drunk?”
“No, that was my old man’s problem. I stupidly stole a car to joyride.”
Before Tyler could catch himself, his mouth sagged open. “What—you? Sergeant Perfect Marine?”
Adam chuckled. “Now that’s a nickname. Never knew I was perfect. Don’t tell Miss Thalberg that, or she’ll find plenty more for me to do around here.”
“But . . . what happened?”
Adam leaned back against a beam that rose up through the ceiling. He had Tyler’s full attention—the boy didn’t even try to pretend to work.
“My parents didn’t give a crap about what I did growing up,” Adam began slowly. “But, of course, when I screwed up, they had to notice. My screwups just kept getting bigger, until I landed with a bad group in high school. I had to prove I was big and cool enough to be in charge, you know?”
Tyler nodded silently, his eyes focused on Adam.