Where Are We Now
Chapter 17
Molly
She hadn't seen Charles for a few days he'd been busy but she would see him tomorrow for their shopping trip and dinner.
She was sat in the mess eating a rather wilted chicken salad for lunch
"Well Corporal Dawes, seems your lunch doesn't look any more appetising than mine"
She stood quickly to attention and saluted
"Hello Major Baxter, I didn't think you would have eaten in the mess"
He laughed and sat down opposite her "Don't normally my wife usually packs me some sandwiches but I forgot to take them out the fridge" he looked down at his rather tired and limp sandwich opening the slices of bread and wondering if that really was ham and cheese. "Don't think I will be making that mistake again"
Molly couldn't help but smirk, these Rupert's really were something else, she couldn't help but wonder how they made do with army rations while on deployment, not that she thought they were that bad herself.
He caught her look and grinned
"So, you are off to Afghan soon I hear?" he enquired
"What from Charlie, sorry Major James?"
"Yes, are you looking forward to it, should help with the promotion shouldn't it?"
"Yeah trying to get to be a Sergeant, seemed a good idea at the time."
"You don't want to be now then?" he said biting into his sandwich which definitely didn't taste like ham and cheese but more like cardboard.
She shrugged one shoulder and nodded
"It was something to do when Charlie went off to Bangladesh and the marriage went tits up. Prove I wasn't broken" she stopped and looked at her own food "not sure if it's quite so important now."
"Do you want it to work out between you?"
"Sometimes, well mostly yeah" she looked at him across the table "then I just remember the hurt, the disappointment he could do that to me and the humiliation at the whispering that people knew what they had been up to in Bangladesh."
"All perfectly normal feelings Molly"
"I just remember the man I met on me first tour. All moral and wanting to do everything right" she shrugged again "and then years later he is a completely different man one that broke all the rules of the Army that were always so important to him and trashed us in the process."
"PTSD can do that, but you know that, you will've done the courses as a Medic" "There is no instant fix for this, it will take time to rebuild the trust"
"How can I ever trust him again, how do I know if he will do this again or decide he wants her back?"
"I think you know he doesn't Molly, don't try and force it. In my experience it's totally possible for a couple to recover from an affair however there needs to be commitment to the relationship, each other and to the process of healing, forgiveness and rebuilding trust. I think you both have that don't you?
She nodded and took another mouthful of her salad
He couldn't help it he had an urge to make her smile "So would you like to talk to me about your daddy issues then?"
She almost choked but threw her head back and laughed, then stood up to leave
"Nah not really mate."
.
Shopping with Charles was exactly like she thought, he was bored witless by the third shop and waiting while she tried on different dresses. Fortunately, on the forth shop she found exactly what she was looking for a beautiful floral print sleeveless A line vintage style dress. It was light and floaty and with her killer heels she had bought to match, she was really looking forward to wearing it.
They were now having dinner in a pub on the outskirts of Guildford.
"It's a lovely dress Molly, think I'm looking forward to seeing you in that a couple of weeks."
She grinned
"I saw your mate today; you know Ted your counsellor. He's quite a character aint he"
"Yes, he is, think that is why I've done so well with the counselling, we get on." He took a sip from his beer
"He was injured, shrapnel from an IED out in Iraq. Guess it gave us some common ground to start with, he understands, he's been there."
"You will keep it up won't you Charlie, while I'm away in Afghan"
"Of course, I don't ever want to go back to feeling like that again. I feel like me again and I like it."
She patted his hand "And I do an all"