CHAPTER 2: THE WAITING GAME

Mary was in the waiting room at the hospital. She was nervously waiting for Monica's surgery to end. Pat had walked in and joined her, along with Marcie. They decided to keep her company during that difficult time. Marcie had the day off from the Bronze Beagle, and Pat had someone covering for her at Ray's, so they both could visit her and see how Monica was doing.

"How are you holding up, Mare?" asked Pat.

"Honestly, I'm a wreck, guys," said Mary.

"To be fair, it's not like it's open heart surgery," said Marcie. "It is a mastectomy. Not to make light of the situation, but the cancer aside, she'll be fine."

"You're right, Marcie," Mary replied, "but it still isn't easy. I love that woman so much, I don't know what I'd do without her."

"We know how you feel about Monica, Mare," assured Pat. "It's just like how I feel about Chuck, and Marcie feels about Ted."

"Speaking of, when are we going to meet your Irish beau, Marcie?" asked Mary.

"He actually emailed me the other day," Marcie responded. "He says he has a surprise for me come Christmas."

"Intriguing," said Pat.

"How about you, Pat?" Mary continued. "What's been going on with your man?"

"Chuck's been pretty busy dealing with this whole situation with that soldier that went AWOL," said Pat. "The guy named Kevin is currently dealing with a court martial right now."

"Well, he did try to rob a bank, sir," said Marcie. "In addition to desertion."

"True, but Chuck's been kind of wiped from this ordeal," Pat continued. "I'll bet he'll be glad when it's all done."

"I know he will, Pat," agreed Mary. At that moment, the doctor came in where the ladies were seated.

"Ms. Young?" the doctor began. "The mastectomy was a success. Ms. Woodburn is in recovery right now. She's still out, but you're welcome to go see her."

"Thank you, doctor," said Mary.

"We'll wait for you here, Mare?" said Pat.

"Okay, guys," Mary replied. She then followed the doctor to where Monica was.

Elsewhere, Kevin was with his attorney going over his case. They were working on a temporary insanity defense in the case of his desertion. The court martial would ignore the events involving the robbery and would let the court in Billings deal with those charges, and instead focus on the desertion charges in this case.

"I think I can convince the military tribunal that you were temporarily out of your mind when you went AWOL," said the lawyer. Kevin was worlds away when he was speaking. He wasn't listening to a word he was saying, instead thinking about what he had done and how he had gotten into this predicament. He knew he had no one else to blame but himself. His life was over, he feared. There was no coming back from this. Kevin, as it seemed, was at the end of his rope.

NEXT CHAPTER: THE EASY WAY OUT