Broken Road (26 page)

“Could I have your attention please!” Don Gelding dressed to the nines in a suit and his VFW hat called over the roar of the crowd. Very few heard his wavering voice until somebody in the back of the room whistled loudly to get everyone to quiet down.

“Well, now, that’s better.” He said looking around the room and grinning. Behind him was another 6 foot table set horizontally where members of the local VFW chapter were seated. Riley had refused to be seated with them not out of disrespect but because he had absolutely no desire to be the center of attention. However, every person in attendance was well aware that the dinner was being held in his honor. The tragic accident and passing of his grandfather along with the betrayal of his former fiancée and best friend may have been at the back of their minds but tonight it was his service and heroism that was at the forefront. Sitting with Riley she could sense his unease at being there with so many people. Every few minutes he took a napkin to his forehead and wiped the droplets of sweat that were forming and more than once he went to take a drink from a styrofoam cup that he had drained more than 20 minutes before and not yet refilled. She reached out to take his hand under the table. He squeezed her hand and she felt an inexplicable sense of peace at they sat together listening to Don Gelding go through the reasons for the evening’s gathering.

“As you all know me and these other old buzzards,” He pointed to the other men at the table behind him as everyone laughed. “We’ve been trying to figure out how to properly welcome our native son Riley Favreau back home. Unfortunately, circumstances have not been kind to the family and for a while we thought this dinner would never happen. But after much prayer and begging,” The old veteran pointed straight at Riley, who looked down at the remnants of his dinner on the paper plate in front of him, and everyone laughed again. “We convinced the boy to let us do this.” There was a thunderous round of applause.
 
Don Gelding held up his hands to quiet the crowd.

“I want to thank each and every one of you donated a little something to make this dinner possible. But now I’d like to welcome the next gentleman up here to talk a bit about a
surprise
gift that’s come from a long way away.” Don Gelding gave up the microphone to a younger man wearing a much fancier suit and tie but no VFW hat.

“Thanks for having me, Don. It’s a pleasure to be here. My name is Stan Miller and I represent Gordon Garfield.” There were a series of gasps and murmurs from the crowd.

“Who’s Gordon Garfield?” She asked Riley but he didn’t answer. He was staring at Stan Miller.

“For those of you who are old enough to remember and for those of you who are not, Gordon Garfield is one of this nation’s premier sculptors and a native of Bess. While he’s been away from this community many years and now resides in New York, he still has very fond memories of his childhood on the Nebraska prairie and when he learned of this dinner from distant relatives he couldn’t help but jump at the chance to be part of this fine celebration. Boys, if you please.” Stan Miller motioned to someone in the back and soon a pair of Boy Scouts rolled a small table up to the front carrying an object covered by a heavy blue cloth.

“Having worked with Gordon for more than 20 years this may be the fastest I’ve ever seen him finish a project. But inspiration came easy this time and he’s proud to present you with the prototype of the statue that he will be donating to the town of Bess for placement near the Memorial Wall in your business district. May I present to you-
The Rescue
!” With that Stan Miller pulled the cloth off to reveal a smaller sculpture depicting a soldier carrying a fallen comrade and a little girl. It was accurate down to the last detail of Steve Rappaport’s photograph. Brenda felt Riley’s hand tighten around her own like a vice. His eyes were like frozen steel and there was a look of sheer terror in them. She could hear his breath get faster and faster. Looking at the fallen soldier that was part of the sculpture Brenda felt her own heart pounding in her ears. She felt numb and as if she were floating underwater. Everything sounded so muffled and far away. The rest of the room was on its feet, clapping and exclaiming how wonderful and how generous Gordon Garfield was to the town of Bess while Brenda and Riley sat dumbstruck and unmoving. Suddenly, she felt Riley let go of her hand and watched as he stood up, knocked over the folding chair and stormed outside into the darkness, leaving her alone with a room full of strangers and their common wound on display for all to see.

Riley pushed his way through the throng of people standing and clapping for the horrific reminder of that night on a road outside of Baghdad that was represented by that sculpture. It wasn’t until he loosened his tie to the point that he could take it off in one yank that he felt he could breathe again.

“Hey, stranger.” A familiar voice called out to him in the dark. It startled
 
him but he tried to make out the figure walking toward him.

“Who is it?” Riley asked and soon he saw the face of Louis Montgomery staring back at him. Riley let out a sigh of relief.

“What’s going on? Why are you out here instead of in there?” Louis asked patting him on the shoulder. “Aren’t you the guest of honor?”

“How did you know about that?”

“They invited me, well at least Don Gelding invited me. Quite the fellow.” He said and then frowned as he watched Riley bend over trying to catch his breath.

“What’s wrong? Why do you look like you’re about to be sick all over my shoes?”

“They’re putting up a statue.”

“You don’t like art?” Louis teased but Riley wasn’t laughing. He felt like he was going to be sick after all.

“It’s a statue of me from that picture.”

“Oh. Did you know?” Louis asked him and Riley shook his head.

“It was a surprise gift to the town from Gordon Garfield.”

“The famous artist guy in New York?” Louis asked confused. “Why would he do that?”

“He’s from here. His relatives told him about the dinner tonight and about. . .me.”

“Is it that bad?”

“They want to put it in the middle of town by the Memorial Wall.”
 

“Life size for all to see.” Louis murmured sympathetically. “Well, I can’t imagine that the VFW fellas knew about it if it was a surprise. Soldiers come home from war don’t usually like surprises. Had plenty of those overseas.”

“Louis, I can’t go back in there. I can’t. I don’t want to see that statue and I sure as hell don’t want to take any more pictures or shake any more hands.”

“All right. I’ll go in and cover for you. In the meantime, what are you going to do? And where’s Renae?”

“I’m going to walk and Renae’s still in there. I didn’t mean to just walk out on her. Will you tell her I’m sorry?”

“Sure. See you back at the house later? You know we need to catch up on some things especially after a night like this.”

“Ok. I gotta get out of here.” Riley said and started to walk away from the Community Center and down toward Main Street. The farther away he got the more he was able to breathe until he came closer to the Memorial Wall. It stood about 7 feet tall next to an American flag, which flapped quietly under the gaze of the specially placed spotlight near its base and a street lamp on the corner. The wall itself was made up of individual bricks with the names of those who served and the dates of when they served or when they perished. The newest brick of the bunch was already up and he didn’t have to get any closer to know whose name had been carved on it. It was his grandfather’s name and the dates when he served with the date of his death carved neatly beneath. Riley moved toward the brick and ran his hand over it letting his fingers trace the letters and numbers slowly from beginning to end. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. If only things had worked out differently. If only. . .

There was someone behind him, he could feel it and when he turned around he saw that Brandon Cole was standing there.
 

“Hey, Riley.” Riley glared at him but didn’t say anything. “Heard it was a nice party they were throwing for you.” Riley still didn’t say anything. Brandon seemed nervous and uncomfortable.
Good.

“Look, I didn’t come here to bother you that’s why I didn’t go to the dinner.”

“It’s a Community Dinner you could have come if you wanted.”

“I’m not sure that would have been a good idea under the circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

“You know. . .” More discomfort on Brandon’s part.
 

“Oh, you mean the circumstances where you stole my fiancée?” Riley had a hard time forming the words without choking on them.

“I didn’t
steal
anything, Riley.” Brandon insisted and Riley could feel his blood begin to boil.
 

“We’ve been down this road before, Brandon. Why don’t we just not go there this time?”

“Why? You planning on breaking my nose again?” This time Brandon inched closer and his voice sounded angry.

“You deserved it and you know it.” Riley moved forward until they were almost chest to chest. Then Brandon broke off and moved back.

“I don’t want to fight, Riley. You been through too much shit and frankly, so have we.” The
we
hit Riley deep in the heart as Brandon said it. “ I just came here to tell you something face to face because no matter what’s happened we
used
to be friends. You deserve to hear the truth from me.

“I think I’ve had my fill of truth from you and Misty.” Riley insisted but Brandon put up a hand.
 

“Wait. Please. Just hear me out and then I promise I won’t bother you again.”

“Fine.” Riley agreed and waited. “What is it you want to tell me?” Brandon Cole sighed, then looked him in the eye and said the words he’d come there to say.
 

“Misty and I are getting married next week.”

“Hey.” Renae flashed him a smile as she approached his booth. Riley didn’t smile back. She was working the breakfast shift and he’d decided to ride in with her. Lately Riley had realized that he’d been unable to concentrate on getting any of their projects done. It had been almost a week since the Community Dinner and the unveiling of the prototype of the statue Gordon Garfield, the artist, planned to give to the town depicting his worst nightmare, the night on that road outside of Baghdad. It had also been almost a week since Brandon Cole had told him that he and Misty were getting married. Everyone in town had known it was happening for weeks but no one had bothered to mention it to Riley. When they met back up at the house with Renae and Louis, Riley hadn’t had much to say and while it took a lot to reassure his friend that he was okay and that he didn’t need to go back east with him for any individual therapy or group support.

“Riley?” she asked looking concerned.

“I’m okay.” He answered not quite meeting her gaze.

“You look ten shades of the opposite. What’s wrong?
 
Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He said but it was obvious to him that she wasn’t buying it.

“So are you going to tell me or do I have to get rough?” she teased.
 
A pretty grin crossed her face.

“You shouldn’t be trying so hard to cheer me up.” He said.
 

“I just don’t like to see a good man mope like his dog’s just been run over.
 
There are country songs for that you know.” She smiled again. There was just something about the way it reached all the way up to her eyes that always seemed to draw him in.
 

“So what’s going on?” she asked leaning across the counter.
 
There wasn’t any point in lying.
 
He was surprised she didn’t already know or that someone hadn’t told her.

“There’s going be a wedding this weekend,” he said hesitantly, “or hadn’t you heard?”

“Of course I heard about it. I’m sorry.” She said, genuine sympathy replacing the playful look in her eyes.
 
He sighed.
 
He preferred the teasing.

“You’re not going are you?” she asked. The question struck him as odd.
 

“No.” he said and then realized that she was teasing him again.

“It’s not cause you can’t find a date right?”

“No. Actually, the bride was my date.” He said and almost smiled again. He couldn’t believe he was playing along.
 
What had gotten into him?

“Yeah, that’s tough luck.”
 

“You looking to skip out?”

“Skip out?” he repeated.

“You know, skip out of town?
 
Escape?
 
Get away?”

“I know what you meant.” He said.

“Well,?” She crossed her arms.

“Well, what?” he asked confused.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know.
 
I hadn’t thought about it.” He said and she rolled her eyes.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“No.”

“How is it that you have no actual escape plan?
 
You can’t stay here.
 
Lord knows, if it was me I’d have packed my bags and run already.”

“Well, there’s that little detail about not being able to drive.” He said quietly and for a moment she looked genuinely sorry she had begun to tease him about it at all. Then she looked excited.
 
Very excited.

“I’ll drive you.” She said reaching across the counter and taking his hands in hers.
 

“What?”
 

“Let’s take a road trip!” She said.

“Road trip?”

“Yes!
 
Let’s get out of here for. . . I don’t know, maybe a week.”

“A week?.”
 

“Riley, let’s take a trip.
 
It’ll be good for you to get out of town. It’ll be fun, I promise.” The excitement shined in her eyes.
 
He was speechless.
 
Go on a road trip with
her
?