MY FAVORITE LEIA

MY FAVORITE LEIA
Friday, June 23, 2023 by Linda Wood Rondeau

Categories: Friday's Fiction

FICTION FRIDAY

EXCERPT FROM MY FAVORITE LEIA (BY LINDA WOOD RONDEAU)

PART OF THE ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY WHERE BLOOMS LOVE

Chapter One (April … eight years earlier)

A sharp jab to my ribs pulled me from my fantasy.

Sean grabbed the popcorn bucket from my grasp and offered a disgusted glare. “Earth calling Dave. You’ve been staring at that girl for fifteen minutes. Stop ogling and talk to her.”

Maybe I had been staring a little longer than a good soldier should. Then again, I wasn’t a soldier anymore. Anything to take my mind off this sad excuse for a welcome home party. A Star Wars Episode IV had to be at the bottom of my How-I-Want-to-Spend-My-First-Night-Back-Home list after three tours in Afghanistan. My hopes for a military career ended by a sniper bullet that shattered my knee. Given the choice of a long furlough or a medical discharge, I’d opted for the second. But as soon as my plane landed, I wished I’d taken the first. How could I possibly adjust to civilian life after fifteen years of being an Army officer? What kind of work would I be suited for now? Especially with a bum leg.

Sean crunched down another handful of popcorn. He meant well. A good friend, one who never failed to email and call when I was on the other side of the world. Time zones never deterred Sean who’d get up at crazy hours just to say hello. He was the first to welcome me home. He stood there with a bouquet of balloons attached to a placard his kids had made. His was more of a family to me than my biological one … whomever they might be. I’d lost track of them after years in the foster care system, enlisting right after college into OTC.

If nothing else, Sean’s company that night was always worth a few laughs. Even if he filled the bulk of his conversation with trivia, like why most of the Stormtroopers are left-handed. “Because of how the weapons were constructed,” he explained. “Like real weapons. The magazine is on the left side. When they fire, the weapons hit the troopers in the chest. So they had to switch their grip and that makes them look left-handed.”

I cringed at the mention of weapons. At least these weapons were lasers, not rifles. Better to spend time in a rehash of a beloved trilogy than sit alone in my rented room near the VA hospital, worrying even more physical therapy would not give me full mobility. I’d limp the rest of my life.

Here I sat, a man without a future, late thirties, in Han Solo garb next to Darth Vader. Sean always liked to be the villain at any costume party, a sharp contrast to the man. He was the most valiant human being on the planet, braver than any soldier I’d ever known.

I’d watched the trio of Leias saunter in just after Dave and I had taken our seats, their long white tunics fluttering in the slight breeze from the air conditioning, and sitting in the row in front of us. I immediately honed my glances on my favorite as she leaned toward the Princess Leia on her left as if to share a secret. As her head turned, she caught my stare and smiled.

A special aura hovered around her, though there were at least fifty Princess Leias sprinkled around the theater. And her eyes, like vibrant emeralds, haunted me.

I slumped in my seat. “Sean, I think I see my future.”

“Get real, dude. How could you possibly know your future?”

“See those girls in front of us and to the left?”

Sean glanced to where the girls sat, like pretty maids all in a row. “The brunette, the blonde, or the redhead? My money’s on the blonde.”

“No, Sean. The one in the middle.”

“So it’s the redhead who’s caught your eye? All this time, I’ve only seen you date blondes, with the exception of Thandiwe, the Nigerian nurse you met at basic.”

“Yeah. She was special.”

“Name meant beloved … you only told me like a gazillion times. I thought she was the one.”

Dave chuckled. “Yeah. I did too.”

“What happened? I thought you two stayed connected after you went to Afghanistan?”

“We did, until she went back to Nigeria and got married.”

“Ouch.”

“Ancient history, my friend.”

Sean scowled. “Don’t know what it is with you and women. She was the only one you dated for more than three weeks.”

“Failure to commit some would say. Or maybe I wasn’t ready to settle down.”

“Dude. Don’t you think it’s time?”

Could Sean possibly understand my envy? A wife, two kids, and a baby on the way. Settled. Church every Sunday and in-laws for dinner. Faith and Family identified a man, and I had neither, a church dropout, brought up in foster care, and a failure in the romance department.

My only success had been as a soldier. Now what?

I had volunteered for Afghanistan—for men like Sean. Let them stay with their children and let those with no ties fight the good fight. After Thandiwe, I closed myself off to any serious relationship.

The red-headed Leia laughed at something the blonde had said, catching my attention. A contagious giggle, one I’d like to hear again and again, a call to forever, and ripping my resistance to shreds.

Sean rapped my head with a knuckle beanie. “You’re drooling. Quit acting like Jabba the Hutt and ask her out.”

I thrust a fistful of popcorn into my mouth, and a kernel lodged in my throat. At least I’d stopped drooling. Instead, I would choke to death. I could see the headlines now: Veteran dies from popcorn kernel after three tours in Afghanistan.

She turned and looked directly at me. Of course, the whole theater stared at the idiot gagging in the middle of the theater. Sean handed me his soda, then after a few sips the offensive kernel slid down. I wasn’t going to die in a theater after all.

This time Sean shoved the sharp end of his lightsaber into my side. “Well, the movie’s about to start. If you’re going to grab your future, better do it now.”

ABOUT LINDA WOOD RONDEAU

A veteran social worker, Linda Wood Rondeau enjoys golf and spending time with her best friend, her husband of more than forty years. A lover of history, the couple enjoys traipsing through museums and pondering life about the days of yore. Mother of three and grandmother of nine, she resides in Hagerstown, Maryland, and is active in her local church. Readers may learn more about the author’s other books or sign up for her newsletter by visiting www.lindarondeau.com

ABOUT WHEN LOVE BLOOMS/AN ANTHOLOGY BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

Love is in bloom in this inspiring collection of romances. In these seasonal stories, meet a young Loyalist who discovers a wounded patriot hiding in her barn, forcing her to choose between turning him in or first nursing him back to health. When a king issues a one-year challenge between sisters, who will become the next queen and who will find love? A wounded soldier attends a Star Wars marathon and finds his future. And a horse and a baby bridge the way for an unlikely couple to explore a life together.

Across cultural differences, political divisions, and historical timelines, each novella carries Spring's life-giving promise that love unites hearts because God first loved us. Hope blossoms in this fresh collection of love stories penned by these Elk Lake Publishing best-selling authors.

AVAILABLE IN PRINT, AUDIO, AND EBOOK

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