Page 18 of Diamonds in the Dark
“It’s over now, thank God.” he whispers.
I shake my head. I look over at him and see raw anger flashing in his eyes, but there is also a gentleness that is aimed at me.
“Gwen, I want to kill this bastard right now…I do not believe that any man should treat you, or any woman, the way he has treated you. It makes me sick,” he says, bitterly.
“Please, don’t even entertain that idea. Edward is not worth going to jail or prison over, and like you just said, it’s over now. I have a chance at a new beginning. I also quit my job today so I could cut all ties with anything that has any association with him.”
“Well, for that I am relieved,” he says tenderly. He looks down at our hands still clasping together and gives a little squeeze but doesn't let go. We sit in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. The only noise in the entire place is the humming of the refrigerator in the next room. Breaking the silence and surprising me, he speaks. “I have a similar story…”
Chapter 15
Asher
Listening to Gwen's story broke my heart. Seeing the pain on her face as she told it was even worse. I cannot imagine how any man could treat her, or any woman for that matter, in such a manner. There is something extraordinary about Gwen. I haven’t quite figured out what it is or why I am so drawn to her, but there is something special there. I am pleased she opened up to me, although I know it killed her inside to tell me the story. I am still a stranger to her, but yet she trusted me enough to open up to me about something so personal. I feel I now owe her my own story. She gave me a part of herself and the least I can do is give her this small part of me. I have never told anyone about Carey, not even my parents or Zach. They knew I had a girlfriend and wanted to meet her, but that never happened. I never told them what happened that caused us to split up. She was my own dirty little secret. It was a story that I never wanted to tell anyone. She played me for a fool.
I look into Gwen’s expectant eyes, and she is urging me to continue in that look. I swallow and look away, trying to collect my thoughts. I have tried for so long to block this part of my past out, and here I am fixing to relive it all again. I am going to open up all of those old wounds and let them bleed in front of a person I barely know. This is something about myself I can give Gwen though, and I think she needs to hear my story. She just did the same for me. I have so many secrets that I have to hide, giving her this little piece of me may give me a bit of relief.
“Well,” I whisper. “I guess I need to get started. I hope you have plenty of time because this could take a while. It's a pretty long story if I tell it from the beginning.”
She nods her head. “Asher, I have as long as it takes. If it’s too painful, you don’t have to tell me at all. I can tell it’s cutting you deep just thinking about it. I can see it in your eyes.”
I give her a weak smile to assure her that I am fine. “The eyes are the window to the soul, you know? I have never told anyone about Carey, not even my family. They knew I was seeing someone, but that's about it. I was too devastated, and I blamed myself for what happened. I know it wasn't my fault now, but then, I couldn't stop blaming myself for what happened in the end,” I explain. I sigh and dive into my story…
“I had just finished Basic Combat Training for the Army. I was sent straight to Advanced Individual Training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. I was there for a year and eight months; I think it was. One night, some of my roommates wanted to go out to dinner. We were all sick of the restaurants and mess hall food on base, so we decided to try a little place right off the base that was well known for their home cooked meals. I think we all were missing authentic, home cooked meals at this point, so this place sounded amazing to us. We went in and took a seat. It was the kind of place where you don’t have a hostess. You sat where you could, or you waited until a table came available and hoped you could get to it first. As soon as we were able to get a table, I noticed this girl waitressing at some tables near us staring our way. She was not beautiful by some standards. Cute is more the word I would use in her case, kind of short with flaxen colored hair that was cut into a neat bob. Every time I looked up from my menu, she was staring at me. Her sparkling, emerald eyes almost knocked me breathless. I had never in my life seen that color of green eyes before. Of course, I never will again either. She wore colored contacts to draw attention to her eyes. Her eyes were actually a washed-out green that were not nearly as stunning. She finally realized she had my attention and smiled, and that smile lit up the entire room. She walked over to our table, and come to find out, she was also our waitress. Through the entire meal she and I kept making eye contact and sharing shy smiles. I will tell you now, I had not dated, ever. I took friends to prom, girls I had known my entire life. Flirting and such was new to me.
When it was time to leave, she brought each of us our checks and on the back of mine was a phone number. I could only assume it was hers. I looked around for her and she was nowhere to be found. It was like she had disappeared as soon as she laid our checks down on the table. I wrote the number on a piece of paper I had in my pocket in case the lady running the register kept the bill, which she did. We had walked to the restaurant because none of us had our vehicles with us at AIT. As we were walking back to base, I showed one of the guys the number and he laughed.
“Ash man, take my advice bro, do not call that chick. All these girls around here are looking for a military man to save them from themselves and to take care of them. Don’t try to be their knight in shining armor, you will get burned. If that was Carey, and I am fairly sure it was, she is not the type of girl you want to get messed up with. I have heard things about her. Several of the guys around here eat at that restaurant and they talk. I have heard she is easy if you know what I mean.”
I realized I had no idea what her name was. I was so caught up in the inconspicuous flirting, I had not paid any attention to her name tag…if she had even had one on. The only thing on the check had been a number with no name, which seemed a little weird. Why would you give someone your phone number, but not your name?
I debated calling her, but everything my buddy had said on the walk home kept coming back to me. I decided not to call and threw the paper in the trash. I wasn’t sure if I wanted a girl in my life right then anyway. Hell, I wasn’t sure where I would end up after AIT. It could have been anywhere, even overseas. Starting a relationship at that point in my life seemed a little ridiculous and I wasn't looking for fun just to pass the time.
A few weeks after I had thrown the number away, me and my buddies decided to go exploring off base one Saturday. We ended up back at that little restaurant for lunch. A part of me hoped she was working, another part hoped she wasn’t, so I didn’t have to see her again. As my luck would have it, not only was she there, she was our waitress once more. This time I looked at her name tag. Her name was Carey. Throughout the entire meal she kept doing little things trying to get my attention. I purposely ignored her. I didn’t know what to do with a girl like her. I had my warning. If I had only heeded that warning…
When we got up to go pay, she tapped me on the shoulder, and handed me a slip of paper. This time it had her name and phone number on it. “Call me, soldier,” was all she said before she sashayed away. I wanted to laugh because that sounded like something out of an old war movie. It was funny, but also witless. All of my buddies were laughing and making fun of her. Like I said before, she had made a name for herself with the soldiers, and they thought it was hilarious how she was throwing herself at me. It was a little embarrassing to be the one that she had focused her attention on.
The next few weeks were so busy, I had forgotten about the slip of paper. I was cleaning out my pockets to do my laundry one afternoon and found it wadded up. My first instinct was to throw it away, but I was feeling lonely. While I was doing my laundry, I kept fidgeting with the piece of paper. Once all my laundry was finished, I decided calling her wouldn’t hurt anything and maybe even dinner together would be okay. I went to the pay phone in the commons room and dialed the number. I thought she wasn’t going to answer and as I was fixing to replace the handset, I heard a breathless “Hello?” I put the phone back to my ear.
“Is this Carey?” I asked.
“Yes, may I ask who’s calling?”
I laughed; I had just realized I had never told her my name. “This is Asher,” I say.
“Okay, well hello Asher. Do I know you?”
“Actually, yes and no. You gave me your number at the restaurant…twice. I was calling to see if you would like to maybe go to a movie or something?” I spit it out before I lost my nerve and ended up just hanging up the phone.
“Uh, yeah, sure. When do you want to go? I am free pretty much anytime. I choose my own hours at work.”
“How about we go now?” I threw it out before I even knew what I was saying.
She giggled and it was a nice, sweet sound. “Okay, sure. I just need time to get ready. Where do you want to meet?”
I had no idea where to meet or what to do. I didn’t even know what movies were showing. I felt like an idiot. I was not prepared for this at all.
“Asher, are you there?” She asked.
