I could see that my brother-in-law was nervous. He must have seen it written all over my face. Now, he seems more confident. I know he is depending on me to help us get out of this mess alive. Grandpa grunted, “What should we do with this fellow I knocked out?”
Jake. I need to figure out what he is doing here. He’s not on our team, that’s for sure. “I’ll tie him up, we don’t know what could happen when he wakes up,” I suggest. While I am tying his hand and feet with his own shoelaces, Louis and Grandpa stand watch and cover me. I look down at him.

When he was younger, he had a face only a mother could love. As he grew older, it became the face I fell madly in love with. Back when I started in the Marines, I was all skin and bone, thinking I’d never find my soul mate because I felt extremely unattractive. I reunited with Jake during my first week of training. He was part of the Navy’s medical team. I had passed out from exhaustion and woke up in the naval hospital, Jake staring down at me. I’ll never forget his concerned smile and first words to me that day, “Betty… you look like a million bucks right now.” I was horrified and ashamed of the state I was in. To my relief, I lost consciousness again soon after. When I woke up, I was alone. Thank goodness. Ugh, why did I blush just thinking about him? I haven’t seen him in years. I’m not here to look pretty, I’m here to train to become a Marine and serve my country. Stop being an idiot, Betty!

I managed to keep my face in check each time I saw him after that first time in the hospital. Soon I was up and running with my squadron again. But I could never shake that feeling when I randomly saw him in the mess hall for meals. One Monday after our morning drills, someone whispered in my ear while I was in line for my breakfast. “Dressed to kill, I see…” he smiled. I almost broke his nose that day. “Is that the line you use on all the ladies in the Navy?” I blushed again. “Wait till you see me in civvies, I clean up nicely.” Seriously, Betty. Stop talking. My friend, George, was standing in front of me and trying not to laugh out loud. After hearing this awkward attempt at flirting from me, he said to Jake, “Doctor, don’t even bother. Betty Boy will never be a trophy wife. I’ve seen her after she puts her face on for church on Sundays. She’s so ugly, when she throws a boomerang, it doesn’t come back!”
Haha, George. With friends like these, who needs enemies, I thought. I try not to make eye contact with Jake while trying to think of something to say to George. Suddenly, Jake says, “George, the only dates you can get are on your calendar because you are vertically challenged. I would agree with you, but then we would both be wrong. Betty, would you like to go for dinner sometime this week? I’d love to take you out and catch up.” I am dumbstruck. What just happened? I turn around to look at him. “Erm, sure. Yes. I mean… great. That would be… yes.” Shut it, Betty. Can you be any more embarrassing? Probably. He smiled. “Tomorrow at 7PM?” I could only nod.

The rest is history. I never told anyone in my family about Jake. Mainly because I wanted to keep him to myself. In the end, things did not work out anyway. But one thing was for certain, we loved each other then.

As I finish tying him up, I glance down at his 5 o’clock shadow. Still easy on the eyes, even after all these years. “Hurry up, Betty! We don’t have all night,” Louis whispered. “Yeah, yeah. We need to decide what to do next,” I say. “Right now, we are all dressed up with nowhere to go if we don’t have a plan of action.” Our heads jerk around when we hear gunshots from outside, down the road.

TO BE CONTINUED

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