She woke me up. All I’ll say is that her way beat the hell out of Reveille. We lay there afterward for a long time, just enjoying the feeling of closeness. I drank in the bliss of clean sheets and the soft, warm weight of her body against me, her head resting on my chest. I thought again how lucky I was. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s not like I don’t enjoy it, you know,” she replied. “I don’t mean that. I mean thanks for standing up to Gunny Taylor and not dropping me like a live grenade. It means a lot.” “Gunny Taylor was nothing. You wouldn’t believe the disapproval I have to put up with from my family.” “Really?” She sat up, looking at me intensely. “You have no idea what it’s like. Your parents are probably proud of you.” “Yours aren’t? You’re a damn good Marine.” “That doesn’t matter. I’m a girl. My family is traditional. Girls grow up to be nuns or mothers. They can’t believe I’d want to waste my life as a Marine. My brother Anthony is an Army Ranger.
