Christmas With The Marine

“Part of the job.”

“Oh,” Kaylie said. “This is the guy you were talking about?”

“Yes,” Ainsley, said waving a hand to the group of kids wrapping at the tables behind the coach. There was now a bunch of boys, as well. “I’m glad you picked up some more volunteers.”

“Yeah, I never seem to have a hard time getting the football and basketball teams to help out the dancers. Though, keeping a constant eye on them isn’t always the easiest.” Kaylie laughed. “We should be done in about thirty minutes with the seniors’ gifts, and we’ll need a few hours for the tots.”

Brody groaned behind him.

“It’s okay, guys, if you want to go on home.” He turned back to Kaylie. “Can some of those players help me load the truck later?”

“Absolutely,” she said.

“I’ll stay,” Jake offered. “I don’t mind volunteering if you need help,” he said to Kaylie. “I’m not much good at wrapping, but I’m good at other things.”

Kaylie and Ainsley both roared with laughter.

“What?” Jake asked innocently. “I meant I can keep an eye on the players to make sure they aren’t trying to put the moves on these lovely young ladies.”

The dancers giggled and whispered to one another.

“I might take you up on that,” Kaylie said. “You two,” she called out, pointing to Ainsley and Ben, “go look around and come back in a couple of hours. We’ll have everything ready.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Brody said. “I’m going to search for Mari. Make sure she doesn’t need help with anything. Matt, I can give you a ride back.”

They waved goodbye and then left.

Ainsley crooked her arm through his. “Come on, Marine. I’ll buy you lunch and we can check out the booths. I have a few homemade gifts on my list. I might find them here.”

He’d walk across hot coals to spend a little time with her, so he could easily handle the loud noise of the craft fair a little longer. “Only if you let me buy,” he said.

“Sure. If you really want to.”

“Hey, you’ve donated a lot of time and like I said, I owe you a meal at the very least.”

“Whatever. Come on.”

He thought they’d head back to the parking lot. He planned on taking her somewhere nice. Instead, she pulled him through a maze of booths to reach the other end of the cafeteria.

“Hold up, you want to eat here?”

“Yes,” she said. “This booth has the best chili pies.”

She walked up to the window. “Who made the chili today?” she asked the elderly woman manning the cash box.

“Frank,” the woman replied. “He doesn’t let anyone else touch it. Doesn’t want to ruin his reputation. What can I get for you?”

“You are in for a treat,” Ainsley said to Ben. “Frank is an award-winning chili star. His daughter, Amber, is on the drill team. He’s pretty much the best thing about coming to the craft fair.”

She turned to the woman. “We need two chili pies and a Coke. And what do you want to drink?” she said to him.

“Water is good.” He didn’t drink a lot of soda. He tried to avoid sugar and he was careful about what he ate, too. Not that he had a lot of choice when he was deployed. You ate what the mess hall gave you or what was in your pack. But when he was stateside he ate fresh food whenever he could. He’d learned to cook when he was kid. It’d helped out his mom because she had to work so much of the time.

“You okay?” Ainsley was handing him a bottle of water.

“What? Yeah. Sorry. I’ve never had a chili pie.”

“No way. Fritos and chili and cheese. Best things ever. Are you some kind of health nut? Is that how you have that hot bod?” Her eyes flashed as if she’d realized what she’d just said.

“You think I’m hot?”

“Marine, everyone here thinks you’re hot.”

A grin spread across his face. “Uh, thanks. But I don’t think everyone’s looking at me, I have a feeling all eyes are on you. How could they not be? You’re gorgeous.”

She snorted. “You’re so polite.”

“You don’t know how beautiful you are, do you?”

She shrugged. “Don’t really think about it. Let’s go sit. Can’t believe I’m hanging out with a chili pie virgin. This is going to be fun.”

He nearly tripped when she said the word virgin. He picked up their drinks, so she could grab the cardboard containers with their food. The chili didn’t smell too bad, and he was hungry. She led him to an orange table with matching plastic chairs. Been a long time since he’d eaten in a high school cafeteria.

“Make sure you get some Fritos in that first bite. It’s the salty mixed with the chili spices that makes it worthy of worship.”

He did what she’d told him and it was...good. Really good. “I had no idea corn chips could taste like this.”

“I know, right? So amazing.” She took a swig of her drink. “How long have you been in the Marines?”

“Joined up the week I graduated from high school. Best way I could think of to take care of my mom and little sister. It was decent pay, and I didn’t have to worry about living expenses so I could send them just about everything I made.”

She blinked and he wasn’t sure if those were tears in her eyes.

“Did I say something to upset you?”

“No. Not at all. You risked your life when you were nothing but a kid to take care of your family?”

“Yeah. And I’ll admit, it seemed cool at the time. Fighting for my country. But I had no idea what I was getting into. Still, I wouldn’t trade being a Marine for anything.”

She blinked again.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yep. I’ve just never met a selfless man before. You’re an anomaly.”

Her compliment made him laugh.

“I don’t know about that. Maybe you just haven’t met the right guys.”