Chapter 16 - The Empty ChairMonths later, Lena returned to the Fort Halbrook mess hall.
The room looked almost unchanged.
Same fluorescent lights.
Same coffee station.
Same rows of tables.
But Vaughn’s old table remained strangely unpopular.
Soldiers walked around it.
Lena carried her tray directly there.
Pierce was waiting.
So was Ruiz.
His damaged wrist rested inside a brace.
Lena stopped.
“I thought you hated this place.”
“I do.”
Ruiz looked at Pierce.
“But apparently somebody owes me lunch.”
Pierce almost smiled.
Ruiz did not forgive him.
Not completely.
Maybe not ever.
But he pulled out a chair.
Pierce sat.
Then a new private approached.
She was young.
Nervous.
Clearly uncertain where she belonged.
“Is anyone sitting here?”
Lena looked around the table.
“No.”
The soldier sat.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody recorded her.
May you like
Nobody asked whether she had chosen the wrong table.
For once, an ordinary lunch felt revolutionary.
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