Turn or Burn by Boo Walker

that explains everything.”
    “ Touché .”
    “Just kidding. That was rude,” she apologized.
    “I asked for it.”
    Francesca sat up in her seat some. “You’re Army, right?”
    “Barely. Beelined it to the Special Forces but got out after four years. Been contracting ever since.”
    “Aren’t Special Forces types—especially Green Berets—supposed to be masters of working with people?” she asked. “Training allied forces and whatnot. Doesn’t seem to fit your style.”
    “I’m not the first cynical Green Beret. I can turn on my likeable leader button if I have to.”
    “Is that right?” she laughed. “I think that button is no longer operational.”
    “You could say that.” At least I’m not diving in the dirt anymore , I thought again.
    She put a hand on my arm. First time a woman had touched me in a long time. “I’m just kidding.”
    The ferry captain came on the loud speaker and asked all passengers to return to their cars. We were almost there.
    “Where are you from?” she asked. We were both enjoying the lighter conversation. “Tell me how they raised such a specimen of imperfection?”
    I smiled. “The glorious mecca of Benton City, Washington. A little place called Red Mountain. Now famous for wine. I come from a family of farmers. Three generations of dirt diggers. I was raised driving a tractor.”
    “Was your dad in the Army?”
    “No. Granddad.”
    “And how’d you turn into such an asshole?”
    “Thanks for the compliment, Francesca. You really know how to make a guy feel good, don’t you? I’m not that bad.”
    “Are you kidding me? You are unequivocally, undeniably, a monumental asshole. They made the word for people like you.”
    “Now, you’re really flattering me. I’m going to blush.”
    “Oh, c’mon. You pegged me. I’m the little princess. Mommy told me how beautiful I was growing up. That’s not too far from the truth. What happened to you?”
    “I see…you want the sob story.”
    “Exactly what I want. Give it to me.”
    “Well, I was a real good kid growing up. Innocent, almost nerdy. Straight A’s all the way through. Never got in trouble. Got a full ride to the University of Georgia to study veterinary medicine. The summer before I moved down South, my mom got sick.” I paused, feeling the painful memory settling in my throat. It had been many years, and it wasn’t getting any easier to broach the subject.
    “Ovarian cancer,” I said, trudging on. “She got bad quickly, so I postponed school. She died that October. My dad broke down, too, so I decided to forget about school entirely and stick it out with him. Help him heal. But three years later, I buried him. That’s when I decided to join the Army. I left our cherry trees to die and enlisted. Then left the battlefield and returned to Red Mountain two years ago. Ripped out the orchard and planted grapevines.”
    “That’s a very nice story, Harper. Not to be glib, but you have seriously damaged my initial judgment of you.”
    The ferry docked, and I put the SUV in Drive and followed the car ahead of us down the ramp toward Bainbridge Island. “Don’t go changing your opinion of me yet.”
    That’s when I realized she’d gotten me to talk way more than I generally like to.
     
    ***
     
    The Puget Sound was dotted with lush and hilly islands all the way up the coast to Canada. Bainbridge was the closest one to Seattle and home to many people who work in the city but don’t desire the fast-paced lifestyle. Of course, some move out there and never ride that ferry back. Like all the islands up and down the coast, there was a much more laid-back, bohemian style way of life ever-present there. The Japanese and the Filipinos used to farm berries on Bainbridge Island, but now it was an island of artists, writers, naturalists, marijuana enthusiasts, and the like.
    I had not been to Ted’s parent’s house in two years. The last time had been right after Jay had been killed. I’d just returned