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having sex ," John grinned.
    ***
    "Tricia, I've got to go to Kabul for a couple
of months."
    He said this very casually, like it was no
big deal. Tricia was standing by the stove and John was sitting at
the kitchen table, waiting for her to bring his dinner. She dropped
his plate full of food. The dish shattered on the floor. John
jumped to help her. Tricia just stood there as he cleaned.
    "Hey, are you all right?"
    He could see she was agitated.
    "No, I'm not all right. Why do you have to go
to Afghanistan? I thought you weren't in that kind of job
anymore."
    "Well, they want me to set up an office and
conduct some training. It won't take more than two months.
    John was a hand-to-hand combat expert among
other things. He was being brought in to help set up and train a
Special Forces unit within the Afghan Army.
    "Well, I don't want you to go."
    He laughed.
    "Yeah well, I don't want to go either Tricia,
but it's my job."
    "No, I mean it John. I really don't want you
to go. Please get out of it," she begged.
    Then she started to cry.
    "Oh, honey, don't cry. I won't be gone
long."
    He took her in his arms and pressed her head
to his chest.
    "John, I can't go through this again. You
can't go to Afghanistan."
    A light bulb went on for John. Tricia was
afraid for his life, not just unhappy about being apart.
    "Tricia…honey…I won't even be leaving the
base. I just train some guys and tell them how to organize
themselves. I'm nowhere near danger."
    She burst out crying. She felt sick to her
stomach. John was going to Afghanistan, a place of death. She
couldn’t take it. Mark hobbled into the kitchen on his crutches. He
saw his mother crying and a broken dish on the floor.
    "What's going on?"
    "I'm going to Afghanistan and your mother is
upset."
    Tricia pulled away from John.
    "No, you are not going. You're not
going. That's my final word on the subject."
    Mark watched silently. John looked at him;
Mark shook his head.
    "Tricia, I have to go. You know I can't get
out of it."
    "Well, you're going to have to get out of it
if you want to stay with me."
    John stopped in his tracks. Mark raised his
eyebrows. Tricia went to get a mop.
    "Wait a minute. What are you saying?"
    "I'm saying that if you go to Afghanistan,
we're finished."
    "What?"
    "I can't do it again. I went through this
once already. I can't wait here while you go off to die. If you're
going to go, then we might as well just end it now."
    John got very red in the face; he was
furious. She was beyond unreasonable. He understood her fears, as
well anyone. But he didn't understand why she was breaking up with
him. It didn't make any sense. Mark turned and left the room at
this. He listened to the rest from the living room.
    "Tricia, you're being ridiculous. I'm setting
up an office," he raised his voice.
    "Oh, I'm being ridiculous, am I? You think
I'm stupid, that I don't know the risks over there? No, if you go,
we're through," she yelled back.
    "Why are you doing this?"
    "Because, I …I don't want to lose you."
    "So you're breaking up with me because you
don't want to lose me. Brilliant fucking logic."
    She fumed. There was no way she would back
down. John took a deep breath, to calm down. He couldn't figure out
how this had gone so badly. He moved towards her with his arms
out.
    "Tricia, I'm leaving in two days. Please
don't do this."
    Two days! Tricia was livid. Did he think he
was going on a business trip? She looked him straight in the
eye.
    "Get out, John. Get out now! I don't want to
see you anymore."
    He dropped his arms and just stood there. He
looked into her eyes for some help, some clue as to what he should
do. He saw nothing but anger. He wouldn't be able to get through to
her. He turned and walked out of the kitchen, out of the house.
    Two days later he deployed to Kabul.

Chapter 8
    John was gone about six weeks when he asked
his son Patrick to pick up his things from Tricia's house. He had
hoped she would calm down. He prayed she would call or write