Diet Another Day

firm, but the pillow seemed like a lumpy bowl of oatmeal. Thunder crashed as lightening flashed shadows in through the window.
    Later, Jessica lay on the edge of her bed with one leg dangling over the side. Not by choice, but water was dripping through the moldy ceiling tiles in every other location in the room, so Rosaleen was now sharing her bunk.
    In between crying fits, Rosaleen snored like a lioness. She'd elbowed Jessica twice in the neck as she lay staring at the red LED numbers on the alarm clock. At four thirty-three, Jessica had yet to doze off. She jumped up screaming when Rosaleen sliced her leg with a toenail.
    * * *
    They survived the first day of boot camp. After a delicious dinner of parsley and kohlrabi slathered in mayonnaise, Jessica walked stiffly toward the ladies room. The aroma of pizza from the Panther ballroom caused her to stop at the door, close her eyes, and inhale. Oh, did she want just one slice. Just one whole pie. Just one cheesecake.
    Hearing the approach of voices, Jessica opened her eyes, smoothed her wrinkled cotton capris, and smiled at the two men leaving the room. They looked right through her.
    Just wait. By the end of the month, I'll be fifty pounds lighter with long, lean muscles, pert breasts and behind, no cellulite or wrinkles. Well, maybe I'll be ten pounds lighter, and maybe my panties will fully cover my rear again.
    The last man from the room emerged, with wild eyes and pointing to his throat.
    The universal sign of choking. Jessica asked, "Can you speak?"
    He shook his head.
    Jessica spun him around and hugged him from behind. Making one hand into a fist with the other clamped over it, she positioned it in the space between his ribs and sternum. By the second inward and upward thrust, he was spitting a long string of mozzarella cheese onto the floor. One last thrust and he said, "Thank you."
    "Did I hurt you?"
    "No."
    Jessica stepped around the cheese and grabbed a hunk of napkins from the table. As she cleaned, a shudder overtook her. "You could have died!" she said, tears dripping down her cheeks. She threw the mess in a trash can.
    "I'm prepared to die. Every day on duty, I know it might be my last shift. But I am not ready to let a pizza be my grim reaper."
    Jessica didn't know whether to laugh or not.
    He grabbed her hand and said, "I'm Hunter Jones."
    He had a firm grip and Jessica immediately noticed his long fingers. Her thoughts turned to what they say about men with long fingers. She demurely looked him up and down. He was a good six inches taller. Khaki naval work uniform. A sailor. He smiled when she finally looked at his chiseled face. Clean shaven, long lashes framed sparkling brown eyes. Brown hair immaculately cut into a very short flat top.
    Jessica realized he was still holding her hand. Her gaze shifted to his left hand. No ring. No tell-tale tan line. "I need to get going."
    "Can't I buy you a drink or something?"
    Oh yeah. I'll have a cosmopolitan, and you can dribble it over me naked. "No, I have to get back." She headed out the door. "It was nice meeting you."
    "Wait. What's your name?"
    "Jessica. Jessica Landry."
    She hurried back to the conference room, worried she'd be scolded for being AWOL. She slipped in a side door just before the team leader dismissed them for the day.
    The sailor was waiting for her when she emerged. "Hello, Jessica."
    To say her heart went pitter-patter was right on target. "Rosaleen, go on ahead. I'll catch up."
    * * *
    The whirlpool pummeling her lower back was a welcome hurt-so-good kind of pain to her exercise abused body. Jessica was sore in places she didn't know contained muscles. Her tendons hurt. Her ligaments hurt. Her veins hurt. And she couldn't believe she was in this five-hundred-dollar a night suite, sipping the room service cosmopolitan in a sailor's candlelit bathroom. Well, do a good deed and you get rewarded sometimes. It was very kind of him to let her have an evening respite from the grueling boot camp. She certainly didn't want to be stuck in the dorm room listening to Rosaleen sobbing and slinging snot.
    Jessica tipped the martini glass and tickled the last pink drop with her tongue. It had been lovely taking a walk on the rich side of the tracks, but she needed to get back and try to sleep. Stepping out of the tub onto the plush white bathmat, she wrapped a humongous bath sheet around her and toweled off. A candlelit reflection in the wall mirror caught her breath. She couldn't be the alluring