A war within

4) Luke

Luke went on with his day. He got dressed and went to have breakfast before letting stella out. Luke looked out the window to see a strange man walking up the grass. He put his bowl down and went to the front door and pulled it open just as he the man was about to knock.

"Good morning Luke! You don't know me. But I know you!" He spoke in a very soft voice. "anyways I'm here to see your grandma, is she around?"

Luke looked puzzled and spoke "I'm sorry no she isn't. She's in the hospital. She had quite a night last night. If it wasn't for ole Stella I don't know how the other outcome would've turned out" but Luke knew how the outcome would've turned out.

Stella ran up to the man and rolled on back until he petted her. The man laughed and spoke "my name is Garret. And I would love to go see your grandma in the hospital if that is alright with you?"

Luke pondered on the ideal. He couldn't go and see her since he had a lot of work to do at the house. He knew Garret and his grandma had something going on.

Luke spoke "yeah go ahead. Can you tell her that I will be up there later?"

Garret walked closer up to Luke to shake his hand and spoke "sure. It was nice meeting you Luke. Take care ya here?"

Luke spoke "nice meeting you as well. Take care of my grandma." With an extra wink from Garrett, Luke called stella in the house as Garrett pulled away for there property before letting stella out again.

Luke grabbed the tools out of the shed and headed to the fence to start rebuilding it. It was an old Picket fence and needed to be torn down. But he promised his grandma rose that he would keep it up and rebuild it.

Luke cracked open a beer just as Stella starting barking once again. Taking a swig of his beer he walked to the front of the house and seen candy sitting there, petting Stella.

Candy was one of Luke's military buddies. She was a beautiful woman and Everytime she mentioned she was in the military men would back away from her. As if she was dirt. Candy was rough, once you get to know her see was just as sweet as her name.

Candy called out to Luke "hey buddy. What are you up to today? I left a message on your cell. But never heard anything back."

Luke let out a Hardy laugh and spoke "yeah I'm just working on the fence and repairing some other things around this house. You wanna help?"

Stella got up and bought the ball back to candy, throwing it far into a mud hole. "good thing I brought my overalls then huh?!"

Candy walked over to Luke giving him a kiss on the cheek and high fiving him. Something that was a tradition even in the military which ended in him smacking her butt and getting punched in the arm.

Luke and candy both laughed and hugged each other. Candy spoke " how does it feel to finally be out of the army?"

Luke looked at her sideways. A part of him missed his battle brothers while another part of him was happy to be back home. Luke spoke "I'm torn really" with a massive shrug of the shoulders candy got the hint he didn't wanna talk about it.

Stella came running back to candy dropping the ball covered in mud and dog drool, Luke look and Stella and let out a big laugh. Stella cocked her head to the side and barked at Luke. As if Stella knew why he was laughing.

Luke petted Stella who was covered in mud, dirt and grass and shook his head. Luke spoke "I'll be right back don't throw that ball yet"

Luke walked over to the hose and turned on the water wetting his hands, he crinked up the hose and sprayed candy with it.

Candy gave him the look. The look that meant he was in trouble and if he didn't run with the hose he was going to get beat with it.