“Ma’am.”
She studied him.
“You’re Staff Sergeant Vega.”
“Yes.”
“The one who trained my daughter?”
His expression shifted.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you let her march twelve miles in that heat?”
“Mom.”
“I’m not blaming him,” she said, though her tone suggested she was considering it.
“I’m asking.”
Vega did not defend himself.
“That decision was mine,” he said.
“I should have evaluated the situation better.”
My mother looked at him for a long moment.
Then she nodded once.
“At least you know it.”
He stepped into the room and placed the folder at the foot of my bed.
“The lieutenant has suspended your selection status pending medical review,” he said.
I felt my stomach drop.
“I’m being dropped?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“You’ll be given an opportunity to continue after clearance.”
“An opportunity?”
“Your time today won’t count.”
Of course it wouldn’t.
The relief I had expected never came.
Instead, something inside me folded in on itself.
“I want another attempt.”
“That’s what the paperwork says.”
“Then let me do it.”
“After medical review.”
“I’m cleared.”
“You were cleared once,” he said.
“That isn’t enough anymore.”
My mother looked between us.
