Dwight spent the rest of the afternoon greeting reunion people as they came by. He did some catching up, looked at pictures of grand-kids, gently probed what they were doing now and where they worked. He didn’t press more than that. There was the whole weekend to see if their companies were hiring project managers. He went with a few others to the buffet for an early supper. He’d skipped lunch due to flying but now he was hungry, and the buffet was the cheapest option.

After that, it was time to register for the reunion outside of the Starlight Lounge, where he picked up a program with all of the weekend activities scheduled and his lanyard and reunion placard. He was going to need that when the happy hour rolled around. Free drinks for an hour. That helped. Dwight stood at the bar, nursing another Crown Royal, and watched as reunion people wandered into the lounge. There were a lot of people he didn’t know, despite being there for two tours. The unit had been in place, under different names, for years. There was no way to know everyone. But he greeted anyone who came by and introduced himself, asking what they were doing now.

Some were still in the military—Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. Some had retired or just got out and had landed jobs with military contractors or the Department of Defense. The contractors were where the big money was, but a DOD job could pay really well and there were good benefits. A possibility. He had his work cut out for him sorting all these things out. When he wasn’t talking to people, he was jotting notes about the companies he heard about. He didn’t bother to take more than the names of the people who talked to him. The reunion had a whole contact list with emails, towns and social media links that he could access anytime.

Dwight had just slipped his notebook and pen into his sport’s jacket inner pocket when he saw his ex-wife, Jean, come into the bar. She was slipping the placard over her head and went to the bar. He saw the bartender bring her a white wine. He knew it was Pinot Grigio, and watched as she began to make the rounds.

Part of why he was here was to talk to her. She was mad about their divorce when it happened, but she was a reasonable person. He planned on making his case to her to drop the alimony altogether, or at least reduce it. The only way to make ends meet was to decrease expenses or increase income. With any luck he could achieve both this weekend. He ordered another Crown and waited as she went from the first group to the second.

He remembered them. Kiko was a training NCO back in Afghanistan. That didn’t seem like anything helpful to him, but he planned on talking to her anyway. Ian might be a better lead for a job. Network Support positions would be in big communications companies. That would be a good fit for him. He was familiar with implementing big communications projects. Soren was, Dwight had to think about it. Oh, that was it. Soren was in satellite communications. That was another good lead.

Dwight walked over to the group and greeted them. He’d come up behind Jean. When she turned, her smile melted and her eyes went icy. Oh. That was not good. She was still really mad. And that one word of greeting from her? His name only, clipped as though it tasted bad, let him know she wasn’t kidding.

The others drifted off after making excuses. He didn’t help his cause when he made a snarky remark. Jean drank down the last swallow of wine and went to the bar. There was nothing for it. He had to follow her. This was going to be harder than he’d thought. She was still ticked off. He should have realized that when she’d avoided any conversation with him since he’d left. It was going to make it very hard to ask about a decrease in the alimony. A brief thought flitted through his mind to ask for a loan, but it certainly wasn’t the time to ask for that.

The conversation didn’t go well. Jean was still calling Dawn a twinkie. Not a good sign at all. She spotted his play before he’d said anything. He had to give her credit, she was always smart. There was not going to be any decrease in alimony for him. He’d finally walked away. She had good points and he had acted like a jerk to her. He moved to other groups and did his best to put on a happy face. After all, no one wanted to talk to a Donald Downer at a party. So he continued to gather names and companies and hoped that by Sunday, he’d have enough leads to land a good job. It didn’t matter where.

In the meantime, he sat down to enjoy the band and worry about where to get ten thousand dollars in two weeks.

Next Chapter: Alternate Dwight Story Chapter Six