Away From You (Back To You Book 2) (10 page)

Mom
chuckled, gesturing with her spoon. “Your father is the same way. Grilling a
perfect steak is a much harder job, but he still praises my chili as if I were
slaving over the stove all day.”

“It’s nice
talking to you about stuff like this. Wifely stuff.”

“My baby is
a wife. I still can’t believe it.”

I rolled my
eyes with a smile. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“You may be
a wife now, but you’ll always be my baby. How’s school going?”

I laughed.
My mom had always been right on top of my grades. She’d been checking over my
homework every night after dinner for as far back as I could remember. It was
annoying at times growing up, but now that I was in nursing school I understood
the importance of a high GPA and credited her for helping me get there. She
liked to tell me that I would’ve done it without her, but I knew that she had a
huge hand in my academic success so far. I really needed to get her a fruit
basket or something.

“School is
going… great. I guess. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I’m constantly
second-guessing myself and feeling like a moron. But otherwise, it’s great. My
prerequisites were really boring, but now that we’re actually applying our
skills in the clinical classes, I love it!”

“Good,” Mom
smiled, “I’m glad to hear it. Just make sure that you remember your
priorities.”

I frowned.
“What do you mean?”

She cleared
her throat, seeming to choose her words carefully. “I remember in the beginning
how easy it was to be consumed by whatever was happening with your dad.
Worrying over his safety, or stressing over return dates and deployment
extensions would really mess with me. Whatever emotions I felt were heightened
because he was gone, and if we ever got in a fight – because it does
happen sometimes – it turned me upside down. I’m just saying that your
emotions are totally valid and important, but you can’t afford to blow nursing
school. That scholarship you got is your lifeline.”

*

I logged on
to my computer that night just in time to see a message from Matt that he
wanted to Skype. I opened the program and called him, instantly getting
butterflies. It seemed like it took forever to connect us, but it was only
three rings before I saw his smiling face. It was like a breath of fresh air.

“Hey! I miss
you!” I beamed at him.

“I miss you,
too, sweetheart. How was your day?”

“It was
okay. I had a study group after school and then had dinner with my mom.”

He smiled at
the mention of my mom. He loved my family. “That’s nice, babe. How is she?”

“She’s good.
She actually suggested I give Catherine a chance since you’re so tight with
Brooks.”

He raised a
brow. “And what do you think about that?”

“I’d do
anything for you, Matt. So, I’ll give this chick a chance. But if she still
sucks after that, I make no promises that we’ll be hanging out with her when
you guys get back.”

Matt
laughed. “Okay, babe. Thanks.”

“You’re
welcome.”

“I spend a
lot of time with Brooks, he’s a really cool dude.”

I shook my
finger at him. “You better not replace Spencer!”

“I won’t.
They actually get along pretty great, too.”

“So, the
bromance has turned into a threesome, then?”

He rolled
his eyes. “You’re ridiculous. I
gotta
go, babe. I just
wanted to say hi. Have a good night, love you!”

“I will,
love you too. And you have a good day!” I blew him a kiss.

“I will.
Bye.”

Just as
quickly as my heart had lifted when I saw his face, it dropped again as soon as
he ended the call. There was no emotional rollercoaster quite like having a man
deployed, it seemed. No matter how grateful I was that I got to talk to him as
frequently as I did, it still hurt to say goodbye. I shut down my computer and
turned in my swivel chair to face our empty living room. Not much longer. Not
much longer.

*

“I can’t
believe we’re doing this,” Ellie said when she got in my car.

“I know. But
it means a lot to Matt, so I’m going to give her a chance.”

Ellie shook
her head. “We’ll see how it goes. But every time we’ve interacted with her,
she’s made me want to stay far away. I’m shocked that she even agreed to come.”

“Well, maybe
she doesn’t have many friends.”

She
shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised, since she’s always so nasty.”

I nodded.
“Here’s hoping my mom was right last week.”

The ride was
short to the Starbucks near base. I saw Catherine waiting by her car and
grimaced. My previous encounters with her had me feeling very anxious about
this meeting. I pulled into the parking space next to hers and Ellie and I
exchanged one last look of apprehension before getting out of the car.

“Hey,” I
greeted her, a big smile on my face. Fake it ‘til you make it.

Catherine gave
us a small smile, if you could even call it that. “Hi.”

“Hey. How are
you?” Ellie asked. I could tell from her tone that she was already annoyed.

“Fine.”

Catherine
turned and walked toward the entrance to the coffee shop. Ellie rolled her eyes
at me again and I shrugged. We followed her in and got in line to order our drinks.
Catherine’s long brown hair was swept up into a sock bun on the top of her
head. She wore high waist shorts with a crop top and strappy sandals. She
pulled it off because she was so waspy, but I could never pull off that outfit
with my petite frame and curves.

When we got
our drinks and took a seat, it became clear that someone had to break the ice.
Since no one else seemed willing, I wracked my brain for something to talk
about. “So, how long have you and Brooks been married?”

“Six
months,” she responded. “And his name is Travis.”

“Oh, sorry,
I didn’t know that. Matt just calls him Brooks.” I felt Ellie nudge my foot and
I ignored her. We weren’t off to a great start, but I wasn’t giving up yet. “Did
you do the courthouse thing like we did or have a big wedding?”

Catherine
took a sip of her coffee. “Big wedding. Why didn’t you?”

“We were too
eager, I guess. Ellie and her guy were our witnesses, along with our parents of
course. We figured we’d have the big one later, but I think we might just skip
it.”

“It was a
great day, but sometimes I wish we’d have just gone to the courthouse. My
mother-in-law is a nightmare. She had her hand in everything from the food to
the color scheme.”

Ellie
wrinkled her nose. “That sucks.”

“So why are
you guys skipping the wedding?” Catherine asked me. “Can’t afford it?”

I tried my
best not to let her comment bother me, but I was failing. “No, because we’d
rather use that money to start a savings account for kids.”

“Are you
pregnant?”

“No, we’re
going to wait a little while.”

“Besides,”
Ellie interjected, “Olivia needs to get over her fear of kids.”

Catherine
arched a perfectly plucked brow. “You’re afraid of kids?”

I nudged
Ellie. “You’re making me sound like a freak! No, I’m not afraid of kids. But I
am kind of creeped out by some of the stuff they do.”

“Like what?”
Catherine asked.

“Her
sister-in-law told her about how their oldest son comes into their room in the
middle of the night sometimes when he wants water or something and he’ll just
stand by her bed and not say anything. She wakes up with his face right by hers
and it scares the hell out of her.”

To my
surprise, Catherine actually laughed. “That does sound creepy!”

I chuckled.
“Yeah, and she’s not the only person I’ve heard that from. It’s like they’re so
tired that they can’t figure out what to do once they get in the room, so they
just stand there.”

Ellie was
taking a sip of her drink and almost spit it out. “Remember that thing that we
saw on Facebook about the creepy things kids have said to their parents?”

“How could I
forget?” I covered my face with my hands. “One of them said that the little
girl stood by her dad’s bed in the middle of the night and said, ‘I’m going to
peel all of your skin off.’ The backstory was that he had a really bad sunburn
that was peeling, but just hearing that part, I almost died!”

Catherine
actually seemed sincere when she laughed with us. “I can see where your fear of
kids comes from.”

“Thanks,” I
smiled. “Hopefully when it’s my own kid it won’t bother me as much.”

Ellie
shrugged. “You could always just keep your bedroom door locked at night and
tell them to knock if they want anything.”

I considered
this. “Good idea!”

“Or,”
Catherine held up a finger, “you could install an intercom system outside your
bedroom door so they have to ask for what they want through there.”

We all
laughed, but Ellie shook her head. “I can see Liv getting scared by the sound
of their breathing through the intercom, though.”

I held up my
hands. “Enough, enough! This is too much.”

“Okay, new
topic,” Ellie suggested. She seemed to be opening up to the idea of befriending
Catherine now that we’d all had a laugh together.

“So, how are
you doing with the deployment?” Catherine asked me.

I nodded. “Fine,
I guess. It’s my first one so I don’t have anything to compare it to. I just
wish Spencer was in Kandahar with our guys.”

“Who’s
Spencer?” Catherine asked.

Ellie held
up her ring finger. “My fiancé.”

“Oh,
congratulations!” Catherine offered with a smile. “Movin’ on up.”

“Thanks, I’m
almost on the list to get invited to the spouse functions.”

My eyes grew
wide at Ellie’s comment but Catherine burst out laughing. I relaxed back in my
seat. “Anyway, it would be cool if Spencer was there because then we would all get
to talk to our guys all the time.”

Ellie
shrugged. “Oh well. Spencer said that they alternate the ship assignments each
deployment so maybe next time they won’t be on the boat.”

“Next time?
Is he reenlisting?” Catherine asked.

“That’s the
plan. He’s always wanted to be a career Marine.”

“Matt has
too,” I added.

Catherine
made a face. “Travis wants to get out as soon as his contract is up. He hates
it.”

“Really?
Why?” I asked.

“He just
wants the experience and to get through school and then we’re going back to New
Jersey. We’re just not West Coast people.”

I took a sip
of my coffee and refrained from commenting on her husband’s career choice. I
barely knew them, so who was I to say anything? Making a career out of the
military was definitely not the right choice for everybody. If nothing else, I
was happy for them that they knew what they definitely did not want out of
life. A lot of people probably just stayed in because they didn’t know what
else to do.

“So,”
Catherine started, “just to be blunt, did your husbands say that we should
probably get together and make nice because they wanted to triple date when
they got home?”

Ellie and I
looked at each other, and I didn’t know what else to do but laugh.

“Yeah,” I
answered, “he did. I take it that’s the reason you answered my Facebook message
so quickly.”

Catherine
shrugged. “I come off kind of bitchy, I know. He keeps telling me I need to
watch that. I’m working on it. But he seems to really like your husband so he
told me to be nice to you.”

Again, I
just chuckled. “Well, I’m glad to hear that you’re not actually as bitchy as
you seem.”

She smiled.
“Thanks. So, serious note, do you ever get worried about Matt being in
Afghanistan instead of on the boat? Everyone keeps telling me that he would
have been better off staying put.”

Ellie
shrugged. “Just throwing it out there, Spencer thinks it’s funny to tell me
about all of the ways he could die on the flight line.”

I cringed.
“That’s not funny.”

“You’re
telling me.” Ellie sipped her drink. “But my point was that the boat is
dangerous, too.”

“Yeah, I
think we’re going to worry about them no matter where they are.” I agreed.

“I guess,”
Catherine shrugged. “But it still scares me.”

Matt

I stared out the dusty bus window as we
made our endlessly boring route to work. There was absolutely nothing
worthwhile to look at. Day after day, we passed the same scenery at the same
pace, with no noticeable variation. The color of the tents and buildings
matched the color of the sand, which matched the color of our cammies and
boots. There was so much sand or things that were the color of sand that I was
worried I didn’t know how to see in color anymore.