Away From You (Back To You Book 2) (8 page)

“Not at all.
But to be fair, I don’t know much about them either. We’re always so busy we
don’t get too much time to chat during school. But during our introductions I
said that my husband was deployed, so that leads to two kinds of smart ass
remarks.”

“Let me
guess,” Ellie cut in, holding up a hand, “comments about you being married so
young and comments about infidelity.”

“Ding ding
ding!”

“It’s a good
thing we have each other, then.”

I smiled at
my friend. “It sure is. So, how’s work going?”

“Good. Eric
is dating the manager at the Starbucks on the corner, so I’ve been getting free
lattes all week instead of our yucky break room sludge.”

“Nice!
Hopefully this one sticks around a little longer than the last girl.”

Ellie waved
a hand. “I doubt it. He’s too picky. Every time I turn around he finds some
deal breaking fault with these seemingly perfect girls. It cracks me up because
I wonder what fault of mine would’ve caused him to dump me if we’d stayed
together!”

“Or maybe
you’re his perfect girl and no one is living up to you!” My tone was sarcastic,
but part of me wondered if maybe there was a hint of truth to my joke. When
they were dating, I knew that they would probably break up eventually because
of Spencer. Or, at least, I secretly hoped they would. Not that I would ever
admit that to Ellie, since no good friend hopes for a break up, right?

“Very funny.
But seriously, Eric has become a really good friend since Spencer’s been gone.
Not in a creepy way, but in a big brother way. Which I guess could be seen as
creepy since we’ve dated.”

“Kind of,” I
winked at her. “But I know what you mean. And that’s good. I like Eric; he’s a
great guy.”

“I just hope
he finds someone soon. His reason for ditching the last girl was that she
wasn’t independent enough. So the Starbucks manager is paying her way through
grad school and hopes to move up in the company. She works
there
full time and takes night classes, so I guess she fits the independent bill.”

“Guess so.
Do you think she’ll last?”

“I don’t
know. She hates cats, so that’s promising.”

“Hates
cats?”

“Yeah, he’s
allergic.”

I snorted.
Before I could comment further on Eric’s taste in women, my phone vibrated on
the glass end table between us. The number was blocked so I started to ignore
it, but like every wife of a deployed service member, I had an unrealistic hope
that it would be Matt. My stomach tightened as I sat upright and put the phone
to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey babe.”

I hadn’t
heard the sound of his voice since the day they left. The Marines on the ship
didn’t get to use the phone unless it was an emergency. My heart was beating
out of my chest fearing that this was, in fact, an emergency.

“What’s wrong?”
I asked breathlessly. I was slightly aware that Ellie had bolted upright next
to me, obviously alarmed by the call.

“Nothing.
Why would something be wrong?” He sounded confused.

I waved a
hand at Ellie so she knew it wasn’t a tragedy and she leaned back in her seat
and opened one of the magazines we’d brought. I got up from my chair and
started to wander along the pool deck. He was always making fun of me because I
had to be pacing if I was on the phone.

“I was
worried because you said you wouldn’t get to call unless there was an
emergency.” I explained.

“Oh.” Matt
sighed. “Well, this isn’t an emergency. But I do have something to tell you.”

My heart
kicked it up a notch again. “What?”

“I’m in
Afghanistan.”

I frowned.
“What do you mean? Like, the ship is ported there or something?”

“No, I flew
off the ship and into Qatar, then flew here.”

One
frustrating thing about my husband was that I always had to drag things out of
him. He could never just explain something to me all at once. “Okay. Why?”

“I guess
they needed a couple of guys to work here in Kandahar in case one of the jets
needs to land for maintenance while they’re out on missions. So I’ll just be
here waiting for jets to come in. But the Air Force is here too, and some
militaries from other countries, so I’ll be working with them on their jets if
they need me.”

I considered
this. “So, you won’t be on the ship anymore?”

“Not for a
few months. I’ll probably get back on it right before we come home.”

I had no
idea what to say. Was this a good thing? Was he happy about it? Should I be
happy about it? I had to fight the urge to yell at him to tell me more. If he
were standing right in front of me I would be shaking him by the shoulders by
now.

I wasn’t
replying, so he cleared his throat. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you
okay?”

“Yeah, I’m
fine, but I’m just confused. What does this mean? Is it safe there?”

“It’s safe,
don’t worry at all. This will be cool, Liv. We’ll get to talk on the phone
every day if I have time and I can even Skype you sometimes, too.”

My spirits
lifted. The idea of getting to talk to him every day had my heart singing. I
had no idea going into this life that the daily chats about our day would be so
important to me.

“Okay, now
I’m happy!” I all but squealed. “You said they needed a couple of guys. Is
Spencer with you?”

“No, he had
to stay on the boat. I’m here with Brooks.”

“Oh, great.”

“He’s really
cool, babe. I’m sure his wife will grow on you. He said she can be kind of a
pain in the ass at first but once you get to know her she’s nice.”

I rolled my
eyes. “I’m not really interested in getting to know her, Matt. But I don’t want
to spend this time talking about Catherine. How long do you get to talk?”

He sighed.
“I actually have to go. We just landed and I have to go check out my tent and
get settled. Then we’re going to the gym. But I’ll try to call you later.”

I couldn’t
help but feel disappointed. Even though I wouldn’t even be talking to him if he
were still on the boat, I selfishly wanted more time. But the hope that he’d be
able to call me back later was amazing.

“Okay, I
love you!”

“I love you,
too, Sweetheart.”

I hung up
and clutched my phone to my chest. So many emotions swam around in my head that
I felt shaky. It was like a breath of air after drowning to hear his voice
after six long weeks of strictly emails. But the crushed feeling after ending
the call made me feel childish and greedy. It occurred to me that I was going to
have to tell Ellie that I would be able to talk to my husband all the time now
while she still couldn’t talk to Spencer. A new level of emotions settled over
me. Would she be jealous or happy for me? Would I blame her if she were
jealous? There was only one way to find out.

I took a
deep breath and started back to our chairs by the pool. “So, that was Matt.”

“I gathered!
What’s going on? I thought they couldn’t call unless it was an emergency.”

I nodded.
“He’s not on the ship anymore. He’s at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.”

Her eyes
widened. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. I
guess they needed a few guys to work there in case their jets needed to land
for maintenance.”

“Is Spencer
with him?”

I knew that
would be her first question. “No, he had to stay back. It’s him and Brooks.”

She wrinkled
her nose. “Yuck.”

“I know. He
seems to really like him, though. He wants me to get to know Catherine.”

“Double
yuck.”

I laughed.

“So, does
that mean you’ll get to talk to him more often now?”

Feeling
insecure, I nodded. I didn’t want to seem too excited so I dampened my
feelings. I settled back onto my lounge chair after realizing that I was just
standing there like an idiot. I really didn’t want my new access to Matt to get
in the way of my friendship with Ellie. If she showed any signs of bitterness
towards me, I wasn’t sure how I would handle that. A good friend would be
primarily happy for me, rather than only thinking of herself.

“I’m so
excited for you!” She clapped her hands, and I searched her face for any sign
of deceit behind her wide smile. Finding none, I relaxed. Ellie was a great
friend. Of course she would be happy for me.

“Thank you.
I’m really excited, too. He said he was going to get settled in and go to the
gym with Brooks and then call me later. I don’t think I’m ever going to remove
this phone from my hand now that there’s the possibility of him calling.”

Ellie
chuckled and held up her phone. “Honey, I haven’t let this thing out of my
sight in six weeks.”

“Me
neither.” I conceded with a grin.

Matt

“How’d she take the news?” Brooks asked
when I walked back from the smoke pit where I’d been talking to Olivia. I
hadn’t told her yet, but hanging around the guys on deployment had caused me to
start smoking cigarettes. She would probably be mad if she knew, but it’s not
the kind of job where you can just take a break whenever you wanted unless you
were going to go have a smoke. Kind of messed up logic since it perpetuated
smoking, but I wasn’t going to argue if it meant having five minutes to just
sit and chill.

“She was
excited that we’d get to talk more. How about yours?”

“She was all
freaked out. Everyone’s been telling her that I was safe on the boat and not to
worry, so now she’s afraid I’m gonna get shot at.”

I looked up
at the sky. “How obnoxious. Liv asked if it was safe, and I said yes, but then
she didn’t push it. The last thing I need is people telling her that I’m in
danger.”

“It’s always
from people who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, too,” Brooks
said. “They’re not here, they don’t know.”

I nodded. It
was true. Everyone I talked to had an opinion about how safe I’d be. People
would say that no one would attack a huge aircraft carrier so I’d be fine,
which was true, but the flight deck on an aircraft carrier was one of the most dangerous
places you could be. Getting sucked into a jet intake or blown off the deck
were daily hazards of my job. In fact, right before I flew to Qatar this girl
walked behind the jet when it was turning and got blown back about twenty feet.
Of course, she walked where she wasn’t supposed to and wasn’t paying attention,
but still. I felt safer on the base than I had on the flight deck of the boat.

“Was she at
least happy that you’d get to talk to her more often?” I asked.

“She was,
but she seemed kind of annoyed that they picked me. I felt pretty awesome about
it since it’s an important thing we’re doing here and I was glad they picked
me. Plus, I’m happy to not be on that damn boat anymore. It’s whatever though,
I’m here and I’m
gonna
enjoy it or else just be
miserable for the next several months. She’ll get over it.”

His wife’s
reaction sounded really annoying. I wondered if Olivia was onto something with
not liking this girl. I felt incredible about how excited Olivia was to be able
to talk to me all the time. That’s the kind of stuff that showed she wasn’t
just moving on without me and that I still mattered to her. I knew it was
stupid to think like that, but it was hard not to think her life could just go
on without me. She was so independent. She always had something to do or
somewhere to go so she wasn’t just sitting at home and pining over me.

We got
directions to the tent that we would be occupying for the next several months.
When I first heard that we would be staying in a tent, I pictured something
that would be found on a camping trip. Instead, it was a large room with space
for about twenty guys. It just happened to have canvas walls, so I guessed it
was still considered a tent. I chose the bottom bunk closest to the door and
threw my duffle on the ground next to it. The tent in Kandahar was a lot better
than squeezing into one of the coffin-sized racks on the ship. There was so
little room above my bed on the ship that when I rolled over in the middle of
the night I would hit my shoulder on the bed above mine. I nodded approvingly
as I surveyed my new surroundings.
Much, much better.

Brooks wasted
no time in getting ready for the gym so I started to change over. I wondered
what Olivia was doing, since I hadn’t even asked when I talked to her. I knew
from her emails that she was swamped with school a lot and that she hung out
with Ellie whenever she was free. I hated that Spencer was still on the boat
while I got to be here. Brooks was a nice guy and everything, but I would’ve
traded him for Spencer in a heartbeat.

“You ready?”
Brooks asked as he approached from his bunk across from mine.

“Yeah,” I
answered, grabbing my towel, phone, and headphones. I told myself that things
were starting to look up.