Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Ford discharged at the end of his four-year commitment and returned to Ohio to be with Shayne. She just completed cosmetology school and is getting ready to take her state license exam, which I know she’ll pass with flying colors. Shayne may not have had the best upbringing, but with that pain comes determination, and she was determined to not fall into the same lifestyle her mother had, fueled by drugs and alcohol. With Ford in her corner though, she was bound to succeed.
And she did.
They’re going to be moving into a house together near the salon she was hired at. If you would have asked me before that trip almost fifteen months ago, I never would have thought my best friend would fall in love and build a life with my cousin, but they did.
That’s also when I met Faith.
My first thought had been…she’s gorgeous.
Stunning, really.
The fact she was single was shocking, but the more I got to know her over those next few days, I realized she was single by choice, not because of lack of opportunity. She was getting ready to start her final year of college, and that’s where all her focus was directed.
When we met, she was home for the summer, even though she was taking a few online summer classes. I’ve never hit it off with a woman the way I did Faith, and like Ford and Shayne, our time together was too short.
However, unlike Ford and Shayne, we decided not to pursue a relationship.
What’s meant to be will find a way.
That’s what she said to me in a tearful goodbye in the early morning before I left to return to base, and what I’ve hung on to for more than a year since.
We’ve remained friends, and it’s been both heaven and hell. Heaven because I still have her in my life. Someone who makes me smile and doesn’t mind when I’m in a bad mood after a long-ass day. In fact, she’s usually the one who can turn my mood around. But it’s the latter I find myself focusing on the most. Being this far away from her, wanting to touch and hold her again, has been agony. We spent one real night together in that hotel room, but never took it farther than holding each other and stealing a few kisses.
Okay, a lot of kisses.
Leaving her at that hotel was the hardest thing I’ve ever done to this day, and since then, I’ve thought of her as the one who got away.
Even if we are still friends.
I’m crammed between a young woman and an older man on my flight from Texas to California. When you’re six-one, it’s hard to get comfortable in these seats, especially when you can’t extend your legs out very far. Fortunately, the flight isn’t too long. The woman, probably in her early twenties, spends her time on her phone watching videos, barely looking up to acknowledge the flight staff, while the older gentleman appears to be sleeping. It’s at this moment I cave and reach into the pocket of my uniform for the folded piece of paper. I transferred it from my duffle bag to my breast pocket before I boarded, wanting to feel her words close to my chest.
With a sigh, I open the paper and smile at her beautiful penmanship.
Dear Chad,
If you followed directions, you will be in Texas by the time you read this, but I’m guessing you caved somewhere along the way. You’re always a bit impatient. ;)
Last night, you told me you were being shipped to Texas, away from Ohio, and that news hit me hard. You might not have realized just how hard, because I smiled and swallowed the tears I nearly cried but somehow managed to keep at bay. Oh, who am I kidding? You probably read me like a book. Like always, right?
Anyway, when I got back to Ford’s house, I went to my room, sat on my bed, and let the emotions I felt wash over me. Anger, because you were moving farther away from me, not closer. Fear, because every time I think about you in a combat situation, I’m terrified something will happen to you. Sadness, because I might lose our sporadic phone calls and text messages. Loneliness, because now I’m finished with school and thinking about my future, only to have you taken from me.
But all of those equal me being selfish. Fortunately, there’s one emotion stronger than all the others, and that’s pride. Like I was when my brother enlisted and left for boot camp, I’m so proud of what you’re doing for our country, even if it scares me a little too. Okay, it scares me a lot, because at the end of the day, I want you safe.
Now that I’ve had time to process the news you shared, I’m just numb. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so extremely happy for you, but I’m a little bummed for me. I feel like we were so close, and now we’re so far away. Those weekends I had hoped to steal away will be harder to plan. I’m not telling you this to make you feel guilty. I’m telling you this because you’re the person I seem to want to tell just about everything to anymore, despite the fact I’ve spent the last year living with Shayne, who quickly became my best friend. Yet, at the end of the day, I always thought of something to share with you. A story from school. The way some guy cut me off in traffic and I gave him the bird. The new restaurant I discovered late at night when I was studying.