AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He asked, “Have you ever been in a serious relationship before?”
“Not really. I dated off and on in college, but I never got past the first few dates with anyone. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a tomboy. Sometimes, I’m a little rougher than some guys like, both physically and personality-wise. Plus, my personality doesn’t always click with everyone. But I won’t change myself to be with someone. I’d rather be alone than let someone turn me into something I’m not. I’ll never be a Stepford Wife. Once the band took off, I started having occasional casual hookups when the urge hit. It was easier that way.”
He continued stroking her hair and said, “You just hadn’t met the right guy yet. You’re a smart, fun, talented, beautiful woman, and you care about the people around you.” He squeezed her body with his. “I think you’re perfect the way you are. Don’t ever change because of someone else. You’re my favorite person in the entire world, even when you argue with me. Sometimes, especially because you argue with me.” He chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you need to change, because you don’t. You’re fuckin’ perfect. You keep on being the spontaneous, challenging, adorable, quirky woman that I’ve fallen into ‘extreme like’ with.”
“Extreme like, huh?” she teased.
“The extreme-ist.”
“I ‘extreme like’ you, too, Ry.”
“Best news I’ve heard all day.” He grinned and tilted her chin toward him so he could kiss her.
They kissed briefly then settled in to continue watching the sunset fading over the water.
“Tell me about you and Lila,” Jade said. “I know I got the abbreviated version the other day about how things fell apart. But I also know you loved her enough to marry her at one point. Tell me about what happened.”
“You want to hear about me and another woman?”
“I do. I want to know everything about you, and she was an important part of your life.”
“Okay, that’s fair. You’ll need a little back story. Bear with me. Try not to fall asleep.” He laughed.
She reached behind her to stroke his hair with her fingertips. He made an appreciative rumble, then started talking.
“I grew up in a small town in West Virginia. It’s a few hours from here. I mean small, small. Basically 4,000 people in the whole county. Everyone knew everyone.
“Lila and I met on our first day of freshman year. She’d recently moved from another state and didn’t know anyone. She got lost trying to find one of her classes. She stopped me in the hallway and asked if I could help her. Turned out, we were in the same class so we sat beside each other then later had lunch together. We really hit it off.
“We became fast friends and were dating by sophomore year.
“I loved Lila. I talked to her on the phone for hours every day about anything and everything. You know, all the randomness that matters to teenagers. Once I got my driver’s license, we went on dates and spent as much time together as we could. She was sweet and supportive, plus we always had fun. She said she loved me, and I think she did for a while. She was pursuing a career in journalism. She wanted to become an author someday. We made so many plans together.
“The problem was, my grades weren’t great. Sports, fighting, cars, and blowing things up — anything else really — interested me more than school. I never did any homework, but I was smart and always passed the tests. I worked part time at a mechanic shop after school to save up money. Lila is the only reason I graduated. She made me finish school.
“I graduated but I obviously wasn’t getting into a good college. At the time, I had no interest in it.
“I decided to enlist in the Navy and maybe get some specialized training in explosives and fighting techniques. I thought I’d be good at being a SEAL and I could provide for Lila while I did it. I enlisted on the delayed program so I could have some time to finish school and marry Lila before I deployed.
“I proposed to her the night of graduation. I tried to make it a romantic, memorable experience for her, and asked her over dinner at a fancy restaurant. I used my grandmother’s heirloom engagement ring. Lila obviously said yes.”
He paused for a minute and sighed. Jade stopped stroking his hair and pressed her reassuring hand to his thigh instead.
“If I have one regret, it’s losing that ring. My grandfather had it custom-made for my grandmother before he proposed. She wore it every day until she passed. I was really close with Grammy, and I was with her when she died. She gave me her ring and told me it would bring blessings for my future bride and our family.
“Lila couldn’t even wear it. It wasn’t the right size for her. We didn’t want to potentially damage it by resizing it, so I ended up buying Lila a brand new ring and she kept Grammy’s ring in her jewelry box thinking we would save it for our future kids if we had any. Thank God we didn’t.
“It breaks my heart that Lila probably sold it and it could be anywhere in the world now. I will always regret that. Grammy’s ring was beautiful and made with love. She wanted my future family to have it. I wasted it on Lila. I have no idea where it is now.”
“I would have cherished that ring, even if it didn’t fit,” she said.
“I know you would have, baby.” He kissed her hair. “Anyway, Lila and I were so excited to get married. We went to the courthouse later that week and made everything official. I still had a few months before I shipped out for training, so we apartment hunted and set up a home that we could call our own.
“Those first few months were great. I worked full time at the car shop but came home to her every night. We’d go on dates, or stay home and enjoy each other, or whatever we felt like doing. We spent all our free time together that summer.
“When it came time for me to leave, she was so upset. I didn’t want to leave either, but I was trying to build a future for us. She was supposed to start classes at the local college for a journalism degree, plus she was going to intern at the local newspaper. I knew she’d miss me, but I thought it would be easier for her since I shipped out around the time school started.
“I kept in touch as much as I could during training. I had 18 months of specialized training, then I had six month deployments with breaks in between. I came home as often as I could, but the breaks were never long enough and, once I was deployed, sometimes I couldn’t call home for months at a time. Then sometimes when I’d come home, she’d be gone.
