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She motions to the sofa. “Oh? What for?” she asks once we’re seated.
I rub my neck. “I wasn’t exactly welcoming on Monday.”
She giggles. “I’m the one who showed up unannounced. I have to say I never thought I’d see the day the great Grayson Neill got caught unawares.”
“You surprised me all right. I didn’t realize Suzie knew my background, let alone that she had visited you. I’m sorry about her by the way.”
“No need to say you’re sorry. Your girlfriend is sweet. She cares about you and doesn’t want you suffering. I can appreciate the sentiment.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
Liz smirks. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
I open my mouth to correct her assumption, but she speaks before I get the chance. “Did you think about what I said on Monday?”
My hands fist where I’ve placed them on my jeans. “It is my fault Bill’s gone.”
She shakes her head. “You’re as stubborn as Bill was.”
“I miss him.” I don’t know where the admission comes from. I never talk about Bill.
“I know. I miss him, too. But life goes on. You can’t get stuck in the past forever or you’ll miss out. And you don’t want to miss out on that cute little firecracker of a woman, do you?”
I run a hand over my hair. “I’m too messed up for a relationship.”
“I bet Suzie can help you get over your issues.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not. I know it’s not. After I went out on my first date, I came home and cried myself to sleep I was missing Bill so bad.”
I whip my head up at her words. “You’re dating already?”
“Already? It’s been almost four years. It’s what Bill would want. We talked a lot about what would happen if he didn’t come back before you guys shipped out that last time.”
“You did? He never told me.”
She winks. “I guess there are some things he didn’t tell you after all.”
We talk for another half hour before she announces she needs to get ready for work. After I leave, I sit in my truck thinking over everything she said. I’m shocked she’s dating again. And she looks happy. I rub a hand over my jaw. Maybe it’s time for me to move on too.
I switch on my truck and drive to my parent’s house. I visited once when I got my discharge from the Army, but I haven’t been back since – not even for Christmas. Mom didn’t say a word about it to me, but I’m sure she’s disappointed I didn’t come home for the holidays.
I don’t bother knocking when I arrive at my childhood home. I walk right in and shout, “Is anyone home?”
I hear a squeal before my mother rushes out of the kitchen and tackles me in the hallway. “Grayson! What a lovely surprise?”
“Let the boy go before you squeeze him to death,” my father says as he comes up behind her.
Mom releases me and my father gives me a one-armed hug. My dad is my height – five-foot-ten – but my mother is shorter than Suzie. Dad looks like a giant when he gathers Mom, who is now sobbing, into his arms.
“Stop crying, woman. You’ll ruin our visit with your tears.”
She smacks him in the stomach. “I’ll cry if I want to Norman Benedict Neill.” She beams a smile my way. “Come in, come in. I’ve got a pot roast in the crockpot.”
Mom walks off but I stand frozen in the hallway. Dad slaps me on the back. “Come on. You better move it to the kitchen before your mother gets in a tizzy.”
“Isn’t she mad at me for not visiting more often?” I look at him. “Aren’t you?”
