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Forty-One
DELILAH
“I miss you guys! I miss you both so much!”
Tears streamed down my cheeks again, as they usually did by this point in the FaceTime call. Rory was laughing and making those funny faces she knew would always make me laugh back. Luke was crying, trying to reach through the phone and hug me with both hands, while my sister held him pinned to her lap.
“So when are you coming down?” Patrice asked again.
“What?” I sniffed.
“C’mon, don’t play that game,” she sighed. “I’ve asked you three times already. You still haven’t answered.”
“I— I’m not sure yet.”
She shook her head, sending her ponytail swaying back and forth. “Delilah, c’mon. The kids have beendyingto see you. They ask for you every day! I keep telling them you’re coming to visit, but…”
I couldn’t listen to the rest of it. It was all too heartbreaking. I made up some other excuse about being needed here which wasn’t too far from the truth. Then I said my goodbyes to the children and pressed the END button.
Wow…
The calls were getting harder to handle. The longer I went without seeing my niece and nephew the more I missed them, and now I was missing out on other things too. They were drawing the cutest things in kindergarten! They were playing with more advanced toys, too. Rory had a dollhouse full of furniture she loved collecting and showing off. And Luke was snapping together elaborate tracks that snaked all over the house, with battery-powered trains that ran into every single room.
As much fun as the twins were, they were still very little. In time they’d do these things, but Rory and Luke were doing them now…
I sighed, stretching back into my empty bed. My FOMO was worse than ever. Patrice and John were taking the kids to all these fun new places, including some of the most wonderful children’s museums in their part of Maryland.
But they still hadn’t been to the National Aquarium. That, my sister and brother-in-law told me, they were saving forme.
You could go down for a few days, you know. Just take the weekend.
I could, actually. There was nothing really stopping me. One or more of the guys could handle the twins for a few days, and I could grab a quick, easy flight.
Nodding firmly, I decided right then and there to go. Liam and Duncan had been on base for two days now, and Julius had spent the better part of both days in the city. Things were hectic now, but once everyone was back I’d sit the boys down and bring it up.
As for right now though…
Right now I was cold and lonely. I’d even slept alone last night, for the first time in weeks!
Julius had come in fairly late, after being in the city all day long. He’d kissed me hello, kissed the kids goodnight, then I could hear him rummaging around the kitchen for the meal I’d left for him.
But that was an hour ago. I hadn’t heard anything since.
Maybe he fell asleep.
Possibly. While the others were gone, he’d been putting in some really long hours at the Shop. But I was alone. Lonely. I could go out there, looking for him. Or—
Maybe you shouldlethim sleep.
I fluffed a pillow and placed it beneath my head. I could sense Julius had been a bit more sullen since our conversation the other night. Or maybe it was because Liam and Duncan were on base and he wasn’t. Or maybe, like my inner voice was trying to tell me, he was just tired.
It would be easy to drift off right now. To just stretch out across the vast expanse of my king-sized bed and sleep alone for the first time in weeks.
“Screw that,” I declared into the silence.
Grabbing my phone, I hammered a quick, simple text-message. It was one that every lonely person in the world had used at one time or another, to seek out companionship:
YOU UP?
