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“And yours quit the Air Force when his term came up?”
“Yes,” Glory hedged, pulling into the driveway of a pink gingerbread-looking house that was adorable… and obviously littered with people. There were guys standing on the front porch holding a beer in their hands, four people in the yard tossing cornhole bean bags and laughing, and a man walked out of the front door holding a child against his shoulder.
“And you don’t know when your husband is coming back?” Meredith asked Emily… making Emily feel extremely sick to her stomach at the implications of the other woman, who obviously was quite despondent regarding her own marriage.
“Need I say more? You can’t balance a relationship long distance – and there’s nothing left. I can’t have my freedom. I can’t have Mike, and the Air Force wins every single time. How can I compete with that?” Meredith said numbly. “I’m going to call an Uber. This was a mistake, Glory…”
“No,” Glory began firmly. “You’re here, you’re part of our family – and it’s beyond time you started acting like it. If you want to be alone and sulk? You can do it with a beer and a burger in hand. I’m sick of you avoiding Thumper and Alpo’s invitations every time we get together. You can avoid the truth all you want – but it’s a small-town, Meredith. You might as well realize you aren’t alone… and never have been.”
Karen turned to Emily.
“And that’s why you are going to start coming to these get-togethers, Emily,” causing the two women in the back seat to look at each other in surprise. “Because I absolutely refuse to let you get any more jaded or bitter than you already were – and the both of you are struggling to find a place. Well, here it is.”
Karen pointed out the window towards the people that were watching them now. Glory smiled easily, nodding at Karen.
“You’re part of our world and always have been. Whether you are new, like Emily - or have been a part of it for years, and stubbornly rejected every hand of friendship, like Meredith. We’re all still here, welcoming you both with open arms,” Glory beamed as her husband walked up to the car, waving.
“Now, who’s hungry or wants a beer?”
* * *
Emily was stunnedat the openness and warmth that seemed to pour from the people within the home – and they were everywhere! There were babies and children of various ages, being watched by people.
The kitchen was swarming with people laughing, talking, and taunting each other. Men were in the backyard just hanging out, sitting around in lawn chairs, while the charcoal grill was smoking in the distance.
“Hey Kare-Bear…” one man hollered nearby, causing Emily to look up in surprise. “You brought your sister? Sweet! We can get the dirt on my boy X-Ray…”
“Oh hush-up, Firefly…”
“Thumper, these newbies were coming in when you were leaving. Aren’t you curious what they are like? I mean, X-Ray arrived not long before I left. Valkyrie? Back me up, bro…”
“Nope.”
“Hi,” a woman came over, smiling widely, with two others behind her. “I’m Melody and this is Delilah. I think you already know Dixie, right?”
“I’m pretty sure we all met at Karen’s wedding…” Emily said evasively, remembering their faces, but she hadn’t really paid attention, because she never believed thatthiswould be the circle of friends in which she would be ‘running in’now…
“Firefly is my husband,” Melody smiled. “Hers is the guy with the Stetson on his head… and Dixie is married to Romeo – the dark-haired guy tossing a bean bag right now.”
“Our group is growing and growing…”
Meredith stood quietly in the distance, talking with Thumper with her arms crossed over her chest, while Sophie stood nearby, holding her child in her arms. The woman had delivered since she’d seen her last at Karen’s wedding.
“How are you holding up?” Melody asked gently. “Karen told me that your husband flew back recently.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s tough, isn’t it?” Melody began. “There’s this weird period of where you just look around and can’t let yourself feel anything, because it hurts. You know it’s wrong, but recognizing just how ‘off’ everything is – well, that is so much worse. You have to grab happiness where you can.”
“It was like that for you with Firefly?”
“Actually, my husband was a pilot with Firefly, and we ended up meeting much later.”
Delilah and Dixie looked at each other in alarm, making Emily hesitate.
“Ahhh…” Emily said in understanding, realizing that Meredith had mentioned how long-distance relationships were hard and sometimes didn’t work.
“Annnd enough,” Delilah said bluntly, stepping forward and smiling nervously. “Let’s not focus on the past or things like that, because we all have so much to look forward to. Marisol is inside helping in the kitchen, and my own son is playing with Betsy, Melody’s daughter.”
