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The ride there wasn’t that bad, though, since there was no traffic at this time of the evening, so I just hooked my phone up to Bluetooth and listened to my playlist.It made the car ride a lot more tolerable.
When I opened the gate to the field, I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t an empty field.Deacon was nowhere in sight.As I kept walking, I heard a woman’s voice exclaim, “Colt.”I spun around and there she was sitting on the bleachers, her legs crossed and purse on her lap.
I hadn’t seen Christina since the night before my send-off, the night I told I didn’t want her to come and that I didn’t want her to write.“Christina, we’re done.I’m moving on and you should, too,” I remembered saying to her.The words cut like a knife, and it didn’t sound any nicer in my memories now than it did then on the bench outside my parent’s house.
Since I didn’t move, Christina got up and began walking to where I was on the field.It was like my feet were planted firmly on the ground and nothing, not even an earthquake, was going to make me move.Honestly, seeing Christina sort of felt like seeing a ghost.
She immediately enveloped me in an all-out bear hug, her long blonde hair draping over my shoulders.I could feel her fake nails dig into my back as she gripped me tight.“Oh, Colt, it’s been so long,” she said.
I cleared my throat and hugged her back, remembering the familiar smell of her perfume.She still wore it after all these years.Funny how some things never changed.“It’s nice to see you, Christina.”
When we broke apart I had to ask, “What are you doing here?”That was when I noticed what I should have noticed earlier, but couldn’t seem to look anywhere but into her beautiful eyes.Not much had changed there, either.“Wow, you’re pregnant.”
She smiled.“Don’t worry, it’s not yours,” she said and then laughed.
I chuckled.“Well, considering I’ve never heard of a kid being conceived years after the fact, I assumed it wasn’t.”
Her eyes had a sparkle in them and she couldn’t stop smiling, all of which told me that she was happy.“So, you asked me what I’m doing here.I hope you don’t mind me surprising you like this, but I’m only in town for a little while cleaning up my grandmother’s estate for my parents.”I’d been out of the loop for so long, knowing full well my mom was friends with hers, but never wanting to know what Christina was up to.I had to distance myself from all of that when I was in the Army.It would’ve made my job too difficult.
I wasn’t exactly sure what she was talking about, but I went with it.And as if reading my mind, she clarified, “My grandmother passed away a month ago and my parents got an RV to try to deal with the loss, focusing on traveling instead.They haven’t been ready to deal with her things it, so I volunteered.Thought it would be nice to go through the memories anyway, you know?”She continued, as though she couldn’t stop herself, “Plus, Steve has a job interview at a top bank in Fort Lauderdale, so he had to come down to Florida anyway.”
“So you moved?”
“Yeah, I went to the University of Houston, my parents got me an apartment there when I was a junior, the same year I actually met Steve.So, after I graduated, I decided to just stay in Houston.”
I put my hands in my pockets.“I’m really happy for you, Christina.Did you ever become a nurse like you wanted?”
She shook her head, still grinning from ear-to-ear, though.“No, I’m actually a social media manager for a cosmetic company.I married Steve right after I graduated college and he was already in banking, he’s a couple years older than me and wanted children, so here we are.”
As long as she was happy, I thought to myself, that was all that mattered.“But enough about me,” she said.“What about you?I called your mom a couple weeks ago and she told me you were back, which is why we set this all up.I really wanted to see you and we both knew there was no way you would’ve done it without a little nudge.”
I sighed.“My parents?They knew about this.”
“Pretty much their idea, well your mom’s anyway,” she replied.“But don’t be mad at them, they meant well.It was really all because I wanted to see you, your mom just helped make it happen.I felt like it was necessary after all this time.”
“I’m not mad,” I told her.“Honestly, it was nice seeing you and catching up.As for me, though, I just got out of the Army, which I’m sure you know, so I think I’ll be laying low for a bit, trying to get back to being a civilian.”I wasn’t about to tell her I was attending a memorial service tomorrow for my best friend.
Her phone went off then and she pulled it out of her purse to see who it was.“Sorry about that.Steve just got back from his interview and didn’t see me at the hotel.”
I nodded, running a hand through my hair.“I should get going anyway,” I said, trying to make her feel less bad that she had to cut things short.“It was really nice seeing you, though.”
She gave me a quick hug again.“You take care of yourself, Colt.”
As she walked away, she turned on her heel real quick, looked back at me, and left me with this, “You deserve to be happy, too.Even if you don’t feel like you do.”
Something told me Mom already filled her in on what happened in the Army with Brandon, and Christina was just too kind not to bring it up.“Thanks, Christina,” I returned.
Watching her walk away reminded me of the time I watched her go ten years ago from my parent’s house when she told me she knew what I was really afraid of before I took the test and that it had nothing to do with the test itself.All the memories, and the ball field didn’t make it any better.The only difference was, I was sad then because I knew it was only a matter of time before we went our separate ways.But today I was just happy for someone who once meant a lot to me.It was a good feeling, and I suddenly no longer cared that I missed tortilla night.
Chapter Three
Scarlet
Dinner was delicious, and the least I could do was help out with the dishes.“Don’t worry about these, Scar.I didn’t invite you over to clean the dishes,” Brooke commented, taking each item from me and putting it away where it belonged.
I rubbed the back of my gloved hand on my forehead to brush the hair away from my eyes.“Oh, please, this just gives me more time to spend with my best friend.”I added, “Plus, Max is watching a basketball game and he gets really intense with that shit.”
“Tell me about it,” Brooke responded and couldn’t help but laugh.“He loves his ball games, but basketball is his favorite.”
