Enlisted

by Michelle Edwards

  I whined, “I don’t want to be separated like that after getting married.”

  “I know, but it might just take us some time to get settled at Stewart.”

  I nodded. “Then what?”

  “Then we figure it out as we go.”

  That’s what I was afraid of. For a normal couple it was easy to figure out the next steps, but this was an entirely new situation for both of us and my parents didn’t have the play book for this.

  Chapter Eight

  Travis

  We walked into the house just a couple miles from post about a month later. Getting into on post housing was much harder than I expected and after about a month of living apart, Elena and I decided to just find a place close by. It definitely wasn’t exactly what I thought, but I’ve lived in worse. It was Elena I was worried about. I knew this wasn’t what she was used to with her parents.

  I looked over at Elena who was forcing a smile.

  “It’s just temporary. Once I start moving up in the ranks, we can get a better place. We could even apply for a loan to buy a house,” I explained.

  “It’s fine. We just need to make it our own,” she said as she set the box down onto the floor.

  I watched her walked back out the front door. I couldn’t help but feel like she was more disappointed in the house than anything else. I knew that military life wasn’t going to be glamorous, I just wished I had a better place for us.

  ***

  The weekend went by all too quickly. We were moved in and still unpacking a few things. It was a bit strange for me at this point to have my stuff from my apartment back, but it was nice to make this place a home. Elena seemed to be okay. I knew it would take her some time to adjust, and she wasn’t too far from her parents, so I knew she could always drive home during the day if she needed or wanted to.

  I kissed her goodbye at the door before heading out to my truck. The neighborhood wasn’t horrible, there were many other military families here, so it made it feel safer to me.

  I pulled up to the gates for Fort Stewart, just past the popular bar that everyone seemed to go to in the evenings. Myself included. Although now, I guess I would be heading straight home to Elena.

  “Hey man,” Daniel said to me as I got situated for the day.

  “Hey.”

  “How did the rest of the move go?” he questioned.

  I shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Elena seems a little sad.”

  He chuckled, “Well I can see why. Her parents are loaded.”

  I shook my head, damn did I hate that term, loaded. Yes, they were fortunate enough to have money. But they were by far not loaded.

  “They just have a good place to live. While here, it’s not exactly what Elena is used to.”

  “I’m sure she just needs to make it her own. You know?”

  I nodded, “Hopefully.”

  We started with PT for the day because you know we didn’t do enough exercise throughout the day, I guess. Formation and then onto our duty for the day. Being military police meant patrolling some days like today. There were a few roads that led off of Stewart that were also public roads.

  The worst part of my day was having to deal with other soldiers who felt that the rules didn’t apply to them because of their ranks. That’s not exactly how things worked out here unless you were the commander or someone equal rank to that. I knew better than to even think about giving them a ticket. But these jokers who were just a few ranks higher than I was? If they were doing something they shouldn’t be, they were getting a ticket. Most of the calls we received were domestic violence. Those calls made me want to be sick. How could someone treat a woman like that? How could someone treat the person they were supposed to love like that?

  I walked into the house later that evening, exhausted. I knew the military was hard work, but I never thought I would end each day feeling this tired.

  “How was your day?” I asked Elena who was sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop. I leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  She shrugged, “It was okay. My schoolwork is online now, so it makes it easier that I don’t have to drive back to Savannah every day. How was yours?” she looked at me and frowned.

  “What?”

  “You look beat.”

  “I am, I’m going to go take a shower.”

  She nodded.

  I could feel her eyes on me as I walked away up the stairs in our tiny townhouse.

  I could hear her downstairs on the phone before the noise from the running shower drowned her out.

  “What are you doing?” I laughed as I walked into the kitchen, clean and more relaxed than I was when I got home earlier.

  “Cooking, what does it look like?” she grumbled.

  “Sorry, I just didn’t know you knew how to cook.”

  She stopped and turned to face me. “As a matter of fact, I do. My mom insisted that Bri and I take cooking classes in school. At first, we were both against it, but it actually turned out to be kind of fun, and we learned a bit too.”

  “Oh, I see. I’m learning something new every day.”

  “Do you cook?” she questioned as she turned back to whatever was on the stove.

  “I can cook soup and spaghetti mostly. Sandwiches are super easy. I don’t do a lot of hard stuff, mostly I would just eat out or eat something that was easy to do.”

  She nodded.

  “So, what is it that you are cooking?”

  “Panko chicken with roasted veggies and potatoes.”

  “That sounds a little fancy.” I sighed.

  “Trust me, it’s not. But it is really good.”

  “Alright, well I’m going to get a few more things unpacked in the spare room. Call if you need me.”

  “Okay, dinner should be done in about half an hour. I just have to toss all this into the oven.”

  I nodded and dragged my feet back up the stairs. I pushed open the door to the spare room and walked over to the first box labeled Travis and began to open it.

  It was filled with random things from my living room. The memories of my old place were still so fresh in my mind. Part of me missed it. Missed the easier days of working on cars, missed the feeling of coming home and just relaxing without worrying about how others are treating their spouses. Over the past month I have seen more pain than I believe I saw in a lifetime, and I hadn’t even deployed yet.

  Chapter Nine

  Elena

  The next morning, Travis woke up and within fifteen minutes of the alarm going off, he was out the door.

  I sighed and turned my attention to the coffee pot on the counter in the kitchen.

  “Coffee first,” I mumbled to myself as I dragged my feet into the other room.

  It was way earlier than I wanted it to be, and I hated the fact that he had to be up so early to get to work. I swear we woke up before the birds. It was still a little dark outside which made me feel like it was three in the morning.

  I shuffled over to my laptop that was still on the kitchen table and pushed it open. Might as well get a jump start on today’s assignment.

  The online class stared back at me, and I just couldn’t muster up the passion or desire to actually get started on anything.

  A knock on the door jolted me from my daydream.

  “Who in the hell is at the door this early?” I sighed to myself as I pulled myself up and headed to the front door.

  I stopped just in front of the door and was suddenly terrified to open it. I know Travis wasn’t deployed, but the thoughts crossed my mind. I wrapped my arm around my stomach and pulled the door open.

  Erin from the military spouse group stood on the other side smiling.

  “Morning sunshine!” she greeted me.

  “Morning?”

  “I wanted to come by and officially welcome you to Stewart.”

  I looked down at my attire. My black sweatpants and pink tank top screamed bum. I pursed my lips together and moved out of the way, inviting her in. If she was a vampire, I’d
be making a huge mistake right now.

  I shut the door behind her.

  “Let me go change. I’ll be two minutes.”

  “No problem, darlin’.” She walked off to the kitchen with a basket in her hands.

  How did I not notice the over-large basket before now? I asked myself as I jogged up the stairs to our bedroom.

  I pulled the dresser open and grabbed a pair of jeans and a tank top. This would have to do for now. I slipped on a pair of flip flops and jogged back downstairs.

  “Cute place,” she noted when I reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “Thanks, still trying to make it ours. So, what is in the basket?” I questioned.

  “Oh! Some welcome goodies.” She motioned for me to follow her to where she placed the basket on the counter.

  “Some snacks, contact numbers for some of your FRG members, calendar of events, some drink mixes. It is actually a good thing you came to those spouse meetings. It helped us get to know you a little bit so we could customize your basket.” She beamed.

  “That’s thoughtful, thank you again. Have you already stopped by Kate Collins house?”

  “Who?” she questioned.

  “Kate Collins. She is married to Daniel Collins. Her husband went through basic training with my husband.”

  Her face turned white.

  “What did I say?”

  She shook her head, “Nothing, I think Kate’s name just got missed. How well do you know her?”

  I shrugged, “She came to my wedding…Oh! She added me online as a friend!” I walked around the corner to my still open laptop on the table and pulled up Kate’s profile.

  We scrolled through her profile for a couple of minutes while Erin made notes.

  “Got it! You coming?” she questioned, standing up straight and rushing toward the door.

  “Coming where?”

  “Shopping, and then welcoming Kate to the neighborhood.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Do you really do this for all the new spouses?”

  “I do it for those I believe are good seeds. I met you before you were a spouse, you seemed generally interested and you didn’t seem like you would be one of those spouses. You know the ones who only care about rank and who’s screwing who.”

  I nearly choked on the air I was breathing in.

  “Yeah. I’ll fill you in on the way.” She motioned for me to follow her.

  I looked back at my laptop, and then to her.

  “Why not?” I shrugged, pushing the laptop closed, grabbing my bag and running out the door. I didn’t want to spend another full day cooped up in the house staring at my schoolwork.

  We drove to the store on post. Every time I’ve come onto post I’ve had a weird vibe. The last time I was here I was getting my ID, and everyone just seemed more into everything else than what they should have actually been doing.

  “Have you ever been here before?” Erin asked as we got out of the car and started through the parking lot.

  I shook my head.

  “Get out your ID, you’ll need it to get in.”

  I dug back through my purse and pulled my wallet out. I made a mental note to clean my purse later today because digging through it was like digging through a child’s toybox looking for the smallest toy.

  We walked out almost an hour later with a couple bags full of stuff. She got some extra things for when she does this again.

  As we loaded up the car I glanced off and Travis caught my eyes. There he was standing by a police car with another soldier. I waved, but instead of waving back, he looked directly at me, and got into the car.

  “Ready?” her voice came from behind me.

  I nodded.

  We drove to Kate’s to drop off the basket, she was more excited than I was when I received mine. Which was understandable. Kate understood the military life more than me. Her father was military, so she’s lived this.

  Me? I doubted I would ever really understand this life.

  Erin dropped me off at home around lunch time. All I could think about was Travis. The way he barely looked at me in the parking lot this morning.

  Was that a military thing? Don’t wave to your wife on post. The thoughts were burning through my brain and made it almost impossible to concentrate on schoolwork.

  I grabbed my notebook, walked out back to the patio and wrote about the first thing that came to mind. Writing had always been an escape for me. Having trouble in school? Wrote a short story about it. First heartbreak? Made myself feel better by writing about it.

  My phone beeped. It was Micah asking me how things were going.

  I sent him a text back, just as the back door opened.

  “Hey sweetie, what are you doing out here?” Travis questioned, taking a seat in the chair across from me.

  “Writing.”

  “You haven’t done that in a while, is everything okay?”

  I stared at him. Really? I thought to myself. He’s just here acting like he didn’t see me on post earlier.

  “Yeah, things are great.”

  He nodded, “Did you get a lot of work done today?”

  “Not really. I was a bit busy. Erin, a woman I met at that spouses meeting stopped by and brought us a welcome basket. Then we stopped by the shop on post and picked up some things for Kate’s basket.”

  “Oh, well that was nice of you.”

  I threw my hands up. “Really? I know you saw me today.”

  He sighed. “Yes, I saw you. I tried not to make a big deal out of it. Besides, I was receiving a call and couldn’t get distracted.”

  “Then why let me sit here and ramble about my day when you knew damn well where I was!” I yelled.

  “Keep your voice down.” He groaned.

  I shook my head, “Travis, this…” I pointed to him and then myself, “is only going to work if are going to put in the work.”

  “And we are.”

  “Yeah, but that means all the time. Meaning don’t show up home and wait for me to tell you about my day, when you already know.”

  “Okay. Why don’t we go out to eat tonight?”

  “Can I take a raincheck for maybe this weekend? I’d rather just make something quick and hang out here.”

  He nodded, “Hanging out at home sounds perfect.” He stood up, kissed my cheek and walked into the house.

  I exhaled and rested back into my chair. I had no idea how this was going to work. How us as a couple was going to work. Hell, I had no idea how my parents stayed married for as long as they did.

  ***

  Several weeks passed and Travis and I got into a routine. It was getting easier having someone else added to my mornings and nights all the time. Kate came with me to the spouse meetings in Savannah. It was nice to have someone to chat to in the car. Travis and Daniel ended up having a guy’s evening anytime we had a meeting. Once a week I drove home to visit Micah and my family. It was much easier to go alone then to drag Travis with me.

  “You don’t look too good,” Micah signed as we sat in his backyard enjoying the sun.

  I shrugged. “Been feeling a little off lately,” I signed back.

  “Off as in sick or just off as regretting your choices?”

  I shook my head. “Off as in sick. Why would I regret my choices?”

  “You’re young and now married.”

  “I was bound to get married eventually. Why not just do it early?”

  He shook his head, smiling. “So are you coming down with the flu?”

  I shrugged, “Might just be stress over my finals or something.”

  I stayed relaxing in his backyard for as long as I could.

  “How was your parent’s house?” Travis questioned as I walked through the door.

  He was still dressed in uniform, so he couldn’t have been home too long.

  “It was good. I went to visit Micah for a bit as well.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know you guys still hung out on a weekly basis,” he noted.

  “Yeah I s
ee him from time to time when I’m there. He’s still one of my best friends.”

  Travis nodded.

  “Is that a problem or something?” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “No, it’s not. Listen, I need to talk to you about something.” He took a deep breath.

  “I’m getting deployed.”

  I froze. My arms fell to my sides. It felt like time had stopped. I even felt like my heart stopped for a moment.

  “Elena…” he breathed out.

  “Are you sure?” was all that I could muster to come out at that very second.

  “Yeah. They told us today.”

  “When?” my voiced trembled.

  “Six months. Shortly before I leave, I’ll have two weeks of leave that we can spend together. Before that we have some stuff to get straight though.”

  “Like what?” I questioned.

  “Well, I need to set you up as my power of attorney, we’ve got to tell our families, and I will need to discuss a few things with you on what I want if I don’t make it back.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to you.”

  “We don’t know that for sure. Better to be prepared.”

  I shook my head and twisted the strap of my purse. This right here is what I was afraid of. Him going off to war and not coming home to me.

  “So now what?” I sighed.

  “Now, we make dinner and live as normally as we can.”

  I nodded, I tried to move my feet, but they felt glued to the floor. This was my worst nightmare coming to life. This was the entire reason why I didn’t want to fall in love and get married. Nothing was able to prepare me for this conversation.

  ***

  Several months passed. We had two months left until he was deployed. We had spent every moment we could with each other. This weekend was different. This weekend we were telling our families that he was deploying.

  “I wish you would just tell me what’s going on.” My mother sighed as we stood in the kitchen.