Anchor Line

by Dawne Walters

  Conrad had gotten into Pittsburgh earlier than he’d thought and drove up Beech Street to his Pop’s townhouse. It was just a red brick front, kind of plain, but the character was on the inside. It was all street parking, so he pulled up along the house and parked. Getting out and stretching his legs, he walked up to the door and rang the bell waiting for someone to answer.

  His sister Carrie was probably out planning her wedding that was supposed to happen next year. Hopefully he’d be able to make it home during mid-tour leave to surprise her for her wedding to Roger, who was an engineer for the state of Pennsylvania. Ringing the bell again, he went the few feet to his truck to phone his brother Jeff who should be home. Closing the truck door, he walked up to the front door when it opened and out walked a tall, leggy blonde with a backpack over her shoulder. Conrad raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed to her fake blonde roots.

  “Later Chelsea.” Conrad’s brother, Jeff stood blocking the doorway in only a pair of boxers. “Conrad!” Jeff exclaimed. “You made it home sooner than you were supposed to.” But the bothers did the whole man hug and slapped each other on the back and pulled apart to look at one another.

  “You’ve grown.” Conrad nodded his head. “You always were way too scrawny.”

  “Yeah, well, you don’t need to be huge to play baseball.” Jeff retorted.

  “True.” Conrad agreed. “Help me with my shit.” He thumbed behind him at his truck and turned around to grab his bags.

  “Drop your stuff and I’ll show you the changes that pop and I have been doing to the house since you haven’t been home in a year and a half.” Jeff dropped a duffle by the stairs.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Walking in the house was like walking back into time, only his dad had done a lot of work on the place. Just inside the door, there was tiled entryway that lead down the hall. The staircase that lead to the second floor was on the left side of the hallway. Taking a few steps the door on the right was an opening to a huge living room. Some time ago his dad had gotten rid of the more formal furniture and busted out the wall that separated the formal living room from the study to open it to make a bigger living room. The two huge windows that faced the street gave it the light that was needed. The TV was against the back wall and a huge tan sectional faced the TV. Along the far wall were bookshelves that used to make up the old study. The shelves housed along with the books, Steelers, Penguins and Pirates memorabilia from over the years. The pictures that hung on the walls were all Pittsburgh sports related.

  Next, Jeff took him further down the hall and pulled back a pocket door to reveal a half bath that they had built under the stairs. Then back into the sunny kitchen with new white cabinetry and black granite countertops and subway tile back splash under the cabinets. It was very modern. He liked the little splashes of lime green color from utensils and the tea kettle on the stove to the decorative stuff on the counters which he guessed was his sister Carrie, and not from their pop. Still, Conrad let Jeff show him to the rights of the kitchen were the large dining room was. His pop had kept the same modern theme throughout the kitchen and dining room, with a large black china cabinet that housed his mother’s China to the matching big black farmhouse table and eight chairs that sat around it. The back of the house showcased large windows that led in the afternoon light.

  “So where did pop move the stairs that went to the basement?” Conrad asked.

  “Oh, they are over here.” Jeff explained. Walking back through the kitchen, there were two doors on the left wall as you came in that Conrad hadn’t seen. “This one is the pantry,” Jeff showed Conrad by opening the door and the closing it. “This one here is the staircase that goes downstairs.”

  Jeff led Conrad down the stairs and showed him the finished basement that was pretty much empty except for the Christmas storage boxes that were stacked up against the wall. He made a quick left and under the stairs with the finished laundry area with folding doors.

  “So this is what you guys have been up to.” Conrad was impressed. “You’ve cleaned out a lot.”

  “Just wait to you see the second and third floor.” Jeff said excitedly. “Pop got rid of the last of mom’s stuff that Carrie didn’t want to let go of yet.”

  Again with Jeff in the lead, Conrad followed his little brother up the stairs from the basement through the kitchen down the hall and up the stairs from the main hallway. At the top of the stairs the boys had hung a right where Jeff showed Conrad the first updated bathroom that was for everybody on the second floor. The next-door down was Jeff’s room that still housed his twin bed and posters have Pittsburgh’s finest baseball players’ posters on the walls. Down the hall a few more steps Jeff opened the door to the room that would be showcased to the front of the house.

  “This is where you’ll be staying, this is our guest room.” Jeff explained walking through the door. “We put Pop’s old bed in here and upgraded the mattresses and let Carrie decorate it with all this girly stuff.”

  As Conrad looked around he saw the old iron bed frame that was now painted white, the bedding was white and the comforter had little pink flowers on it. The windows were covered with white sheers but thankfully the rest of the furniture was the bulky wood that Conrad had grown up with in his room. There were family pictures on the walls, just of Conrad, Carrie, Jeff and their Pop At various ages.

  “Fucking girlie shit.” Conrad mumbled under his breath. “Where does Carrie sleep?”

  “She used to sleep here because there’s two bedrooms upstairs. But now she mostly stays with Roger in what’s gonna be their new house across the river.” Jeff explained. “But come on let me tell you upstairs and show you Pop’s new digs.”

  Coming out of the room taking just a quick left and up the second flight of stairs Conrad found himself in a smaller hallway with just two closed doors. Opening one, he found a more masculine room that was quite large, decorated in a brown blue and tan comforter set with matching curtains on the windows. This was considered the back room as it faced the back part of the house along with the kitchen. Jeff slid past Conrad and opened the door to large on-suite master bath that was painted and tiled in different shades of tan brown and cream with a large glass shower and a little room just for the toilet. Walking out of there and going into the other room, it was completely bare as it faced the street side of the house.

  “There is no bathroom up here except for in Pop’s room, so anyone who stayed up here would have to go down to the second floor but thankfully the walk isn’t that far.” Jeff said as he moved round the empty room.

  Conrad just nodded his head and as he followed Jeff out of the room he pulled the door closed and made his way all the way downstairs to the front door to get his bags and take them up to what was going to be his room for the next three weeks.

  “Hey Jeff,” he yelled. “Don’t you guys have anything other than girly shit to put on this bed?”

  “I think Pop might have a blue comforter or something and a blanket to match.”

  “Well where the fuck is it?”

  “You know she did that on purpose right?” Jeff stuck his head through the doorway.

  “Yeah I figured as much. Just go find something else.” Conrad huffed as he pulled the pink flowered comforter off his bed and folded it.

  Jeff came back a few minutes later with a big smile on his face his hands full of a blue and white comforter. “I figure since your sheets are white, you’ll only want to change the comforter. But here is a blue blanket in case it gets too warm.” He laughed and walked away into his room closing the door.

  Now with a more masculine feel, Conrad looked around the room. The pictures on the walls took him back each time remembering when the pictures were taken. He realized however, that there wasn’t one single picture of the family with his mother in it, even the ones of him as a baby. He remembered when Carrie was born just ten years after him. Then four years later Jeff came along. It was the following year when Jeff turned one that their mother disappear
ed. Since Conrad was fourteen, his responsibility in the morning was to help his Pop get Carrie ready for school and Jeff ready to go to the babysitter.

  All three of the Renner kids had their father’s trademark dark brown almost black hair. Where Carrie and Jeff had their father’s light blue eyes, Conrad had his mother’s hazel ones. Conrad, Jeff and Carrie also took after their Pop, as they were all tall. The only similarities to their mother, Sarah, were Conrad’s eyes and the three kids had her high cheekbones. Where Conrad and Jeff were stocky like their Pop, Carrie was tall and slender.

  Remembering with clarity the day of Jeff’s first birthday when his mother didn’t come back home from the store where she had gone to pick up a few things for the birthday party. When Conrad’s Pop came home three hours later, Conrad had asked him where his mother was. The look on Pop’s face told Conrad everything he needed to know. She was gone. Gone forever and not coming back. It wasn’t until three months later that Conrad had come home from school and Pop had set him down and explained that Conrad’s mother was having an affair with another man and left them. A few months after that talk, a man came to the door serving his Pop with the final set of divorce papers. She gave up all rights to her children, wanting nothing to do with them. Still to this day Conrad didn’t knew how to feel about her and it was probably a good thing that he never heard from her again too. And she was never talked about at dinner time or any other time of the day in the Renner household since the day she left. Jeff and Carrie had asked about her the day she left and when Pop had said she runaway and wasn’t coming back, they never asked again.

  A knock on the door took Conrad from his thoughts about his brother and sister.

  “Come in.” Conrad turned around and saw his father standing in the doorway. “Pop!”

  “It’s good to see you son welcome home.” Keith Renner exclaimed, taking his son into a big hug.

  “You’re home early. I didn’t expect to see you for a couple of hours.”

  “Well, I knew you were coming home, and being that I’m the equipment manager I can get off whenever I feel like it.” Pop smiled brightly at his son. “I see that you removed your sister’s welcome home surprise.”

  “Yeah, that shit had to go.” Conrad laughed.

  “Why don’t you get a shower and change and we’ll go down to the bar, drink a couple beers and shoot the shit.” Pop offered.

  The few weeks that Conrad was home he trailed his dad at work, as he was the Steelers equipment manager. There were several people that he remembered and quite a few new ones that he met as well. He also took some time to go to the mall and get small things for Addie while he was there and mail them out to her. His brother Jeff financed what was owed on Conrad’s truck and took over ownership. Now all he had to do was wait the few days until he left for Italy.

  During his stay at his dad’s Conrad would text Addie to check on her throughout the day and see how she was doing and get the local gossip from around Fort Bragg. He texted her at night and sometimes called and had phone sex, which was a first for Addie. She told him how Susan came into her office on day and threatened her with her job a few days after he left. Addie’s reply was that no one would believe her and she would tell Susan’s commander that this all stemmed from a man who didn’t want her. Upon realizing that it was Addie’s word against Susan’s, Susan pressed further saying that she would get Addie fired from her job and tell her chain of command that she was engaged to Conrad. And if that didn’t work, Susan claimed she would just ruin Addie’s reputation. Not that Susan’s words would hold water, but it just so happened that Jess stood behind Susan in Addie’s office and surprised her by saying that she would call Susan’s chain of command and say that she was threatening Addie with her job and wanted to get Conrad in trouble if Addie didn’t pad Susan’s ERB. Jess further went on to say that it would be quite easy to do. And it would be Addie and Jess’ word against Susan’s. Obviously, realizing that she was cornered she just huffed and looked at Addie then turned around and walked away claiming that it wasn’t over by a long shot.

  Conrad’s last day at Pop’s was finally here and they always had the same talk. So, Pop had sat Conrad down in the living room and commenced.

  “Son, we’ve had this deployment chat three times already and I just want to tell you again to keep your ass down and not get shot. I don’t want those men coming my door in their dress uniforms telling me that anything has happened to my son.”

  “Pop, I’m an ornery bastard like you. There is no way I’m going to let any asshole on God’s green earth take me down.”

  Pop sighed. “You just make sure that you come home safely. Make sure you bring your men home safely too.”

  “I always do pop, I always do.” Conrad took a long sip of his beer.

  “So,” Pop asked finally. “Who’s this gal you’ve been talking to at night?”

  “What’re you talking about Pop?” Conrad asked trying to hide his smile as he picked the label of his beer.

  “This old man don’t sleep so well. And sometimes I go downstairs to get me something to eat from the kitchen and you are having one of them sex conversations in my living room. Don’t you know you are supposed to do those in your room?” Pop looked slyly at Conrad with a smile on his face.

  “It’s not like I was dick in hand when we started talking, I’d at least go up to my room. Unlike Jeff who was fucking some girl before he opened the door for me when I came home. But, Addie’s a good girl pop. You’d like her.” Conrad smiled. “And with any luck, if I get the time for Carrie’s wedding set up for my mid tour, I’m going to have her come up to the Burgh and you’ll get to meet her.”

  “Well son that would be a first for you.” Pop looked at Conrad with approval.

  Father and son talked a until it was almost midnight when his dad went upstairs saying that he had to get up early and get Conrad to the airport. Conrad picked up his phone to see if he had any text messages or phone calls from Addie as he had put his phone on silent. But there were none. Going up to his bedroom he closed the door, looked around one more time to make sure that all of his stuff was packed, he took off his clothes and slid under the sheets naked.

  Chapter Twenty

  Addie couldn’t believe it had already been five months since she’d last seen Conrad. The loneliness wasn’t so bad while Conrad was home visiting his father in Pittsburgh because he was always texting or phoning her at night, however, when he’d first gotten over to Vicenza that’s when the loneliness really set in. She’d sit on her patio with her laptop and a sandwich and a bottle of water tooling around on Facebook and emailing friends and family that she had overseas. Occasionally she would look over to where Conrad’s apartment stood empty and she’d open his Facebook page just to look at his pictures. As the months progressed, her loneliness lessened more each day.

  Her father had retired and she’d helped move him and her mother up to Pittsburgh where her father was from. As crazy as it seemed she looked in the phone book to see how many Renner’s she could find. Only finding ten, she wasn’t even sure what his father’s first name was. She knew not to expect to hear from him for a few months until he got settled in Afghanistan but that didn’t lessen her worry any as she helped her mother and father unpack and get settled in.

  Her job kept her busy and her friends kept her entertained, until it was time for Talia and her husband to move to Germany. Even though she still had Jess, Talia was her best friend. Now, standing in front of Talia’s SUV holding her hands in front of her apartment building, she felt a profound sense of loss.

  “Don’t you worry girl, there’s still Facebook and twitter, email and who knows what.” Talia smiled.

  “I know but it’s just not the same.”

  “Yeah well, that just means you’ll have to come to Germany and visit. Or get a job and stay there until it’s time for me to leave.” Talia giggled. “Because God knows I’ll need a level head for when I go into labor.”

  “Oh my God!” A
ddie cried. “You’re pregnant? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? When did this happen?”

  “Well we just found out this morning when I upchucked my Froot Loops.” Talia laughed. “It explains why I’ve been so tired and moody. So I sent Tam to the store to get a pregnancy test. And low and behold wouldn’t you know it, I’m pregnant.” Talia’s excitement was off the charts.

  “That is all just so exciting.” Abby squeezed her friend’s hands harder. “Now I’m just so excited for you! And you better keep in touch.”

  “Girl, you know I will.” Talia took her friend into her arms and squeezed her tightly. “We better get on the road to Texas so that we can see Tam’s family before we leave. So you take care and don’t get into any trouble.”

  Addy watched as her friend climbed into the SUV and put her seatbelt on. Stepping onto the curb, Addie waved like a lunatic as Tam put the car in reverse and with Talia waving back, he put it in drive and they drove off. Walking back upstairs Addie shut and locked the door behind her. Grabbing her laptop and a bottle of water she went out onto her patio and decided to check her email. The noise of a moving truck in the complex across from her caught her attention. Looking up, she watched as a tall thin man walked into Conrad’s old apartment with two guys right behind him.

  Opening her laptop she logged into her email and was surprised to find an email from Conrad.

  Saturday, 12:18p.m.

  To: Addie.Marshall@yahoo.com

  From: Pittsburgh_Guy@yahoo.com

  RE: What’s up…

  Hey Ad,

  Just checking on ya to see how you are doing since we actually have internet. Wondering if you had any hot dates lately, or if you are still pining away for some bad ass mother fucker to steal you and take you away. Went on a couple missions and came back safe as you can tell. Hit me up and let me know how you’re doing. Same shit, different day here, nothing new. Miss me, miss you.