Carmen
“I can’t believe today has finally arrived!” I jump up and down, the excitement getting to me as I wait for Zach, Heather, and Simon to get here. Their flight is due to touch down any second now. Zach was finally given dates for his leave, and while we completely missed getting to be together over the holidays, I’ll take any time I can get with my family.
“Calm down, babe.” Lucas chuckles next to me, where he’s sitting on the bench outside of security at the airport. I made him bring me here thirty minutes early. No way was I going to risk traffic or an accident making me late to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. He gets to see his sister any time he wants, I only get the few weeks a year the military says my brother can be away.
“Calm, I can’t be calm,” I tell him, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
“You crack me up,” he says.
I watch the screen that shows all the incoming and outgoing flights. As the screen updates, their flight flips from landing to on the ground and I about lose it again. I know that it will still be at least ten minutes, if not more, before they are actually off the plane and out of security, I just can’t contain my excitement.
“Babe, look at this place,” Lucas says, handing me his phone. We’ve still been deciding what we’re going to do, but have been leaning towards buying a place.
“Oh, I love it,” I tell him as I flip through the pictures.
“It’s in the same neighborhood where JJ and Derek live,” he says. “JJ sent me the listing, as it just went up today.”
“Do you want to go look at it? I think listings in that neighborhood go pretty fast,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I can shoot a message to our realtor,” he says, as I watch the people as they are streaming out of security, hoping that three of them will be the people I want them to be.
“Done. She’s going to reach out to the listing agent and get a time set up.”
“Perfect. Can you send me the listing?” I ask.
“Already did.” He smiles up at me.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” I hear a voice behind me that I’d know anywhere. I spin around so fast, almost knocking into my brother. I launch myself into his arms.
“Zach!” I cry. “You’re here!”
“We made it!” he says. “Missed you, sis.” He squeezes me a bit tighter before setting me down. I pull my sister-in-law and nephew into a hug, taking Simon from her arms and kissing his cheeks once we break apart.
Once I’m done hugging and kissing my family, Lucas stands behind me and I get the formal introductions out of the way.
“Lucas, this is my brother Zach, his wife Heather and their son, Simon. Family, this is Lucas Black.” Lucas and my brother do the whole handshake, half hug, back slap routine, before Lucas gives Heather a quick hug. She’s a hugger and I warned him of that. He smiles down at Simon, who just looks him over with some big eyes, not really sure what to think of him.
We head to baggage claim, Lucas helps my brother collect their suitcases before we head to the rental car counter. I offered to let them use my car, but they insisted on renting one of their own, just as they insisted on renting an Airbnb for the week. They didn’t want to impose and wanted space with Simon to just relax, plus have the ability to cook and not eat out for every meal.
We part ways at the airport, they have to go check into their rental, with plans to meet back up in about an hour for lunch.
“Hey, babe. Shawna just texted that she could show us the house at three, think we can make that work?”
“I think so, if anything, Zach and Heather can come with us.”
“Sounds good, babe, I’ll let her know.”
“Dang, this place is sweet!” Zach says as we walk through the large house.
“It is, I really do love it,” I say.
“So, what do you say, babe?” Lucas asks, coming to stand next to me in the kitchen.
I look at him, then close my eyes and try to picture us here. I can see it. I can see the happiness we can fill this place with, the memories that will surely come. The holiday and fun times with friends and family. The hopefulness of kids one day filling the halls and empty bedrooms this house has. “I think we should do it,” I tell him, feeling butterflies take flight in my stomach at the thought of finding the perfect home for us.
“Shawna,” Lucas calls out to our realtor, and she comes back into the kitchen.
“Yes,” she replies.
“We’d like to make an offer,” he tells her and her smile brightens.
“Great!” she exclaims. “Let me grab my tablet out of the car and we can go over all of it now and then I can send the offer off before we even leave the property,” she says, and hustles out of the kitchen to grab her things.
We stand around the kitchen counter as she goes over the offer paperwork, filling in the specifics that we request. Outside of the price we offer, we ask for the standard inspections and for a thirty-day close. The listing agent had told her that the sellers were hoping for a quick closing, as this house was being sold in a divorce and they wanted things finalized quickly.
Once the paperwork is finalized, I take one last walk around the place, snapping a few pictures so I can start to brainstorm ideas on how we’re going to decorate this large of a house.
“I can’t believe the two of you bought a house today!” Heather says as we enjoy a glass of wine after dinner. We’ve got Simon in the living room while the guys clean up since we cooked.
“I know, it all happened so fast,” I tell her as I hand Simon another toy.
“I’m so happy for you, you deserve it. He seems really good for you,” she says, nodding her head in Lucas’s direction.
“Yeah, I wasn’t so sure in the beginning, I actually kind of hated him when he was first called up to the team. He was such a pain in my ass. Always doing stupid shit that was getting him bad press, and I was always having to clean up his messes. Thankfully, he laid low for a while and then I started to see the real him. He’s definitely grown on me. How’s life on base?” I ask.
“Ugh, I’m so ready to be back stateside,” she says. “I know Zach is going to be a career military man, and I completely support that decision, but I just want to be back in the States. I want to be where I can easily jump in the car or on a flight and be around family in a few hours. While I’ve made some great friends on base, it still isn’t the same as being here and getting to come see you, or going home and seeing our parents. Plus, I feel like everyone is missing out on getting to watch Simon grow up.”
“How much longer until he should get moved?” I ask.
“Hopefully within the next eighteen months, but that isn’t a guarantee.”
“Can he put in a request to where he’s sent next?”
“That depends. They’ll usually tell him three bases that have openings for his rank and job classification, and he can rank them in order of his preference. It does not guarantee that he’ll get his top choice, but it is almost always one of those three.”
“I don’t know how y’all do it, but I have every ounce of respect for you that you do.”