Page 8 of Home Coming

Quinn slapped his teammate on the back. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be fine chilling in the USO.”

“Good God Almighty, you New York folks are stubborn.”

Quinn’s lips twitched. “You’re not wrong. You go home and enjoy that beer and good home cooking with your family. I’ll see you back in Cali at the end of the month.”

“All right. But you need me to come back and get you, I’m just a text away.”

“I know you are.”

One backslapping hug later and Quinn was alone again. Or as alone as a man could be in the busiest airport in the world. But after being with the team twenty-four/seven for six months, Quinn did have to consciously shake off the uncomfortable sensation of being suddenly on his own without a team at his back.

He’d wish he was alone soon enough once he got back to New York and had to share a bathroom with his twenty-seven year old sister again. Just like they had while growing up.

And if she thought they weren’t going to have a discussion about how she’d moved back home with Mom and Dad during the pandemic but then just never left, she was mistaken.

After one more look at the big flight board to confirm his flight’s status and time hadn’t changed yet again, Quinn headed in the direction of the USO.

If past experience served, the area—restricted to military personnel and their families only—would be a bubble of calm amid the airport chaos. A place where he could sit and relax. Maybe even take a nap…

When he reached the glass enclosed facility one glance inside told him he’d also have to wait on line to check in. He stopped when he saw a queue formed at the check-in desk.

Apparently his wasn’t the only flight delayed.

Stepping to the side, he figured he might as well take the time to call home while he waited for the line to go down. That’s when his own reflection in the glass caught his attention.

It was like a stranger looked back at him. Or maybe a ghost of the past. Clean shaven for the first time in about a year, the man reflected back at him appeared five—maybe ten years younger than the man he’d seen in the mirror when he’d finally gotten back to the barracks after the long trip home from deployment.

The differences and the divide between two parts of his life—home and family, military and career—were displayed right there on his face.

But he wasn’t going to reconcile his feelings about that standing there in the airport.

He needed to pocket this moral dilemma or psychological break or whatever the hell was happening to him for later. Right now, he needed to call home. Let his Mom know he was on his way. Or at least trying to get there.

The first indication something was up at his parents’ house was that his mother didn’t answer the phone by the second ring, which she always seemed to manage to do.

The next was hearing his sister’s voice sayinghelloafter the fifth ring.

“Josie? What are you doing answering the phone? Where’s Mom?”

“Nice to talk to you too, big brother.”

He could almost hear the eye roll he was sure she’d delivered with that sarcasm laden statement.

“Sorry. But I know your feelings about getting phone calls. And your feelings on Mom and Dad’s quote-unquoteancientlandline in particular.”

It was texts or nothing when it came to communication with his sister. He could leave a voicemail for her but she’d never listen to it. Whether that was her form of protest or just sheer laziness, he wasn’t sure. Probably a combination of both.

“I figured I’d better answer in case it was Mom and Dad calling.”

“Why would Mom and Dad be calling? Where are they?” He frowned.

It wasn’t Thursday morning, when his parents went grocery shopping together. It wasn’t Saturday night when they sometimes went out to dinner with friends.

“Right about now I guess they should be boarding the boat.”

Boat? What the hell?

“Uh, what ship is this?”

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