Page 100 of Another Love, Another Time
River: I’m good. I’ll be back home tomorrow afternoon. Nothing to worry about.
I wait a second, but I don’t expect a reply at this time. I move on to Logan and Mackey. Both of them have similar messages: “Let Auggie explain.” I send them a quick text back that I will. I know there’s more to the story, especially if they are both telling me to let Auggie explain.
I then pull up Auggie’s text thread. I don’t read the thread; I just text my message.
River: Don’t worry. I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon. I just needed some time and space.
Before I can exit the thread, I get a reply.
Auggie: I just want to explain.
And I will let him explain.
River: I’ll be home tomorrow evening.
Auggie: I’ll give you until tomorrow. Any longer, I’ll come find you.
I put my phone in sleep mode and close my eyes again. “Did my mom know?” I wonder. “She and my aunt aren’t close, but surely she would tell her if her daughter were engaged. But if Melissa told her mom that she wanted it to be a surprise, maybe she did keep it from my mom. I’ll have to ask her. I would hope my mom would tell me if she knew and not encourage me to go.”
Baxter breaks me out of my thoughts when he asks, “Are you going to give him a chance to explain?”
“Yeah, I will.” I pause for a minute. “I just don’t get it. If anything, I need to understand what happened from the time he asked her to move out until now. I mean, he’s been staying in my spare room most nights.”
“So, do I need to be an ear to listen, or am I distracting you?” He knows this is just me thinking out loud, that I’m not expecting an answer.
“Maybe a little bit of both.” I shrug with a huff.
“I can do that. My mom’s excited to see you again. You'd better have an appetite. You know she will expect you to eat.”
I smile. I love Baxter’s mom. “Yeah, I can definitely eat, especially your mom’s cooking.” We both laugh, and it fades into a comfortable silence.
I’m silent for a minute. “How are you doing? Are you ready for this next deployment?”
“Is anyone ever ready for it? I’m as ready as I’m going to be. I’ll miss my sister’s graduation, but I know she understands.”
I put my hand over his. Baxter has done a lot. He worked to put his sister through college. That was one of the reasons he joined the Army; he wanted her to have options.
“I know it won’t make it better,” I say, “but you know I’ll be there to cheer her on, and I’ll take tons of pictures.” I squeeze his hand and then release it. Baxter has been an excellent friend, especially when I really needed him.
We pull onto his street, and we fall into comfortable silence again. When he pulls up, his mom is waiting for us on the porch. I don’t say anything, but I know she will. She is not one to beat around the bush.
"Not that I'm disappointed to see you, but two visits in the same week? That’s a record.” She calls out to me as I’m getting my bag from the back seat.
“I know. I figured you missed me.” She goes in for a hug without giving me much of a choice and drags my butt into the kitchen to eat the meal she made for me.
~~
Hey, sweet girl. What brought you back to us?” she asks.
“Family drama,” I reply.
“Come sit and tell Mama June. I’ll plate you up some of my eggplant parmesan lasagna that you love.”
I get up to help.
“No. Sit down. I’ll bring it to you.”
Baxter raises an eyebrow and says, “You better listen to her.”
