Page 21 of Wishing for Christmas
His phone rang, pulling him away from his thoughts. He looked at the screen, hoping it would be Clara having changed her mind, and wanting to come over. Instead, it was Will.
Brent answered with a smile. “Miss me already?”
“Nah, I’ve had my fill of you for a while. I was just calling to let you know I have your deployment trunk. You lovebirds left so quickly; you forgot about the load of stuff you hauled around with you for a year.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Thanks for grabbing it. I guess my mind was somewhere else.”
“Understandable.”
“Hey, Will, did you notice anything strange about the way Clara acted when I proposed?”
“Well, she seemed surprised. But that’s probably normal, I think.”
“I guess. It just has me worried. I hope she and I are on the same page.”
“Dude, don’t worry about it. It’s the adjustment period,” Will said.
Brent took a long pull from his beer. He swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“Trust me. I’ve been through this with my wife a couple of times now. It can be overwhelming to throw yourself back into your relationship after spending so long apart. Sometimes they need a little space before they warm back up to you.”
Brent laughed. “That sounds more like advice geared for a puppy than a girlfriend.”
“Believe me, she just needs to get used to you again. Didn’t you read the redeployment packet the squadron gave us?”
“Not yet.”
“Everything will be fine once you’ve been back for a while. Relax, man.”
“You’re probably right. Thanks. I’ll swing by and grab my stuff later.” He ended the call and immediately felt better. Is that really all it was? An adjustment period? It made sense, after all. He couldn’t expect everything in their relationship to go backto normal immediately. Of course a transition period should be expected. They’d been apart for an entire year.
He let his head fall backward and blew out a stream of air through his mouth.
His phone was still in his hand, so he picked up his head and dialed his parents’ number. They would want to know he had made it home safely. Normally, they would have come to the base to greet him, but today he’d only wanted Clara there to focus on his proposal. He had promised his parents he would come out to see them soon. At the very least, he owed them a phone call.
“Hi, Mom. Merry Christmas.”
“Brent, you’re home!” his mother shouted.
He smiled. “I’m home.”
“I’m so relieved to hear your voice. I can finally relax now and enjoy the holidays.”
“And there’s something else too.”
“Oh?”
“I’m engaged.”
His mom gasped. “Oh, Brent. Your father and I were hoping to get that sort of news. We think Clara is wonderful. We had a feeling . . . you know, after everything that happened.”
He nodded, taking another sip of beer.
“We just didn’t expect it so soon. When did you propose?”
“As soon as I got home.”
“Wow, you didn’t waste any time, did you?”
