Page 64 of Wishing for Christmas
Good morning, sweetheart, sorry I fell asleep on you last night. I know this deployment will be hard, but I’m here for you. Also, I told your parents about Brent, and they decided they’re coming home for Christmas. They said they can always take their cruise next year, but that they want to be home to support you right now. So it looks like we’ll all be together this Christmas!
At the end was Gram’s signature emoji, the one she ended every text with—the adorable hug emoji with the smiley face and splayed-out hands.
Clara blinked her eyes several times to make sure she was seeing it correctly. Yes, this was undeniably from Grams. Her grandmother had sent her this message!
It took a minute for her thoughts to fully catch up. She sat up with a start. Her phone was playing “Jingle Bells” again! It wasn’t playing “Blue Christmas.” If she never changed her ringtone, then that meant . . .
Clara’s eyes widened. Brent had never left.
Her heart raced as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes to look at the date on her home screen. It was December 5, the day he was scheduled to leave for his deployment. She quickly tapped on the calendar app, her eyes going straight for the year. There, staring back at her, was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.
It was the year she had met Brent. It was the year he had told her he was going to deploy. It was the year she had made that stupid wish. It was the year she had wanted to see.
Relief flooded Clara’s entire body. She closed her eyes and said a sincere prayer of gratitude. She was back where she needed to be.
Her eyes widened as she saw the time on her phone. She should have been on base already. She needed to get there immediately. Clara wasnotgoing to let Brent leave without seeing her. She only hoped she wouldn’t be too late.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
BRENT
The jet engines roared. Brent paced back and forth, watching for the bus that would bring any last-minute guests out to the flight line.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, picked up his cap, and tugged at the top of his hair. The morning sky was gray and dreary. The heavy clouds overhead felt like a thick, somber blanket, weighing him down in a holding pattern of uncertainty. He longed to see a break in the clouds, just a sliver of sunlight peeking in. A glimmer of hope.
“Hey, man, are you waiting for someone?”
A thick southern accent interrupted his thoughts. Brent turned around to find another airman in a tan-colored flight suit identical to his. It was the uniform they’d be wearing for their desert deployment. He didn’t recognize the guy.
Brent gave him a wry smile. “Yeah, but I don’t think she’s coming.”
The airman gave him a nod of understanding. “I’m Will. I’m new to the squadron, and it looks like we’ll be crewmates and roommates on this deployment.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Brent.” He shook Will’s hand, then turned back around for another look out to the flight line.
“So who are you waiting for?”
Brent sighed. “I guess it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t look like she’s coming.”
Will folded his arms across his chest and turned his gaze in the same direction. He bowed his head. “I’m sorry, dude. I know goodbyes can be rough. I just kissed my wife and daughters goodbye for a year. I can’t believe it—my youngest is a baby. She’ll be a toddler when I return.”
Brent turned back to Will with a simple nod, a small gesture of solidarity. “I know this life can be hard on relationships.”
Will raised his chin to the sky. Then he turned to Brent and gave him a compassionate slap on the back of his shoulder. “It’ll all work out—if it’s meant to. I’ll see you on board.” He walked off toward the plane, leaving Brent alone with his thoughts.
He supposed Will was right. It was fate that would determine whether things worked out between him and Clara. There wasn’t anything he could do about it himself, whether he liked it or not. Brent could make checklists and plans until he was blue in the face, but at the end of the day, there were forces bigger than him that needed to work in their favor. From the way things looked, they wouldn’t be working out at all.
She really hadn’t come. Brent supposed he shouldn’t have been too surprised. He knew she had been freaked out by his bombshell news last night. He knew she had been uncomfortable with the whole idea of a long-distance relationship. Still, he sincerely believed they could have made it work. He only wished she had thought so too. He shook his head in resignation.
Brent shuffled to the C-17 and loaded the last of his deployment gear onto the aircraft. He turned around to take one more look for any late arrivals. It was finally time to accept that Clara wasn’t coming. He knew the separations of military life weren’t for everyone. Brent stared off into the distance atnothing in particular, then gave a half-hearted shrug. She just wasn’t willing to go through this. Unfortunately for him, it was outside of his control.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CLARA
Clara’s heart raced as she arrived at the base and frantically hurried to the security office. She was desperate to get out to the flight line. She needed to get there, to see Brent before he left.
“Please, my name is right there on the list,” she pleaded to the security officer. “I’m running late, and I have to get out there—now.”
