Chapter 36
THE ADJUSTMENT
MAGGIE
Zeke woke me up by gently shaking my shoulder. The sun had set further in the sky by then, but according to the clock on my cell, it was only three o’clock in the afternoon.
“Sorry, sleepyhead,” he said, “but the lady from the housing office called and said there’s a bigger place available if we want it. We need to go meet her now if we’re going to take it.”
I blinked at him slowly. My ears still felt like they needed to pop and somehow that translated into my brain processing things in slow motion.
Suddenly, it dawned on me that Zeke got up before me.
Makeup caked my face and my hair resembled a rat’s nest more than a bun because once again I went straight to bed without the cap.
The crypt keeper probably looked better.
I tried to muffle the squeal as I leapt to my feet and raced to the bathroom, but I caught a brief glimpse of the shock written on Zeke’s face first.
A few minutes later, a gentle tapping came through the door. “Maggie? What’s wrong?”
Stifling the tears, I managed to choke out, “I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling well. Bad jet lag. Can you go without me?”
After a fleeting pause Zeke asked, “You don’t want to pick out our apartment? I don’t want to get a place you won’t like.”
“It’s fine,” I insisted, sinking to the floor and leaning against the door. “I trust you.”
A longer pause followed. I almost thought Zeke left before he said, “You know that you don’t need to always look perfect around me, right? I don’t care what you look like.”
Tears forced their way out at the sincerity in his words.
I knew Zeke meant it, and so far he hadn’t given me a single reason to doubt him.
In his heart of hearts he genuinely didn’t know there was a difference between me with makeup and me without.
But I couldn’t stop hearing Diana’s warning about keeping a man like Zeke satisfied.
Her cries of horror whenever I went out in public without my hair curled and my face done up.
Perfect was acceptable. Perfect was safe.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered through the door.
My voice was so low that even I barely heard it, but only a moment later came Zeke’s reply.
“Me too.”
Several hours later, after I showered, shaved my entire body, dried and curled my hair along with applying a little bold glam makeup to match the sparkly top I threw on, I sat on the balcony overlooking a parking lot at Camp Humphreys.
The mirror in the bathroom wasn’t quite long enough for me to examine my entire body, but the release from at least going through the motions and marking the nasty spots I witnessed in my reflection had me practically panting in relief.
Although there were a few basic snack items on the counter of the kitchenette, I couldn’t bring myself to eat any of them.
I felt lightheaded from the lack of food.
I had no idea what buildings were close by and all of the signs were too far away to read from the balcony on which I stood. Our room must’ve sat on the back of the property because I never saw any vehicles coming or going, but doors could be heard echoing from the hallway.
The air smelled different here. Somehow crisper and sharper than what we had in Georgia.
Frost lightly coated everything; in relocating to the other side of the world, we left summer behind and transplanted directly into winter.
The landscape reminded me of the States and the buildings were reminiscent of the buildings I saw at Fort Stewart.
Thinking of Fort Stewart brought a whole new wave of homesickness. I texted Marla and Celeste as soon as we arrived at baggage claim, but they hadn’t answered yet. We all probably needed a few days to adjust to the time difference anyway.
A thud came from inside the room as Zeke returned. “Maggie?” he called out.
“Out here!”
Zeke didn’t look a bit ruffled after all the hours spent traveling. How he managed to function on such little sleep, I would never understand. He did, however, look visibly concerned.
“I got us a place, Trouble, but you kinda freaked me out earlier. I get that you like to look a certain way, but aren’t we passed that by now? You’re my wife—why can’t I look at you in the mornings?”
A simple question with the most complicated answer. When I originally proposed the idea of marriage, I didn’t consider how I would hide my eating and grooming habits from Zeke. And he was observant, too. Way more than most guys. I wouldn’t be able to hide it from him for long.
“You can look at me,” I replied. I tried to keep my voice sweet and light, hoping to convey a sense of innocence. “I was just out of it from all the traveling and lack of sleep. It won’t happen again.”
The words managed to pacify him enough that he broke out into a grin. “Good. Grab your bags, Trouble, and let’s go move into our new place.”
Despite it only being the two of us, Zeke’s rank meant the Army offered him a three bedroom apartment that came fully furnished.
“It’s not great furniture,” he warned me, but I only felt grateful that we wouldn’t have to scrape together money to buy anything.
Living frugally wasn’t new to me, so I didn’t care if the furniture looked out of date.
There wouldn’t be anyone else to see it anyway.
Celeste and Marla could never afford to come all the way out here.
The apartment building stood relatively close to the shopping center and Zeke promised we could make a list and go there for everything we needed after we walked through the apartment.
Our unit sat on the fifth floor, and although the hallways reminded me a bit of a prison, everything was clean, well lit, and safe.
We were lucky to have an extra window since it was a corner apartment, he explained.
This would be our home for the next two years.
Zeke handed me a set of keys before he paused outside the door. “Well, Mrs. Hayes, welcome home.”