Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Levi
“Aren’t you headed back to Lake Renegade this weekend?” my best friend, Tristan, asks.
“Yeah, I’m leaving for the airport in like, an hour. What are your plans?”
“I’m just going to chill here.” He shrugs.
“Why don’t you come with me? You can see the family and then come to Wintervale with me to see my Felicity.”
I hate that Tristan doesn’t have any family to visit.
Both of his parents died when he was young and he doesn’t have any siblings.
When we went to boot camp, my sisters embraced him as part of our family.
But he still has a hard time with it. He’s told me some of his life story, but I know there’s more. I figure he’ll tell me when he’s ready.
“I don’t want to be a third wheel with you and Felicity.”
“Please. You know you won’t be. Now pack your shit, get online and book your flight.”
Tristan laughs and starts packing. I’m relieved that he didn’t fight me about this. We have the next two weeks off and we’re going to have fun.
“So what’s Lake Renegade like?” he asks as he packs.
“It’s a cool town, one of those ‘everybody knows everybody’ places. But it’s only like two hours from Chicago. We should find out if there’s a hockey game while we’re there.”
“Fuck yes! I’ve never seen the Redhawks play live.”
“It’s fucking incredible. And you’ll get to hang out with a few of the players.”
“Your life is turning into a fucking fairytale, Anderson.” He laughs. “Direct flight, right?”
“Yeah, I’m in first class. I’ll cover you if you need more.”
He gives me a weird look and books his flight.
“Okay, all done. You’re sure it’s okay?” he asks.
“Yep. Let me text my sister and see if we can get tickets to the game. I saw there’s one the day we get in.”
Levi: Hey, do you think we can get tickets to the hockey game this Saturday?
Leighton: Probably. How many?
Levi: Tristan’s coming back with me. And I guess whoever else wants to go
Leighton: Okay, let me see what I can do and I’ll let you know. What time do we need to pick you up?
Levi: Flight gets in at 3pm
Leighton: Maybe we should just go straight to the United Center
Levi: Whatever’s easier. Thank you. See you soon
Leighton: Love you
Levi: Love you too
“Looks like we’re going to a game when we get in.”
“I need to get a jersey. Domenico Mancini’s jersey.”
“You can buy one when we get there. I’ll probably get one too. And since I refuse to match you, I’ll get one of the other three guys.”
“‘Other three’? I thought you were only related to three? Domenico, Declan and Cillian?”
“And Milo. He’s part of our family now.”
“Milo Tinordi? Fuck, man. Maybe we need to move to Lake Renegade.” He laughs.
“I would, but my girl is in Wintervale.”
“How far is Wintervale again?”
“It’s about an eighteen to twenty hour drive from Lake Renegade to Wintervale. Or we can fly. That’s like two hours.”
“Eh. I’m up for either. Thanks for inviting me.”
“I told you, we’re family.”
“I don’t even know what a family is anymore.” He frowns.
“You’ll figure it out. It took me a while to figure it out for myself. But now I get it. The only thing that’s hard for me right now is where I want to be. My family is in Lake Renegade, but my girl is in Wintervale.”
“Would she move?”
I shake my head no. “I don’t think she would. Her brothers have all stayed in town, and they’re really close. Now they’re married and have kids. I don’t think she would want to be away from them.”
“That’s a hard choice. Maybe she’ll surprise you, I mean the two towns aren’t that far apart. You could realistically spend time in both.”
“Yeah, but I don’t even know if we’re at that stage yet. I’ve only seen her in person twice.”
“Then how do you know she’s the one?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. I just know.”
“Good luck, brother. I think you’re lucky to have found her.”
I don’t say it, but I know I’m lucky to have found Felicity.
I just don’t know what to do about our situation and that includes my time as a Marine.
I’ll be stationed in Japan until I decide what I want to do.
I can leave the military, I’ve served my time.
But I could also make it a career. My superiors have asked me if I would like to go the officer route.
If I do that, it means that Felicity will have to either come with me…
or I could lose her. And that scares me.
If I choose to leave, then where do we live?
I don’t want to ask her to leave her family…
but I miss mine so much that I don’t know if I want to be away from them either.
I’m not sure if surprising Felicity is the right thing to do, but I don’t want to change my plans.
And I don’t know if her brothers like me, so I’m definitely not going to call them.
I do know that some of my Lake Renegade family will be going with me.
So maybe they can help me get Felicity’s brothers to warm up to me.
I’m starting to worry that they’ll never come around.
I call my sister to let her know my plan.
“Hey, baby brother!” Leighton answers.
I can hear the kids in the background and it always makes me smile. I can’t wait to spend time with Davis and meet Theo.
“So I hope it’s okay, Tristan’s going to be coming back with me. We’ll stay for a couple of days and then drive or maybe fly to Wintervale.”
“Of course it’s okay. There’s a few of the family that wants to tag along with you to Wintervale.”
“That sounds like fun. Do you and Valentino want to come and bring the kids?”
“We’re thinking about it.”
“I can’t wait to see all of you. We’re headed to the airport now.”
“I love you. Fly safe.”