13. Tammy #2
“What about you?” I asked, feeling it was the polite thing to do, even though I was nervous asking these things because it’s what you did when you dated someone—got to know them on a personal level.
“Got a younger sister, Saoirse, who is married and has two daughters—Chloe and Grace.”
“That’s an interesting name,” I told him. “I’ve never heard of it before.”
“It’s Irish,” he explained with a growing smile. “She got the short end of the stick. Super traditional Irish first name and a basic American middle name. I got the opposite.”
Now, that bit of information was intriguing.
“What’s your full name?” I asked, too tempted to let it go by.
“Raymond Seamus Delacruz. Irish mother and Spanish father,” he said, explaining his interesting combination.
“My parents—Sheila and Francisco—moved to Arizona several years ago when they retired, to get away from the Minnesota winters. I go see them at least once a year, usually when my sister and her brood visit.”
That sounded nice. I’d never been to Arizona, but it was on my short list of places to visit.
“What about your parents?” he asked.
“Not Irish,” I said with a small smirk. “Tivoli is definitely an Italian last name, though my father and grandfather were both born in this country. My mother is one hundred percent Navajo.”
“Where do they live now?”
It was a basic question, and his answer was obviously simple enough, but my answer was much more complicated.
“I don’t know where my dad is. He left when I was fifteen and never looked back. My mom lives in Florida, and we talk on birthdays and holidays, but I don’t visit her often.”
It wasn’t a lot of information, but I also wasn’t in the mood to give more, so hopefully he took the hint and moved on.
“How long were you married?” he asked, breaking the silence.
On the outside, I was cool as a cucumber, but on the inside, I flinched. “Pretty deep stuff before we’ve had a full cup of coffee,” I noted.
While I appreciated the topic change from my parents, I wasn’t sure this was much better. He said nothing else, though. Instead, he just waited for me to reply.
I sighed. If he wanted to go down that road, I’d give it to him—all of it.
“I met my husband, Brad, when I was eighteen—young and dumb,” I said dryly. “I was about three months away from graduating high school and met him through some friends.”
I shook my head thinking back to the nonsense of it all.
“He was supportive of me enlisting and going into the Army, even though it meant we didn’t know where I would end up. He followed me, though, as I went through basic training and then two more moves. Apparently, though, the third time was the charm.”
I sighed, hating to recall these not-so-great memories, even though they were years in the past. It still burned.
“While I was away on deployment, he cheated on me. He claimed men had needs, and I was gone too long to meet his.” It was impossible to miss the amount of sarcasm dripping from my voice at the end of that.
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “That’s bullshit, just so you know. I know plenty of guys I served with who could keep it in their pants during long deployments and not cheat on their spouses.”
“I know,” I said, looking off into the distance at the morning forest filled with fog.
It was calming to just watch the birds flit by, unbothered by the fog as the sun continued to creep its way through.
“My sister was pissed, but my mom gave me the old ‘I told you so’ when I showed up at her house for dinner a few weeks later.”
“Seriously?” he asked, clearly bothered by my mom’s reaction.
“Look, what you have to understand is that my father did that to my mom, and they divorced when I was in high school,” I explained, trying to justify her response as best I could.
“She warned me before I got married that he wouldn’t be faithful, and if I was okay with that, then go for it.
Otherwise, I should cut it off now before I got hurt. ”
“Wow,” he said drolly, but nothing more, likely not wanting to offend me with how he really felt about her.
“My sister threatened to castrate him,” I said with an impish grin.
“I like that option,” Ray muttered.
“What about you, Ray?”
“I met Annette right after I was first stationed in Texas. We hit it off and were married a few months later.”
The location may have been different, but the basis for the relationship sounded awfully familiar to mine.
“Ultimately, she couldn’t handle military life,” he explained, doing the same thing I had done, looking off into the distant forest, deep in thought.
“She didn’t cheat on me, at least not that I’m aware of.
She just left me a note when I came home after my last deployment that said she wanted a divorce.
Her stuff was all moved out, and the divorce papers were on the kitchen counter. ”
“Shit. Marriages don’t seem to work out for many of us in the military,” I told him, though it wasn’t a secret.
“From personal experience I would agree, but many of my colleagues back in Texas are all happily married and solid, so…maybe it just takes the right person. Someone who understands.”
I nodded at his thoughtful response.
“Frank and his wife Susan, have been married forever, too,” Ray added.
Those two were a great couple. Maybe he was right—you just needed the right person.
“You sound like my best friend, Nikki,” I told him. “She and I met at boot camp and served together for almost four years before being separated to different bases.”
He nodded, understanding that level of sorrow more than most people. Being in the military was hard. You often made it through because you had your friends nearby for support. So when that support system was transferred to another base, it hit hard.
“She’s been happily married for more than a decade and lives out in San Diego. She married another fellow service member, which likely helped, though not Army, so not as good as she could have done.” I emphasized that last part for dramatic effect.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. She fell in love and married a Navy SEAL.” I shivered and fake cringed.
“A frogman?” He gasped in mock offense, and I almost smiled. Almost. “Didn’t you go out there to try to rescue her from making such an awful decision?”
Making fun of the other branches was my weakness. “I went out there with that exact mission in mind, but honestly, Amanda is great, and she and Nikki are perfect for each other. I’m happy for her. Though I still give her shit every chance I can.”
“As you should,” he replied, the same teasing smile on his face that I had on mine. “My buddies back in Texas aren’t married to military spouses, but we regularly tease them about their wives being way too good for them.”
I had friends who were the same, too—namely most of the men at Ranger Shield Security.
Most of those men had gotten married or at least found their forever partner and seemed in it for the long haul.
Admittedly, there was a part of me that was envious of what they had, but I also wasn’t ready to just jump into a relationship with a man just because I was lonely sometimes.
Even if a great candidate appeared to be sitting right next to me.