Chapter 18
Link didn’t think Ansley was going to answer. Sending a text message would have been better. Then she answered, and he heard her sweet voice.
“Link, is that really you? You’re home.”
“Yes.” He almost sighed the word as relief hit hard.
“It’s so good to hear your voice. I know you must be exhausted. It’s late there.”
A smile played across his lips as warmth spread through him. “Yeah, but I wanted to hear your voice. I missed you.”
"I missed you, too. I can't wait to see you."
He grunted and dropped into a chair. “I know we haven’t known each other long enough to feel this way, but I really want to hold you in my arms. If you were here tonight, I’d be curled around you right now.”
“Bad mission?”
He let go of a heavy sigh. "Not too bad. Successful, actually, it just ran me ragged. Hearing your voice is very calming, refreshing."
"I'm glad you think that. It's nice to hear you talk. I feel calm hearing your voice."
Link heard something in her voice that sounded like stress. “You okay?”
“Oh yeah. I’m great.”
She'd answered his question quickly. He wondered if she was okay. Pressing her on her emotions when he didn't really know her wouldn't make either of their lives better. If he knew her better, he might be able to get her to open up with her real feelings.
“Leaving town set me back on cleaning the place up.”
“You don’t have to clean up.”
"Really, it's just stuff I've been meaning to do for more than a year, and I just haven't done it."
“I can help when I get there.”
He couldn't help but laugh. "No way am I having you clean my house when you get here. Absolutely not. That's not something that I'd ever do. I can clean up my own stuff."
“Oh, did I strike a chord?”
"No, I've just been in the military long enough, and I listen well enough to have heard loads of stories about guys who get into a relationship and have the woman clean everything for them.
Then in a few weeks, months, and in some cases years, the women leave because they all feel like housekeepers instead of partners. "
She made a noise but didn’t say anything. He wanted to press, but again, he wasn’t going to press her until he knew her better.
“I’m just saying that if you come out here and all we ever end up being is friends, I don’t treat my friends that way.
And if we’re more, I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re a housekeeper.
You being a Marine, I know you understand how to keep a place clean.
Everyone in the military gets judged on the cleanliness of every part of our being. ”
Her laughter spilled out, making him feel tingles along his spine. He could tell that they were going to have fun together.
“Totally,” she said. “If I have a spoon in the sink, I feel guilty.”
“Exactly. I learned to keep my place clean after basic training. I can understand why people get tired of cleaning everything all the time. But it’s no excuse to force someone else to clean up your mess.”
"Right now, I feel like my house is a mess. But that's because I'm in the middle of packing everything, and some stuff is out instead of being put away. It feels so weird."
"I bet. Every time I've moved, I've always felt like my place is a disaster."
“I’m putting some stuff in storage, but I don’t want it to stay there long. I’ve heard horror stories of people paying tens of thousands of dollars because they left stuff in storage for years when they moved overseas.”
"Oh yeah, an overseas move is killer when you want to keep some stuff in the States. What size storage unit are you getting?"
"Very small. I'm just putting a few boxes in there, and once I settle on a place, I'll move them."
“That’s smart.” He wanted to tell her to just move them to his place, but that was very presumptuous. They might not get along at all once they were under the same roof. He’d seen it before, people getting all hot and heavy only to figure out later they didn’t really like each other.
“You probably need to get some sleep,” Ansley said.
“I should. I’m tired. How about you?”
“I’ll probably watch something then head to bed.”
“Oh, we haven’t even talked about what TV we like.”
Ansley chuckled. “Let’s save it for another talk. Who knows how long it will take if we start talking about shows and what we like to watch.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll send a text tomorrow. Not sure how my day will look.”
“Sure. That sounds good.”
The call ended, and Link smiled to himself, thinking their conversation went well. Calling Ansley had been the right decision. Hearing her voice made him feel warm. Not too long, and she would be at his place. He was looking forward to her visit and to getting to know her better.
Ansley set her phone down and then checked the battery power. It was low, so she plugged it in on her kitchen counter before grabbing a glass for water.
She wasn't just charging her phone for work the next day.
Instead, the confrontation with Pete weighed on her mind, and she wanted her phone to have a full battery overnight.
It bugged her that he knew the neighborhood where she hung out and lived.
The man knew what she drove and where she worked.
If he wanted to confront her again, he would have little problem finding her.
Because she was in the military, she couldn't physically fight him. He had to punch her first, and it had to be obvious he was attacking her. He'd already threatened lawsuits and she hadn’t even punched him. Instead, she’d pushed him away because he was hitting her.
It wasn't fair, but it was the way the law worked.
So far, she hadn't seen anything come of his threats, but he'd tried to file assault claims against her but the police had talked him out of it when they saw the video.
Luckily, he'd attacked her in a location with cameras.
That had made a huge difference in how the police treated her.
Those officers in that case had warned her not to hit him first, and that warning stuck.
Talking to Link had calmed her. She enjoyed their lighthearted banter. It was nice to have someone to chat with. It wouldn’t be difficult to get along with Link.
She pushed thoughts of Pete out of her mind and watched some TV before bed.
Her sleep was filled with worry, so she was up early the next morning and went out for a run, which was more of a walk than a real run.
Her leg was still sore, which was expected.
Eventually, she would feel better and then she would start running.
She wouldn’t keep up with exercise at the same level, but she would still work out.
The week went much smoother than she’d expected. She and Link talked a few times, with was great, but she really wanted to see him.
Her friends had a party for her on Saturday, so she didn’t get much time to talk to Link. It felt good to know that she would see him in less than a week.
On Sunday, she finished packing everything but the clothes she planned on wearing and her toiletries. Originally, she'd planned on leaving at the end of the week, just before her apartment lease ran out. Her desire to see Link was too much, so she decided to leave on Wednesday morning.
She hadn’t heard from Pete again. The man was upset, and she hoped he got whatever help he needed. She had no answers or relief for him. Craig had died, and though she’d been sad about him passing away, she wasn’t responsible.
Wednesday morning dawned, and it was time to leave. She felt a pang of sadness driving away, but that twisting in her heart lasted only for a moment before the excitement took over.
The drive would take longer because she was alone. Her plan was to drive about ten hours a day, maybe sneaking in a few extra hours when possible, but with lunch and potty breaks, that would make the day very long. She would be lucky to get ten hours of solid driving in.
Every break, she sent a text to Link telling him where she was. On Saturday, as she left Virginia and drove into North Carolina, her phone rang. She saw it was Link and answered with a click of a button.
“Hey. I’m close. About three hours.”
Link chuckled. "Three hours. I guess that is close, considering you drove from California."
“Yeah. I’m done driving for a while. I’m tired.”
“I bet. When you get here, I’ll have burgers and a beer ready for you.”
“Thank you. That sounds great. I’m looking forward to getting clean and sleeping, after eating, of course.”
“Of course.”
Talking to Link gave her the boost she needed.
She stopped a few miles north of where she needed to turn to get to Link's house and brushed her teeth, then washed her face.
She swiped on some deodorant, so she didn't stink and made sure she didn't look too frightening.
The last thing she wanted was to scare Link.
The last time he'd seen her, she'd been messy and smelly.
This time, she wanted to seem a little more put together.
His house was in a nice neighborhood with big lawns. She could see his house when she was still fifty feet away. It was low like a bungalow or ranch style and had yellow paint accents. The lawn looked well cared for, and there was a spot for her to park. Excitement built as she drew closer.
When she pulled into the driveway and cut the engine, the front door flew open. Link stepped out, and her breath caught.
His lips tipped up in a smile that made his eyes twinkle. His curly hair was pushed back, but she could tell it was seconds away from flopping over his forehead and looking messy.
His tight blue T-shirt hugged his muscles, leaving little to her imagination. His shorts hit just above his knee, giving her a peek at his massive quads.
Overall, the man was much better looking than she remembered. She opened the door to her car, glad she'd stopped a few miles ago and stretched her car-sore muscles.
He didn't say anything as he came around to the driver's side of her car and pulled her into a hug.
To say his arms felt good wrapped around her would be an understatement.
After years of living on military bases and being in the military, she felt like she belonged.
Being hugged by Link was like how coming home should feel.