Chapter Eleven
brENT
Exhausted from the long flight and the emotions of the day, Brent arrived back at his house and changed out of his uniform. He flopped onto his couch and let out a long breath of gratitude.
Engaged to be married and home for Christmas. He pressed his palms over his eyes and thought about how lucky he was. But it wasn’t actually luck, was it? He knew better than that. It was all thanks to a lot of hard work on both of their parts that he and Clara had gotten to this point.
Now, he could finally focus on celebrating the holidays with her. Their first real Christmas together. Although last year’s Christmas was significant in its own right. It was certainly one of the reasons they were engaged today.
Brent looked around his house and took a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet.
He hadn’t had much of that over the past year, always sharing his space with someone else.
He got up and ambled his way to the kitchen.
He laughed when he opened the refrigerator to find it stocked with food and beer.
Dave. He was always thoughtful like that.
He grabbed a beer and cracked it open. When he sat down on his couch again, it felt better than anything in the world.
He only wished Clara was there beside him.
What did it mean that she hadn’t wanted to come over after they’d left the base?
He’d asked her to join him for a Christmas movie, but she’d decided to go back to her house instead.
She said she had an early morning at work the next day.
She had to prepare for some big meeting coming up this week, insisting she’d be much better company tomorrow.
He hadn’t wanted to press. Still, something about that had him worried.
Had he done the right thing by proposing so suddenly like that? When he’d stepped off that plane, the only thing he wanted to do was run to her. So why did he get the feeling Clara had acted sort of distant? No, distant was an understatement. She’d seemed a million miles away.
Perhaps she was simply thrown off by the whole thing. Maybe she was distracted by everyone around them. Or maybe . . . The thought Brent feared most loomed in the back of his mind. Maybe a year apart had taken its toll on their relationship.
There was no question he wanted to marry Clara.
He knew her better than anyone in the world.
Over the past year they’d grown closer in a way he wasn’t sure would have been possible otherwise.
It was certainly a level of intimacy he’d never experienced in any relationship before.
He knew, with certainty, that they were ready for the commitment of marriage.
But did she feel the same way? That was the big question filling his mind.
Yesterday, out in the desert, Brent wouldn’t have doubted for a second that his feelings were reciprocated. Today, though, finally being together in person . . . well, it was not what he’d expected.
His phone rang, pulling him away from his thoughts. He looked at the screen, hoping it would be Clara having changed her mind, and wanting to come over. Instead, it was Will.
Brent answered with a smile. “Miss me already?”
“Nah, I’ve had my fill of you for a while. I was just calling to let you know I have your deployment trunk. You lovebirds left so quickly; you forgot about the load of stuff you hauled around with you for a year.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Thanks for grabbing it. I guess my mind was somewhere else.”
“Understandable.”
“Hey, Will, did you notice anything strange about the way Clara acted when I proposed?”
“Well, she seemed surprised. But that’s probably normal, I think.”
“I guess. It just has me worried. I hope she and I are on the same page.”
“Dude, don’t worry about it. It’s the adjustment period,” Will said.
Brent took a long pull from his beer. He swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“Trust me. I’ve been through this with my wife a couple of times now. It can be overwhelming to throw yourself back into your relationship after spending so long apart. Sometimes they need a little space before they warm back up to you.”
Brent laughed. “That sounds more like advice geared for a puppy than a girlfriend.”
“Believe me, she just needs to get used to you again. Didn’t you read the redeployment packet the squadron gave us?”
“Not yet.”
“Everything will be fine once you’ve been back for a while. Relax, man.”
“You’re probably right. Thanks. I’ll swing by and grab my stuff later.
” He ended the call and immediately felt better.
Is that really all it was? An adjustment period?
It made sense, after all. He couldn’t expect everything in their relationship to go back to normal immediately.
Of course a transition period should be expected. They’d been apart for an entire year.
He let his head fall backward and blew out a stream of air through his mouth.
His phone was still in his hand, so he picked up his head and dialed his parents’ number.
They would want to know he had made it home safely.
Normally, they would have come to the base to greet him, but today he’d only wanted Clara there to focus on his proposal.
He had promised his parents he would come out to see them soon.
At the very least, he owed them a phone call.
“Hi, Mom. Merry Christmas.”
“Brent, you’re home!” his mother shouted.
He smiled. “I’m home.”
“I’m so relieved to hear your voice. I can finally relax now and enjoy the holidays.”
“And there’s something else too.”
“Oh?”
“I’m engaged.”
His mom gasped. “Oh, Brent. Your father and I were hoping to get that sort of news. We think Clara is wonderful. We had a feeling . . . you know, after everything that happened.”
He nodded, taking another sip of beer.
“We just didn’t expect it so soon. When did you propose?”
“As soon as I got home.”
“Wow, you didn’t waste any time, did you?”
“Nope. After a year apart, I’m ready to get the rest of our lives moving. I figured enough planning; now it’s time for action.”
His mom laughed. “Well, I see you haven’t changed much over the past year. Oh, sweetie, I’m so happy for the two of you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“And, Brent, I want you to know how proud of you we are, of everything you did during this deployment. This year was a lot for all of us.” She sniffed. “You are truly a hero.” She paused, then let out a long sigh. “I’m just so glad you’re home safe.”
Brent blushed. He could always count on his mom to gush over him and make a big deal of any accomplishment, big or small. He suddenly regretted not inviting her to be on base to greet him today. He knew she would have been thrilled to welcome him home with all the warmth in the world.
“Well, I’m glad to hear someone thinks I’m great, even if it is my own mother.” He couldn’t stop his mind from jumping to the stiff homecoming reception he’d received from Clara by contrast.
“Oh, I know I’m not the only one. So how did Clara react? Was she surprised?”
He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “She was . . .” He considered his next word. Uneasy. Shaken. Instead, he said, “Yeah, I think she was pretty shocked.”
“Well, that’s wonderful, honey. I assume the two of you will be at our Christmas party?”
“We wouldn’t miss it. I’ll see you then.”
Brent hung up the phone and lay his head back on the sofa again. He closed his eyes and thought about what he had told his mom. It was true that Clara had seemed shocked. But he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that it was more than that.
He thought back to this time last year when he’d found out about the deployment.
She’d been so upset about it. He remembered she’d been unsure they’d be able to make the relationship work.
Brent thought about the day he had left, how he’d been so scared that she wouldn’t show up at all, unwilling to get involved in a long-distance relationship.
But they had made it work. Shouldn’t any doubts she’d had then be gone by now? Especially after the long year they’d just gone through together. Especially now that he was home. Shouldn’t their relationship be stronger than ever at this point?
Brent’s eyes popped opened, and he took in the welcome sight of his house.
It was clean and unlived in. It needed a touch of Christmas.
He decided to brush aside his insecurities for now and instead focus on enjoying the holidays with Clara.
They would get through this adjustment period in no time.
He sprung up from the sofa and walked over to the kitchen drawer where he kept all his important papers.
Right on top was the one he was looking for—his Christmas checklist. Sure, he had written it a year ago, but it was finally time to get started on it.
He glanced at the first item on the list and smiled.
Get a Christmas tree at the Cranberry Pines Tree Farm.
Perfect. This was exactly what they needed to get things back on track.
It was time to pick up right where they had left off last year.
The only difference was that, instead of a new girlfriend, Clara was his fiancée.
Instead of someone he was getting to know, she was the person he knew better than anyone in the world.
Instead of a new relationship, they were in a lifelong commitment together.
Thoughts of Christmas filled his mind as he moved about the kitchen with energy.
He needed to do some shopping, to spruce this place up.
Brent was going to make sure the next few weeks were memorable.
He thought back to Christmas morning last year when Clara had opened the gift that he’d made for her.
Her reaction had justified all the work involved.
It had been time well spent to see the sincere gleam in her eyes.
Now, he just needed to do that again with the perfect Christmas itinerary.
Maybe her tepid reaction to the proposal today was simply a reminder that he needed to put a lot more work into their Christmas this year.
He needed to come to terms with the fact that things wouldn’t automatically become easy just because they were now together. In fact, it could get more difficult.
He wouldn’t let that happen. Brent pulled a pencil from the drawer and immediately got to work, updating his checklist. He needed to make sure he covered everything so that no mistakes were made. Yes, he was going to make sure this would be a perfect Christmas for the two of them.
Brent just hoped he wasn’t a year too late.