Dear Soldier

Chapter 1

TAYLOR 

I walked into my house to screaming once again. I sighed wishing that things were the way before my dad died. My mom met Greg, now my step-dad, while she was married to Dad. There was a big, complicated fiasco and when my dad died Greg and Mom married and they argue over everything now.

"You don't care about us! You don't care about Taylor graduating soon! You don't care about Nate being in the war! You don't care about Chris being bullied! You don't care about Dakota being half way around the world! And don't care about me most of the time!" Mom screamed at Greg from the kitchen.

"I work my ass off to provide for you and your children! I at least care a little!"

"That's exactly the point you're never here to show support for what my children do!" They continued to scream at one another. I ran upstairs to my room and looked at the letter I received today.

I smiled, Luke's letter got here. We've exchanged several letters now and it's getting close to the end of the school year and his tour in Afghanistan.

Since our exchange in letters I have discovered he lives about 3 hours away from my one horse town, Pickettsville. Weird, right? Well, it actually came from the founder of our town Gregory Pickett, blah blah blah blah, I'm not gonna bore you with details. All you need to know is its a small town with a population of about 150 people. Yeah, I know tiny town.

I do kinda of wish that Luke would come and visit. The sad truth is I don't have a clue what he looks like and the only way I would know is if he came to visit me. Sighing, I finally opened the letter.

Dear Taylor,

I found out today (May 3) I get to leave my tour a few months early. I'm not sure why but I get to come home to the States!! I'm really excited to come see my family. It'll be nice to have all the luxuries again when I get back. I should be off for about a year, but you never know when they'll call you and want you to come back.

Please don't respond to this letter because I might not be at the base when it gets there. Sorry it's short, maybe it'll be longer next time we write. I'll send a letter from my home address.

Your friend,
Luke

I smiled, he's coming back to the States. I wish he would come here, but he said he was going to write from his home address.

LUKE'S POV

"Hey, man, you all packed?"

"Yeah, I'm almost done."

Jake looked at me contemplating asking me what he was thinking, before blurting out, "Are you gonna meet that girl?"

I smiled while I finished packing thinking about the many letters we'd shared over the last few months. "Yeah, I was planning on it. I wrote her another letter telling I was coming back to the States but didn't tell I was gonna visit her."

"Ooh, a surprise visit." He grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "Yep, a surprise visit."

"Not just any visit but a visit to a girl you've never met in your entire life. Man, you don't even know what she looks like. What if she's ugly? That would be terrible."

"I don't know. But it would be a plus if she is a beautiful girl. "

"Somebody's got a crush." Jake said in a mocking voice, while grinning. "Way to kill the vibe man."

He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry it was getting deep, dude."

I finished packing and was walking out the door ready to leave, "Be safe Luke!" Jake hollered after me. I turned around to yell back at him but stopped when I saw he was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Instead, I just laughed and walked away. Not being able to contain the smile of finally being able to meet Taylor.