Army Way of Life

Chapter Eight

Jeremy left around 5 o'clock that evening. Mom had just gotten home from getting Melanie from practice when he pulled out of the driveway.

"What was he doing here?" Mel asked curiously after Mom walked upstairs.

"He came over this morning to talk."

"And he's just now leaving? Man. There better not be another baby coming out of this talk," she said, waggling her eyebrows.

"Melanie Anne! Really? It wasn't even like that. We talked. About Ryker. That's it."

"That's it?"

"Mostly, yes."

"What else did you talk about?"

"The whole communication thing."

"What about it?"

"Nothing..." I sighed.

"Come on..."

"Look, you'll find out what happened later. I have to talk to Dad when he gets home."

"Okay. So that doesn't explain why Jeremy is just now leaving if he came over this morning."

"He came over, I took Ryker to day care, we went and talked then went to lunch. When we got Ryker, I asked if he wanted to come in for a while. He wants to get to know Ryker, so that's why he was here."

"If you say so..."

"Shut up, Mel."

"Love you," she said sweetly, kissing my cheek.

We sat around the living room talking while my mother prepared dinner. I wanted to wait until dinner to confront my dad about the letter, but I just didn't know if I'd be able to wait that long.

When my dad walked through the door, I had to keep myself calm. I wanted to wait until we were all sitting down because it would catch him off guard, and perhaps that was a mean thing to do, but that was the only way to get the truth, especially with everyone wanting to know the answer.

Melanie was playing with Ryker, so I went and helped Mom set the table and get everything ready. Before Dad had gone up to change, he said that the boys were right behind him.

I placed the last dish on the table and joined my family at the table. The conversation went on as usual, "How was your day, Sweetie?" Mom would ask everyone. Dad had a ton of meetings, and so did Luke. John got to meet someone important; I don't remember who he said. And Melanie gets to start at her game on Thursday.

When it was my turn to share, I turned to my Dad. "So, Dad, I had an interesting conversation today."

"Yeah?" He asked. "About what?"

"Where are the letters?"

I succeeded in catching him off guard. "What letters?" he asked, trying to sound confused. The rest of my family all looked confused, genuinely.

"Really? You're going to play innocent?"

"Honey, what are you talking about?" My mother asked, looking to me, then at Dad.

"Why don't you tell her, Dad." He had a stern look on his face telling me not to challenge him, but he showed no response otherwise. "Jeremy sent me letters while he was at basic. But I never got them. Then Dad emailed Jeremy from my account saying that I didn't want to hear from him again. That's why he never tried to contact me," I said, getting frustrated.

"Is that true?" Mom asked.

"Do you think I'd do something like that?"

Mom started to respond, but I cut her off. "Dammit, Dad," I started, hitting the table.