One in a Million (Book 3 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

4 | Here Comes Goodbye

Here comes goodbye, here comes the last time

Here comes the start of every sleepless night

The first of every tear I'm gonna cry.

-Rascal Flatts, "Here Comes Goodbye"

Tallahassee, Florida

Luke

I loaded the last box into the U-Haul Brooke and I had rented, and when I turned around, I saw Rachel leaning against Miles with tears running down her face.

"Oh, Rach," I said, going to her and wrapping her in a hug. "You're going to be fine, I promise. We will come visit, and you can always come to PCB."

She nodded against my shoulder and I released her from my grip. "I know. I'm just going to miss you guys."

"I know. We'll miss you too," I said. Rachel stepped away from us then to go to Brooke. I looked up at Miles, whose face was stony, like he was trying not to cry. "Are you okay, Miles?" I asked.

He shook his head once. "Don't ask me that, Luke," he murmured, "unless you want to see me cry."

"Aw, bro. Don't do that. I'm only going to be in Panama City," I said, trying to make him laugh, but his face just fell even further.

"You will be... I'm going to be in Missouri. Then God knows where else," he said, his voice low.

"But... you told Rachel that you'd have virtually no chance of being deployed," I said, my face twisting in confusion.

He sighed. "I did. And at the time, it was true... but Staff Sergeant Riggs called me yesterday, and told me the chances have gone up," he admitted, glancing at Rachel sideways.

"What? Why?"

"They're sending more and more troops over into Korea, and he foresees there being a need for engineers due to some of the crumbling facilities in the area," he muttered. "There's a bigger chance now that I'll be deployed."

I bit my lip. "Shit. When are you going to tell her?"

"I leave tomorrow... so I have to tell her tonight. I dread it," he said, exhaling hard.

I put my hand on his forearm. "Text me afterward if you need me, okay?"

"I will. I love you, bro. Be safe, okay? Take care of Brooke," he said, giving me a hug.

"Love you too. And it's not goodbye; it's see you later, right?"

He gave me a small smile. "Right."

I turned around to see Rachel giving Brooke one last hug as Brooke climbed into the U-Haul. I checked to make sure my car was safely attached to the back, climbed in the driver's side, and after giving Rachel and Miles one more wave, Brooke and I took off toward adulthood.

Miles

Rachel sighed heavily as she pulled her sundress over her head and replaced it with one of my FSU baseball t-shirts. She climbed into bed and was staring at the ceiling when I sat down on the bed next to her.

"You okay, babe?" I asked, my voice gentle.

She looked over at me and squeezed my hand. "Yeah. I'm good." She pulled herself up so she was sitting next to me. "I can't believe you fly out tomorrow. But I keep telling myself, 'It's only for 14 weeks,'" she said, glancing at me and smiling.