Page 47 of Soaring and Saucy

“Tomorrow,” Lance whispered simply and saw Pasteur nod before he went back to reading. Shoving his bag onto his bunk, he changed quickly and climbed into bed, pulling his curtain shut. Plugging in his cell phone and setting an alarm, he hesitated and looked at their picture for what had to be the hundredth time in the last three hours. It was hard to believe she didn’t realize just how pretty or special he thought she was and vowed to make sure she always felt that way when she was with him.

Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

Waking up early the next morning, Lance felt refreshed from sleep and checked his phone.

Stephanie texted?

He skimmed over her words, reading it twice in disbelief… and smiled. The text that had come through at some point during the night.

Hey, I got your emails – yes, it’s 3 a.m. but nature calls. I hope I didn’t wake you. I just wanted to say that I miss you and agree on the bedroom locations within the apartment. Let’s talk about email number two, okay? Emails 1 & 3 just didn’t feel as cozy or homey.

Going back to bed. Talk soon!

She wanted to talk about an apartment – and sent him a heart emoji.

“What a way to wake up…” he breathed happily, unable to wipe the smile from his face as he texted her. He was skipping the shower and taking an few extra minutes to text her before climbing out of his bunk. He didn’t care if he smelled like sweat during duty or if his hair was sticking up; he’d just slap a hat over it and seize the day.

You got it, Princess. Cozy it is! I’ll text before I call to make sure you are free to talk – and then I’m gonna hightail it outta here to go take a peek at the property in person.

You have literally just made my entire week with that single text. Thank you.

??

Putting a heart on there, feeling like a goober, he clicked send. He really was surprising himself when it came to her because he never imagined doing all the silly romantic things, yet here he was. Emojis, pictures together, kissing, rubbing noses, heck – he rubbed her feet and loved every second of it.

Getting up, he yanked on his uniform, pulled his cap down low over his brow, and took off out of berthing to get something for breakfast, whistling happily.

Nothing could dampen his day!

Twenty minutes later, Lance was still whistling happily as he reported into his duty station, where he was going to be checking and filing reports for the next eight hours with a few other lucky ‘winners’ as well. Everyone was yawning and griping, and he was in too good of a mood to let them drag him down. Dang it, he was going to check out an apartment tonight or tomorrow!

“Goooooood morning, you stunning sacks of crap!” Lance sang out, clapping a hand on a few guys shoulders and shaking them happily. “It’s time to be the reason our CO pops ibuprofen like it’s M&M candies. Here’s your to-do list for the day. One – look like you are busy, even if you are scribbling on the same sheet of paper for four hours. Two – ‘Don’t tell’ doesn’t mean you can’t flirt. Make the whole world quake when you walk in a room, either from fear or desire. Don’t really care, let ‘em stare!”

This finally roused a nervous giggle from a few of the guys and girls around him as they looked at him like he’d lost his blasted mind. Maybe he had? Was this what happiness felt like?

If so, keep it coming…

“And number three – the most important of them all. Remember, if ketchup packets under the toilet seat lids are wrong, I don’t wanna be right… oh, and don’t forget, Wite-Out on the stains. It’s all about using your brains, peeps…”

“CAVANAUGH!” the commanding officer yelled walking into the room with a cup of coffee and looking at him with disbelief. “How much coffee have you had this morning? Do I need to send you for a drug screening?”

“Nope!” Lance grinned as another man whispered something foul about him getting laid to his back.

That might have been the old version of him, but even that fool wasn’t as happy as he was now. He looked over his shoulder and smirked arrogantly, bragging because he was in a relationship with his precious princess, Stephanie with a baby Peanut on the way.

“Wrong again. I’m married, buddy.”

The commotion he’d begun, was quickly turning into an uproar at that simple statement. Frankly, Lance was a little insulted by a few laughs and a few shocked expressions. Was he really that bad before he met Stephanie?

“Trophy, congratulations – now get to work! The rest of you, sit down, shut up, and let’s get started. Boys and girls, you can gossip and chit-chat on your own time – NOT ON MINE.”

Putting his head down, Lance got to work and then hesitated as a thought hit him. He couldn’t go look at the apartment tonight because it would probably be too late by the time he got off work… but he did have time to make it to the Naval Air Station legal services office on base to get things straightened out with his marriage license.

He slowly opened another tab on the computer screen he was typing on and quickly requested an appointment. There was one left at 4:15 p.m. today – on the other side of the base. He would have to haul his butt outta here in order to make it there while still grabbing the marriage license hidden in his rack. Yeah, it was going to be darn close, but this could seal the deal on getting Stephanie to move down here. Plus, he promised his girl he would fix it – and he wasn’t going to back out now.

Hours later, sweating profusely in the summer heat, Lance was walking out of the legal office – grinning from ear to ear – whistling once again. The license was validated with a copy of his current military I.D. along with a statement explaining that he had been at sea at the time. He added that the license was mailed to the wrong address and returned to him after the thirty-day expiration period. Technically, in a very roundabout way from a certain perspective and a creative point of view, it was vaguely true.

To get that license validated, he would have spun that viewpoint in every which direction to make sure things were legitimate. He wanted no questions on their marriage or for his child to have his name.

---