Page 7 of David's Love

He laughs at the other end of the line.

“I’ve heard things are all right.”

“More than all right. I might only need to spend a couple more weeks here.”

“That’s great news.”

He pauses for a moment.

“I know the holidays are just around the corner…” he says, and tension claims my jaw.

“Uh-huh.”

It isn’t like him not to be direct.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” I say as he still ponders his words.

“Would you be interested in traveling to Singapore again?’

“Uh… Something happened?”

“No. Everything’s all right, but I need someone to oversee the transition.”

He’s recently hired some new executives for the newly created branch.

“Okay. Sure,” I say quickly to stifle a horrible reaction.

I know how these things work. Expanding a business operation is no small thing.

I will need to get on it, accomplish what I’m supposed to accomplish, and return as fast as I can.

My thoughts get caught in a surge of crippling anxiety.

Of course I have a good reason to come back as quickly as possible.

This news comes with a bit of deja vu.

I pulled away from a woman many years ago when I had left for deployment overseas.

We had an understanding.

We were in love. The world was our oyster. We had big plans for the future.

Starting a family, and all that.

Maybe it seemed trivial, but to us, it was everything we had.

Things didn’t turn out the way we wanted, and my life has never been the same.

This is not that.

But my heart doesn’t know. It can’t tell the difference.

And my brain thinks this might be that.

Of course, I’m considering several ways to make this work.

But it’s going to be complicated.

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