Page 16 of Coincidentally Kismet

Amy, on the other hand, chews gracefully before answering, “Of course! I’m an adult...I would never make you pay my way...Please, Will, I don’t want to find another roommate in a new city. Can I move in with you?” She’s giving me puppy dogeyes. I’ve always been helpless against her puppy dog eyes. She knows it and has been using them against me for as long as I can remember.

“Fine, I guess you can stay, but I have conditions. First, you have to help pay the bills. Second, you have to tell momtoday. And third but most importantly, you are not dating my friends.”

I can tell she’s relieved by the way she quickly agrees. I noticed her smile faltered a little when I said no dating my friends, but she will respect my rules or I will make her move out. Call me overprotective, but the last thing I need is Smith telling me all the ways he plans to bang my sister. Believe me, he would be relentless.

“Oh, and Aims, there’s something you should know...I may be heading out soon, overseas. It’s not set in stone, and I don’t know when it will be or for how long, but it’s coming and soon.” Her smile dims, but she needs to know the truth. This is my job and it’s not all sunshine and piña coladas on the beach.

“Geez, Rambo. Eating for two?” I look up from lovingly gazing at my potato salad to see Cam and Lo in their pajamas and carrying a to-go bag.

“Hey, Wright, forget to get dressed this morning?”

Cam rolls her eyes and pulls her sunglasses down from where they were pushing her hair back. “Actually, this is our tradition. We go out, drink our faces off, and go eat Sal’s on the beach in our jammies the next morning.” Lo scoffs, as if I should have known that it’s normal for friends to be sporting matching pink flamingo pajama pants and turquoise tank tops out in public.

“I think that sounds so fun,” Amy coos.

“It’s interesting, I’ll give ya that.” I smirk at the ladies, not saying that I find it incredibly endearing. But what about Cam isn’t. She’s always had a way of disarming people with her charm.

“We aren’t seeking your approval, Rambo. We just noticed your massive quantity of food, and I couldn’t stop myself from commenting.” Cam crosses her arms and turns to leave.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself, Wright. I’m flattered that you wanted to talk to me.” That’s it, I’ll get the last word just for fun. It irritates me how little I seem to affect her, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe she really did move on.

Cam and Lo leave as I begin my foray back into my potato salad. Damn, it really is so good. Simple, just potatoes, celery, mayo, and dill.

“Okay, what the fuck was that?” Amy sets her fork down and places both hands on the table, leaning forward.

“Wha-was-wha?” I ask, mouth full of a huge bite.

“You like her. It’s so obvious. But why do you keep saying you don’t date when the guys or I bring it up?” She’s picked up her fork again and is pointing it at me like she’s deciding if she should eat with it or stab me.

“I-I just can’t,” I say, shrugging noncommittally.

“Bullshit. That’s utter grade A genuine cow doodoo. And you know it. The way I see it, you’ve got two choices. You either tell me and let me help you, or you die alone, a miserable sad sack.”

“Option B.” I pop the top on the cake’s plastic container, preparing to dive into my final course.

“Nope. It was a trick question, I would never let you die alone, so option A it is. Start talking or I’m not letting you have this cake.” Amy slams her hand down on the container, a force to be reckoned with if I want the sweet, salty hint of heaven.

“Fine. What do you want to know? This better not leave this table, either.” I give in, glaring at her.

“Why did you really break up?”

“Ugh...not starting easy on me. It was complicated. Cam swooped in right around the time Mom and Dad split up. I was angry and lost but instead of letting me piss my life away, shebulldozed her way in and made me want to be better.” Amy’s looking at me with the tell-me-something-I-don’t-know face, but I continue anyway. “It wasn’t just that she was nice or pretty. It was the way I felt when I was around her. Like she was the sun, and for a minute I had a chance to touch that light. The way she could make me laugh, could get me to talk out the hard stuff. She didn’t just tell me she loved me, she made me feel it. Believe it. I knew when I decided to join up that I was letting her down by leaving. I couldn’t stand the thought of facing her disappointment, couldn’t watch her cry every time I had to say goodbye if we did the long-distance thing. I would have ruined her life.” Amy’s mouth is hanging open and there are tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

“So instead of feeling like you were a constant disappointment, the way Dad always made us feel, you ended it. Am I getting this right?” she asks, disbelief etched on her face as she chews her bottom lip.

“Yeah.” I put my head in my hands, pressing the base of my palms into my eyes to chase away any emotion that may want to leak out.

“You really are a bonehead. You ran when it got hard. You were so afraid of making her feel like you did when Dad left, but you did exactly what he would have.” I can tell she’s disappointed, finally learning the truth I’ve known—I am just like our dear old dad.

“At the time, I guess so. But I did her a favor. Amy, my life, as a soldier, it’s not easy. I’m gone at a moment’s notice. I could never give her the life she deserves.” Bri pops into my head, and all that she’s had to endure with Thatch. It’s not the kind of life that I could easily bring someone as good and pure as Cam into. The things I’ve seen would ruin her, they’ve ruined me.

“And what about what you deserve, Will?” Amy’s ready for a fight now, face pinched in defiance.

“Look, I know you don’t understand, but I-I just can’t. I will always love her, but I can’t hurt her more than I already have. And with losing Thatch, I can’t risk letting myself fall just to lose her too when she gets sick of it.”

“So this is about fear. You’re afraid. Well that...that’s something I can fix.” Amy stands and takes our trash to the bin, returning to grab the two uneaten slices of cake and me. “Let’s go, Will. I’ve got work to do.”

CHAPTER 8

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