Page 51 of All Too Well
He stands there, lifting the bag of chips, and pushes something behind his back. “I have snacks.”
I purse my lips. “Do you have chocolate?”
Lachlan snickers. “Come and find out.”
He totally does, and if he doesn’t, I’ll find a way to punish him. I follow him out back, and he heads to the left, where there’s a large bed swing.
“Oh my God!” I say, moving quickly. “I love these!”
“So does Rose. It’s our favorite place to hang out.”
“For a good reason.”
He flips a switch for the two heaters above the bed area. “Climb up.”
I don’t argue. My apartment is modern and great, but it’s the uniqueness of my childhood home I miss. We didn’t have fancy appliances or new flooring, but we had old charm. The Admiral installed a porch swing, pool, and basketball hoop so Caspian and I had things to do at the house. We loved all of it, but what we really loved were the nooks in our home.
There was a little door under the stairs that my parents let me turn into a hideaway. I had pillows, a light, and books piled in the corner. It was tiny, but it was my safe space. For hours I’d hide under there, getting lost in a make-believe world where I could pretend to save the innocent people from darkness.
I long for that little nook most days.
Or the garden next door. The one I would go to when I wanted to feel the sun and see the boy on the other side of the fence.
“You look like you’re somewhere far away,” Lachlan says, drawing me from the memories of home.
I smile and shrug. “More like the past.”
“What about it?”
“I was thinking about how great this house is for Rose. How much, when we were kids, our homes were really special. I don’t remember much about moving around from base to base, but Caspian said the one before it was terrible.”
“I hated moving. I loved my house next to yours,” he says, his voice wistful. “It was a home.”
“You moved more than we did.”
Caspian and Lachlan are four years older, so I got to enjoy the feeling of a home more than they did.
He lets out a long yawn. “Yeah, it was horrible.”
“I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that what you’re giving Rose is better than we had or ... different at least.”
“I’d agree with different. I want her to have roots. She’s not worried about her friends leaving after she gets close with them, or about her leaving. We didn’t get that.”
“No, we didn’t. I didn’t worry about us moving, but I remember when some of our friends moved.”
Lachlan nods. “It’s why that life was never for me. I went from being the kid leaving to always having people around me go. Military life is odd.”
The Admiral was already pretty set in Norfolk when I was a kid, and he could pick his duty stations much easier since he was the Admiral.
“It really is. Not something you can easily explain to people either.”
“Nope. I’m just glad that Dad bought the house next to you guys. Our lives changed for the better.”
I shift, tucking my legs under my butt. “Well, of course, you met me.”
He snorts. “Yes, that was really when my life took a nosedive.”
“You meant to say ‘high point.’”
