"They really impressed you, didn't they? Was it her?"
"She is a beautiful woman. No question that. But it's how they handled themselves. The mother and son that is. The daughter is a bit mixed up with some shady college types. A couple of them are antiwar lefties."
"Eugh..." Jill groaned and made a face. "I can't believe I was one back in the day."
"You grew up and came to terms with the world. I hung around with those types in college for the pussy."
They laughed and held each other, bit thinking how far they had come in life. Being rich had not made them what they were. They had both been tested when their father got killed in front of them and were forced to grow up. Jack had a feeling that Andrea, Jay and Leslie were all about to face the same test. And he wanted to know who was special before meeting them.
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Winter to Spring, 2006 Savanah, Georgia.
The next two years were not easy for Andrea. She worked all she could to make sure they still had a home. But she missed Robert. Forgetting their problems but remembering the good times would make her sad and she would miss him. Then remembering his dark side, she would get angry at him and herself for enabling him. As time passed, she vowed to never let a man manipulate her that way ever again.
As a military wife, she was used to him being gone. But there was always phone and e-mail contact when he was alive. And always the knowledge he would eventually come home. It took a year before the finality settled that Robert was gone forever. This was her new life. And the best medicine for grief eventually helped heal the pain: time.
After a year, she took a day off and cleaned out Roberts things she didn't want to keep. Tears came, and she stopped the sorting. How does one take nineteen years of memories and toss them out? She had to force herself to take stuff to the veteran's homeless charity. At least someone who needed them would have them. She had asked Jay to pick what he wanted to keep that was his fathers. Jay had the box in his room. Books, his father's medals and some other things. She didn't go look. It would have been more pain. They kept family pictures in the albums and a picture of him in uniform at his study. It was her study now. But she hardly used it. She was used to taking her laptop anywhere to do bills or surf.
Memories of their past came to her. How they met, Leslie's birth, their problem times, Jay's arrival. His first war in Kuwait and Iraq in '91. The years in Ft. Bliss when she finally finished her finance degree. Their two years in Germany before his unit returned home to be disbanded. The kids going from base school to base school with each new assignment. The classic army family story.
This place was the longest they had been anywhere. As usual, they had made some friends, but as veterans now, they knew everything in the army was temporary. Soldiers and their families stayed for a while and then were moved elsewhere or left the army. Or divorced. And since 9/11, soldiers died, and the families moved back home. The divorces and reassignments continued at a more rapid pace. Soldiering in peace time is stressful enough. Soldiering in war time is worse on families as much as the soldiers. She almost joined that statistic.
Andrea decided not to leave the area. Their home was off base, so the army wasn't kicking them off. Robert's insurance paid off the home and they had money set aside after. Jay was in high school, which was off base too. Andrea's family was in Louisville, but they were estranged since way before Robert's death. So, they stayed in Savanah, GA for his sake. Plus, Andrea had her job at the bank as a loan officer.
Her life was pretty much work and home. Her coworkers could see the stress she was in and tried helping any way they could. A female coworker suggested Andrea go to the gym a few times a week to get some stress relief. She tried it but didn't like the men staring or the women chatting about meaningless stuff. In fact, other than work and shopping that had to be done, Andrea didn't like mixing with people much. She had an incident at the gym when a woman in the locker room made a comment about the war. Andrea wanted to punch the woman because instead of saying her opinion, she spouted the typical garbage she heard on what passed for news these days. Andrea had her views, but she knew that if she opened her mouth it would get ugly quick. She left the gym pissed and never went back.
Instead, she set up her own gym in the basement and did her running early in the morning before she got ready for work. In running she found time to think and the accomplishment of distance and time goals made her feel better. In the two years since Robert's death, she shed the fifteen pounds she picked up early in her bereavement and toned up. It helped her focus and recover. And she liked the look in the mirror. Andrea was recovering, but just didn't know it yet.
Her coworkers and her friend Heather politely asked if she had thought about dating. Andrea was in no hurry or mood. Unlike younger women with younger children, she wasn't desperate to find another provider to raise her kids. She could pay the bills herself, and she had also seen the failure rate of these "forced" marriages.
"We don't live in the wild west where a woman had to have another man the week after her husband died." She would tell anyone that pressured her. She just didn't feel the need for a man replacement. And that is exactly how she thought of the dating process if she were to do it. So, she passed.
Instead she devoted time to hobbies she had meant to do and never had. She went shooting and skydiving with Jay and started writing again. Her essay habit of years past came back. Then she wrote short stories. Nothing she intended to publish; they were personal accomplishments. She repainted the house, did some gardening and continued her exercise routine. But the best part of her day was when Jay came home and would spend time with her. She always felt comfortable with her son. Now more so.
Jay had changed as well. He turned eighteen in February 2006. At first, she thought it was his father's passing. But it was more than that. He reminded her of a girl in her class when she was a teen. Her mother had died, and the girl doubled as student, house maid and mother to her younger siblings as her father worked two jobs to keep a roof over his family. Jay didn't have to do as much...but he no longer saw the world as a typical teen. Adulthood had come to him early.
Then she noticed in their talks, that Jay was very deep and well-read for a seventeen-year-old. He found kids his age boring and self-absorbed. He showed interest and learned about their bills. He also asked about her job. He watched the news and kept up with world events. When they talked about a topic, he had reasons for his beliefs and if he wasn't sure, he would say so instead of just agreeing with her. Andrea had been raised by politically conservative parents. She agreed with the ideology but wasn't very vocal about it. Jay wanted to know why he should have a stance. He read about science and all kind of things. One day she found a book on anthropology on his desk...anthropology? He was eighteen for heaven's sake!
Sometime during the second year of them being alone, Andrea stopped thinking of Jay as a teenager. They would talk for hours about stuff, watch movies and tv together and go out to dinner or sometimes a movie. Two things he refused to do. Work out with her or talk about girls. She knew he had dated girls before his father died. One a few times in particular. It had ended abruptly. When she asked, he had just said, 'she is an immature girl. I don't need that.' He had a guy friends and there were girls in their circle, but Jay remained unattached. In a way she was glad. Maternal protective notion she scolded herself with. Still, it was his life. So, she didn't push the issue. After all, she wasn't dating. Who was she to talk?
Then she ran in to Michael near her job when she ran out for a quick lunch. She and Robert had known him and his wife both in Germany and here state side. The guys got along well, but Andrea never really took to Michel's snooty wife. The bitch had taken a look at Andrea, found her too attractive and decided she was competition, not friend material. Andrea had met women like her before. They were insecure and tried to act superior. Andrea had the body and the looks to pass for a woman ten years younger. Michel's wife never would or tried. Andrea had told Robert, who confirmed that the other couple were having problems. When she ran in to him, he confirmed it. He was divorced. It didn't take long before he asked her for a date. She thought of saying no, but she knew him and decided what the heck. Diner and then, home, right?
She didn't tell Jay and took a dress with her to change after work. Before leaving work, she called to say she would be out with friends and would be home by ten or so. Jay told her to have a good time and to call him if she drank too much. Andrea smiled at the role reversal. Her son was telling her to call him for a ride!
She went to a local mall bathroom and changed in the stall to her dress. Then she did her makeup in the mirror. She looked at herself. The dress hugged her curves just right. He cleavage was visible, but not in an over the top way...she laughed at the pun. Her bra kept her boobs in place. She hadn't needed one when Robert met her. But gravity takes its toll. They had a slight sag. In a few years she would get them lifted she thought. It felt good to dress up and go out again. If nothing else.
They went to dinner, talked and eventually it was time to head home. She had only one drink and may had flirted a bit. But Michael took it as a sign that he may get lucky and offered to give her a lift in his car. He had been a gentleman until then, so she agreed. Her car was parked in a multi-floor garage. When he got in a dark empty spot, he pulled over. Andrea made a joke about him running out of gas. He thought this was his moment and moved on her. His hands were all over and his mouth found hers. She pushed him away, he grabbed her breast, and she tried to fight him off. But Michael was a fitness freak. He was too strong. He had muscles on his muscles. He grabbed her and pulled one of her legs up. His other hand went for her crotch. She realized she had no chance if she stayed in the car. She would be rapped. As he pulled her panties down, Andrea moved her hand to the door release and then jammed a thumb in his eye; once, then again as he didn't back off. When he screamed, she opened the door. He tried reaching for her, but his eye burned. Her nail had cut his eyeball. She ran out and down a level to her car. Before he got himself together to look for her, she was driving out. Andrea stopped near the police station in case he followed her and drove home. She took her dress off and put on her outfit from work. Jay was out somewhere. She was glad. She tossed the torn dress in the garbage, then she took out more garbage to cover it up.
