The Ring

by Sarah Anne Carter

  THE RING

  Sarah Anne Carter

  Copyright © 2019 Sarah Anne Carter.

  This edition published in 2019 by BLKDOG Publishing.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  www.blkdogpublishing.com

  This book is dedicated to all the children who grew up missing a parent, to all the parents and siblings who grieve for their family members, and especially to the military spouses who chose to love someone who paid the ultimate sacrifice for his or her country. They and you will never be forgotten.

  To help support Gold Star Families, visit www.americasgoldstarfamilies.org.

  To help support a Fisher House, visit www.fisherhouse.org.

  Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  Amanda woke up and instinctively rolled over to Lucas’ side of the bed. He wasn’t there, and loneliness washed over her once again. Her eyes teared up a little, as they seemed to easily do when he was gone. It had been almost three months now. She heard her alarm go off and rolled back to her side of the bed to turn it off. Her thumb brushed against her ring finger as she touched the alarm button and realized her wedding ring wasn’t there.

  “No!” she yelled as she sat up, remembering, and let the tears flow freely.

  Her wedding ring wasn’t just a piece of jewelry bought from a store. It was a unique band created by her husband that blended all aspects of their lives. Three rings were twisted together to make one: There was a gold band from Washington State where she was born, a silver band from Charleston where Lucas grew up, a white gold band from Turkey where he said he was when he realized he was absolutely in love with her. A few months after the wedding, they got the engagement ring soldered to her wedding ring so that it was one ring. She wanted to make sure she didn’t lose either one.

  But, last night, she was so mad he wasn’t there to help her with the move that she had taken her ring off and flung it into their closet, which was full of boxes stuffed with his things. She would have to find it today. Yet, today was the last day she had to sort through the house before the packers came tomorrow. She still had the kitchen and office to sort through. She pulled herself together by taking some deep breaths. This time next week, she’d be back in Washington State where she knew the people, places, and streets – the place that felt like home. She just had to get through this move. She had done it once before when the military had sent them from Tacoma to Charleston and thought she knew what to expect.

  “Okay, Amanda, you can do this without asking for help. Two more days and you can leave this state. Make coffee, do the kitchen, do the office, and then find the ring tonight,” she said out loud to herself and got out of bed. A few last tears escaped and then she shook her head. The rest of her tears would have to wait.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A few years earlier ...

  The morning rush was over, and Amanda was cleaning her glasses off on her maroon smock when the bell above the door chimed the arrival of another customer. Her co-barista, Jodie, had just gone to the back for her break. They took turns, and today was Jodie’s turn to go first. Amanda put her glasses back on and looked up, ready to smile and greet the customer with the usual “Good morning! Welcome to Coffee First,” but paused for a moment when she saw a man her age. She normally saw older men in their suits, khakis and polos, or military uniforms stop by the shop and a lot of women, but not young men. He looked like a college student, but he was wearing a military flight suit.

  Coffee First was located just a few hundred yards from an entrance to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma. The greater Seattle area was the land of coffee shops, and there was a drive-thru one right across the street and another one even closer to the gate. However, both of those were known to have baristas who wore revealing outfits while they served coffee. Many married men knew better than to get their coffee at one of those places. Some even made sure to get receipts from her to show their wives where they got their coffee that day. About twice a year, the city council threatened to shut down those risqué coffee shops, but they never seemed to go away. They just moved from one location to another.

  Amanda got her bearings as the man got closer to the counter.

  “Good morning! Welcome to Coffee First,” she said with a smile.

  “I’d like a large coffee with room for cream and a blueberry muffin to go,” he said. “Are the muffins good here, Amanda?”

  As a reflex, she looked down at her name tag. It always felt odd when strangers knew her name. She then looked at his chest to find his name tag. Two could play this game.

  “They are, Lucas Weston. The owner, Mrs. Connelly, makes them fresh every morning.” He glanced down at his name tag, too, and she smiled. “That will be $7.32.”

  He handed her his credit card, and she could feel his eyes on her while she ran it. She looked up and handed him back the card and the receipt.

  “Here you go,” she said and then turned to pour his coffee and wrap up the muffin.

  “Thank you,” he said. Then he stepped closer to the counter instead of going over to the side where most people waited under the “Pick Up Orders Here” sign. There was only one other customer in the shop – Timothy, an older man who came every morning to read the newspaper, drink coffee, and eat a cranberry oatmeal muffin.

  “So, Amanda, are you from here?” he asked while her back was still turned.

  “Yes. I grew up in Spanaway. My parents are teachers,” she answered as she walked back to the counter with his coffee and muffin.

  “I just moved here six months ago. It’s so different from South Carolina. Do you have any ties to the base at all?”

  “No, just work close to it. My uncle used to work as a civilian doing office work somewhere out there, but he retired a few years ago.”

  Lucas looked at his watch, glanced at the door, and then looked back at Amanda.

  “I have to be at the office in 10 minutes. We’re supposed to fly today. I better get going. It was nice to meet you, Amanda,” he said.

  “Hope you have a good day,” she replied. He started walking to the door and she turned back to start cleaning up from the morning’s work. Her shift would be over in two hours, and then she would head to her college classes. Her work shift at Coffee First was from 5 to 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday so she signed up for afternoon and evening classes.

  “Amanda, can I have your number?” Amanda heard a voice say as she was washing out the frothing cups. She looked up and saw that Lucas hadn�
��t left the shop yet. She was slightly shocked. She had specifically chosen to work at this coffee shop to avoid being asked out. She really wanted to focus on school and getting her teaching license before getting into any kind of relationship.

  “What?” she asked, wanting to make sure she had heard him correctly.

  “I would really like to take you out to dinner sometime. Could I have your number, and I’ll call you later to figure out details? Please?”

  Maybe it was because he was in uniform. Maybe it was because it had never happened before. Or maybe it was because he said please, which made her smile. Amanda didn’t really know why she decided to do it, but she grabbed a pen and a small, square napkin and wrote down her number and gave it to him.

  “Thank you, Amanda. I’ll call you soon,” he said, and she watched as he finally walked out the door. As soon as the bell chimed announcing his departure, she smoothed her ponytail and shook her head. She caught Timothy glancing at her with a smile on his face.

  “Did you actually give him your number?” Jodie said, putting her arm around Amanda’s shoulder.

  “How much did you hear?” Amanda asked.

  “Enough. I’m proud of you. He was cute,” Jodie said. Her short, spiked hair was blue today. It had been green yesterday.

  “He probably won’t even call. Maybe it was a bet with some pilot,” she replied, shaking her head. “Even if he does call, there’s no way I’d get serious with anyone in the military. I’m not moving around the country every few years. I’ve got two years left until I’m done with school and then I can go teach up in Seattle.”

  “Be careful with making firm plans. Life has a way of keeping us on our toes. Just look at where I am – I was the tomboy who was going to play sports. Now, I do the girly-girl stuff by doing hair and nails at a salon, and I’m a barista for a coffee shop,” Jodie said shaking her head. Then, she smiled big. “The thing is, though – I love it!”

  “I know. Life may not turn out exactly as planned, but I can at least make sure I get my teaching degree, and I can make sure I don’t fall in love with anyone in the military.”

  The bell chimed, and a group of eight people walked in for what looked like a breakfast meeting. Amanda and Jodie got back to work. It was busy until the end of Amanda’s shift, and she never got her break.

  “Let me know if he calls,” Jodie said as Amanda got ready to leave for the day. Amanda pulled her phone from her purse and looked. There wasn’t even a text from anyone.

  “Nothing yet,” she said and then she walked out to her car.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Amanda was studying for finals Tuesday night a few weeks later when her phone rang with a number she didn’t recognize. She didn’t answer it. If it was important, the person would leave a voicemail. Her friends knew that if they really needed to talk to her, they sometimes had to call twice in a row as she usually didn’t pick up the phone on the first ring – either it was in her purse or car or she was studying and couldn’t be bothered. This time, she was studying. It was the end of her fall semester of her junior year, and she wanted to keep her grades up so she could have her first pick at a student teaching position. Her first choice was to teach at her alma mater for both nostalgia and convenience. If she was placed in Tacoma, she would have to cut down on her hours at the coffee shop or find a job closer to that school. She was paying her own way through college, although she did have two scholarships that helped cover almost half. She was trying to avoid student loans, but took one out for her first semester to get her started. She hadn’t needed any since, and she had already paid that loan off. She was going where she could afford – University of Washington Tacoma.

  Part of that was because she still lived at home. Living on campus would have been nice, but college was much more affordable this way, and her parents didn’t mind at all. She was sure to help around the house as much as she could. Amanda was an only child, and her parents were used to her coming and going and having somewhat separate lives ever since she could drive. They were both teachers. Her mom taught third grade, and her father was a high school science teacher, with a love of chemistry. They had taught at the next district over in Puyallup, but had always been able to take and get her from school since their schedules matched up at some point with hers.

  Amanda was planning to teach high school English. She loved to read and write. Her favorite subject in high school was English, and she still kept in touch with her teachers to talk about books and to get advice about her college path. It also helped that most of them were friends with her parents. The education world seemed small, and even though her parents taught in a different district, all the area teachers tended to go to the same conferences every year in Seattle or Olympia.

  The phone buzzed with a voicemail notification, but Amanda was sure it was a spam call. She finished reading the section of her book on Emily Dickinson, jotted down her notes, and then finally played the voicemail on speaker.

  “Hi, Amanda. It’s Lucas. I’m sorry it took me so long to call you. We broke down in Germany and had to wait for a part to come from Charleston. I’m back, but only for four days and then they want to send us on the Hawaii run. Are you free any of the next three nights? Call me back, and we can set up when and where. Again, sorry for the delay. Hope to talk to you soon. Bye.”

  Amanda stared at her phone, not really knowing what to think or what to do. She had given up any hope of Lucas calling her after two weeks had gone by. She hadn’t thought much about what his job entailed. Being stuck in Germany didn’t sound all that bad. Her parents had taken her there before her junior year of high school. It would be interesting to hear more about the kind of life he leads, she thought. One or two dates with him would at least give her something to do after her finals were finished on Thursday. So, Thursday night would work, and if he couldn’t do it then, she thought it would be a sign not to go out with him at all. She wouldn’t call him back until tomorrow. After all, she waited three weeks to hear from him. He could wait a few hours. She also decided not to even tell Jodie about it until the date actually happened. She would make a bigger deal out of it than Amanda wanted it to be. Maybe Lucas could end up being a good friend – a handsome and tall good friend. She honestly didn’t have many friends left in town, as many had gone out of state for college or at least up to Seattle. It wouldn’t hurt to have a few more. She saved his contact information in her phone and then got ready for bed. She noticed the smile on her face in the mirror before she brushed her teeth.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, Amanda,” she told herself. “He’s in the military and won’t be around for long.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Before falling asleep, Amanda promised herself she wouldn’t call Lucas back until after her shift at Coffee First was done. She almost broke her resolve on the way to work and ended up dialing his number on her break. She stepped out the back door so Jodie wouldn’t hear the conversation. She took a deep breath and dialed. It only rang once before he answered it.

  “Amanda!”

  “Hello,” she replied, twisting her hair around her finger with her free hand.

  “I’m so glad you called back. I am really sorry we were stuck on our trip for so long. I bet you thought I wasn’t going to call.”

  “I figured you’d forgotten about me.”

  “There’s no way I was forgetting about you. I’m sorry. But, are you free tonight? We could go to dinner somewhere to let me make up for the wait.”

  “Not tonight. I have my last finals tomorrow. I could go out Thursday night, though.”

  “Thursday would be great. I don’t have to show until Friday afternoon for the next trip.”

  “Are you gone on trips a lot?”

  “I’m out for probably two to three weeks a month. The ops tempo is really high right now.”

  “Ops tempo?”

  “Oh, I’ll have to watch the military speak. That’s operations tempo – the amount of missions we have to do. Our plane, the C-17, i
s used for a lot of war support right now.”

  “Oh, okay. I’d like to hear more about it tomorrow night. Sounds like you live an interesting life.”

  “It’s a job, but we do get to travel to a lot of interesting places. Where do you want to meet tomorrow?”

  “Let’s go to The Keg in Tacoma on Dock Street. I can meet you there. They have really good food.”

  “I haven’t been there yet. Sounds good. Does 6 p.m. work?”

  “That will work great. See you then.”

  “Sounds good. Thanks for calling back, Amanda. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Amanda was smiling when she hung up the phone. Jodie looked at her strangely a few times during the rest of the shift, but didn’t ask her any questions. Let me see how the date goes, Amanda thought, then I’ll tell Jodie all about it.

  Amanda replayed the conversation with Lucas in her head as she drove to class that day. After she parked, she shook her head and told herself not to spend too much time thinking about it. It was just going to be a date or two. She needed to focus on the finals she was about to take. She pulled out her notes and reviewed them for a few minutes before getting out of the car. Still, she thought, she hadn’t had a date since prom, so she was allowed to be a little excited about it.

  Amanda asked her mom look over her outfit before she left Thursday evening. Amanda had picked out black pants and a new teal shirt to wear. She felt confident about how she did on the finals and was sure her grades would come back all As in a few days. Her mom asked her a few questions about Lucas but was very obviously trying to be nonchalant about her daughter going on a date after so long. Her parents had always been very hands-off when it came to Amanda making life choices, but she knew they were there if she wanted their advice. However, they did really encourage her to get her degree before settling down – she remembered them talking to her about going to college as far back as third grade. When Amanda casually mentioned Lucas was in the military, her mom winced. She didn’t say it, but Amanda knew she was thinking of the stories they both knew of local girls falling for military men only to be heartbroken when he left or end up divorced after only a few years because they married too soon because he was moving.