Deceiving Lies (Forgiving Lies 2)

“So you’re actually going to listen to her? This is bullshit.”

“I know, Steele, but I have no choice. I need to be able to see my son. I’m already waiting on this realtor to go look at some places. I’ll call you when I have news, yeah?”

“Yeah, all right. Sorry this is happening, man, I really am.”

“Me too.” An exhausted sigh sounded through the phone. “Later.”

I pressed END, and looked over at Hudson. “His bitch wife is making him buy them a house before she’ll let him meet their son.”

“The fuck?” Hudson, said and lowered himself into a chair. “Can she do that?”

I shrugged and tossed my phone onto my dresser. “Apparently, because he’s meeting with a realtor.”

Our friend, Brody Saco, had gotten out of the Army not even a week ago. He’d been planning on making this a career, but all that had changed when his girl from back home wound up pregnant. He’d married her immediately, and ever since, she’d refused to see him or let him meet their son . . . and it’d been a year since their wedding. I could respect him for taking responsibility, but we all felt bad for him because he was the only one that couldn’t see she was just dragging him through the mud.

“What are you doing this weekend?” Hudson asked me, and it was then I noticed he was shoving some clothes in a backpack.

“Got some shoots booked in the area. You heading home?”

He nodded as he continued packing. “Yeah, I missed my nephew’s birthday last weekend, I need to go see him and my sister.”

“All right, I’ll see you when you get back.”

“If you don’t feel like coming back to base between your shoots, hit me up, you can stay at my parents place or something.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.”

Hudson stopped at the door, and a knowing look crossed his face. “Try to get some sleep.”

“Uh . . . yeah. I’ll do that.”

He knew better than anyone that wouldn’t be happening. I was lucky if I got two hours in a night. If I didn’t have photos I could edit during those long hours, I would go insane.

Once he was gone, I made sure everything was charged, and packed up all my equipment before heading out to the studio I had about forty minutes from base. I had a few photo shoots set up for the night—some with friends, and one with a new client. The shoots, along with the editing and wedding I was covering tomorrow, would keep me busy throughout the weekend. Busy was how I liked my life. How I preferred it. It kept me from remembering things I wished I’d never seen.

TWO WEEKS LATER, I walked into the room I’d been sharing with Hudson for the last few years, and stood there staring at everything for a few minutes. Today was bittersweet. It was a day I’d been waiting on for months now, and at the same time, a day I couldn’t have prepared for.

I’d been in the Army for almost six years, and like Saco, I’d been prepared to make this a career. But with my photography business taking off and demanding more of my time, I’d had to make a decision. The Army was all I’d known since I turned eighteen, but in the last year, I’d started realizing that photography was more than a hobby; it was my passion.

I hadn’t thought I was getting out for another month or so, but I’d gotten the call this morning and had spent the next handful of hours in an office waiting, and then signing my separation papers. Typical “Hurry up and wait”, and then, “Surprise, fucker!” bullshit for the military. Like I should have expected anything else.

Halfway through throwing everything in my bags, and moving my camera equipment out to my car, Hudson came back.

“Man, with you and Saco gone, it’s gonna be boring as shit until I get out of here too.”

“Aww, you’re gonna miss me? Touched, bro, really am. But I told you, I don’t swing that way,” I joked with him as I grabbed more of my stuff.

“Fuck off, Steele. You know what I meant. Whatever, though, I’ll be out of here soon.”

“Are you going to get a place with your girl?”

Hudson fell onto his bed and stretched out. “Probably, it’d just be easier that way. But I don’t know if she really wants to move half an hour away. I mean, I know its not far, but her job is close to here, and I need to be close to my sister.”

Out of all the things we’d talked about through the years, his sister wasn’t one of them. All I knew was if he wasn’t sticking around base on the weekends so he could see his girlfriend, he was going home so he could be near his sister and her son. “I’ve never asked because I figured you’d tell me if you wanted me to know. But what is it with your sister that always has you going home?”

He thought for a few minutes before responding. “Reagan just needs me. She’d never admit that, she’s stubborn and independent as shit; but she needs me. We’ve always been close, but she got pregnant when she was sixteen, and her asshole boyfriend told her to have an abortion or he was leaving her.”

“Shit.”