Back To You by Jessica Mastorakos

by
myself.
    I grinned as I
continued reading the timeline for the day’s events. The first time I’d get to
see Spencer was during the “Moto Run.” There was a picture on the site showing
Marines in tiny green shorts and tight green shirts running in formation. The
families were lined up along the track. After that, apparently the Marines
would go change for the ceremony and the families would find their seats.
    I wondered if I
would recognize the girl Spencer had told me about. I opened the desk drawer
and took out his most recent letter. In it, Spencer had told me to be on the
look out for his buddy Mills’ girlfriend, Olivia. Spencer had said that Mills
was planning on proposing to her that very day, and I could tell by the tone of
his letter that Spencer thought the guy was a complete moron. I, on the other
hand, thought it was adorable. I fully intended to be there to witness the
romance of it all. Yes, eighteen was a little young to be married, but who was
I to judge?
    I continued
perusing through the webpage, trying to see if there was anything else I needed
to know before I got there. I learned that the Marines would be released after
a thirty-minute ceremony on the Parade Deck, and wouldn’t have to be back at
the barracks for another six hours. Spencer had already told me that he
wouldn’t be able to leave the base on Family Day, but I figured it would still
be really fun to hang out and explore the base with him.
    I was sure that he
was really looking forward to tomorrow when he’d actually graduate and get to
go home. Thankfully, even though Spencer’s dad had decided to skip out on
Family Day, he would definitely be at the Graduation ceremony. I was going to
pick him up myself, just to make sure that he didn’t blow Spencer off. It was
bad enough that he was missing the first of the two days, but he better not
miss the second.
    My feelings for
Spencer’s dad were complicated. I felt terrible for him for losing his wife the
way he did. But I also resented him for completely checking out after Jane
died. It was almost as if he forgot that he still had a son to take care of. I
knew that Mike had been happy when Spencer first told him that he wanted to be
a Marine just like his dad, but when they lost Jane, Mike just turned into a
complete shell of his former self.
    I closed the lid
on my laptop and leaned back in my desk chair. My workspace faced a large
window, and I often sat there and stared out at my unobstructed view of the
ocean to think. My parents had chosen their house in La Jolla specifically
because of this view, and I loved it. There was nothing more peaceful than the
rolling waves of the ocean.
    I wondered idly if
Spencer would be any different. The letters he had sent me had always seemed
like the Spencer I was used to. They reflected so many new experiences, but his
tone was always just the way I would expect it to be. Would he think that I was
different? After months without him, I felt like I was.
    ***
    When I hit the
off-ramp that would lead me to the front gate of the base, traffic came to an
absolute standstill. My little white coupe was sandwiched between two very
large SUVs, and I couldn’t see anything in front of or behind me. After sitting
in the exact same place for more than twenty minutes, I opened the car door to
see what the hold up was.
    As I peered around
the large vehicle in front of me, I saw that every car in the line seemed to be
going on base. I got back in the car with a huff and settled in for a long
wait.   I switched the radio to the
country channel. I tried to pass the time by singing along with my favorite
songs, but when I didn’t move more than ten feet in thirty minutes, I put the
car in park and got out again. I could see that some people were pulling out of
the line of cars and parking in a dirt lot under the freeway. It looked pretty
sketchy, but I was getting dangerously close to missing the “Moto Run” if I
didn’t hurry. I ducked back behind the