Page 55 of Almost There

21

Landon

Avocado and orange trees lined the roads that led them through the mountains. Armed men and women on horses patrolled the orchards, warding off vagrants, and eyed the AAV with curious glances as it passed. Landon barely noticed them.

Each turnoff, every painfully slow mile, was peeling off a layer of stress and making him weightless. He refused to give into the dark voice that told him to prepare for the worst. After the past few days, and the long deployment before that, it was finally his moment.

Well, mine and Gunny’s moment.

The Samoan warrior sat hunched in the driver seat with the huge brown and white furred cat laying stretched across his shoulders like a scarf.

“Can you go any faster?” Sgt. Sierra called out from the back compartment, crammed in with the five other Marines. GySgt. Fuimaono had kicked Sgt. Brittany out of the driver position, but Sgt. Forges wasn’t moving from the turret hatch no matter how much Sierra had grumbled.

At least the pit bull wasn’t barking anymore. They’d dropped the dog and the kid off at the shelter along with the POS mother. Landon resisted giving the cop a one finger salute as they drove away. It didn’t matter anymore. Nothing else did. Except holding his family in his arms again.

“You’ll make a left up there.” Landon’s excitement grew as he stood through the crew chief hatch with the wind pushing at his face and the familiar buildings making their appearance. He did his best to maintain bearing even though every part of his body wanted to burst out of the vehicle and take off running down the roads.

Relief coursed through him when they reached the subdivision and the AAV tracks rumbled down Turner Street. The houses were intact, the sidewalks were clean, and people stepped freely outside their doors. Most looked on, curious at first, and then broke into applause, waving to them as if cheering on a parade.

She’s safe. The breeze dried the moisture that gathered in his eyes. The fallout of the past two weeks hadn’t reached this area yet. He thanked God that he’d made it in time. A busty blond woman with Botoxed lips stood slack jaw and waving at the end of her driveway. Landon nodded in her direction, the surrealness of seeing the neighborhood untouched by the chaos making him want to be polite.

Then they were climbing the hill. His house, his yard, coming into view. Tessa’s Kia sat parked on the road. The trash cans were full and sitting at the curb.

“Right here.” Landon coughed, happiness making his voice crack, as he lowered down to look at GySgt. Fuimaono. He cupped his hand over his mouth to check his breath, laughing when Gunny did the same.

GySgt. Fuimaono glared at Landon and then turned to address the cat, “Are you ready to go get your mama, pretty girl?”

“Finally!” Sgt. Sierra screamed in relief as he opened the back doors to the AAV.

But Landon wrenched himself out of the hatch and took off running the minute his boots hit the pavement. The pull to his family was a life force that propelled him forward as fast as he could go. His heart was light, fluttering in anticipation.

I’m home, beautiful. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted.

Time stopped as he tried it again.

She never locks it.

“No,” Landon whispered, digging through his pockets for his keys. At least those weren’t at the bottom of the ocean, but he could feel his heart sinking with the click of the lock unturning. His hands were shaking as he pushed the door open and closed his eyes as he stepped inside.

He could feel them. Moose barking excitedly, winding his way through Landon’s legs. Emily and Mason’s shrieks of “daddy’s home.” Kicking over toys in their haste to get to him. Tessa’s tender smile, a quick glance over her shoulder, a silly wink as she waited for him to come to her.

But he opened his eyes to the cool breeze of an empty house forcing its way past him to get outside. The disappointment was a punch to his gut and wrenched his heart inside his chest. But he didn’t want to believe it. Not when it would tear him apart.

“Maybe they’re out back, Doc,” Sgt. Sierra spoke soft and respectful, standing by his side.

“Tessa!” Her name tore from his lips. The broken sound echoing through his ears as he ran through the house. Their stuff was still here. The dishes. The furniture. The toys. Pictures on the wall.

He raced up the steps. His children’s beds were still there. Soap and shampoo in the shower. She meant what she said in the email. Her grandmother’s blanket was still on the bed. Why didn’t she take that?

“Tessa, no,” Landon cried. He stood in their bedroom, turning in a circle to see the life that they’d built and knowing it wasn’t life at all.

He ripped through the clothes he hadn’t worn in months that were still hanging in the closet and found the key to the safe.

She took the guns.

Landon staggered back, shaking his head. She wouldn’t have done this to him. Something had to have happened.

Something that made her scared enough to use guns.