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Seated on her front porch, Lainey Collins-Foster was joined by her best friend, Maria Castle. Together, they were drinking wine and conversing while they kept an eye on Maria's children, who were playing in the yard.
The two women were practically inseparable. Both of their husbands were Marines who had been deployed to the same unit, and that was how their friendship began. Within weeks of knowing each other, they felt like sisters. Now, years later, they looked to each other like family.
"Hey mom, Aunt Lainey! Look what I can do!" Lisa Castle shouted, a bright smile on her face. The small, dark haired girl was practically bouncing up and down in anticipation as she waited for the two women to pay attention to her. Once she knew they were looking, Lisa ran a few steps forward and did a cartwheel, landing almost perfectly.
"That was awesome, honey!" Maria shouted to her daughter, smiling. Lisa did another cartwheel, this time, sticking the landing. Lainey cheered for the young girl.
"Looks like you and Frank have a future gymnast on your hands," Lainey joked. Her eyes wandered back over to Frank Jr. He was running around with a stick in his hand, pretending that it was a gun. She chuckled at the sight.
"There's no way she gets any of that coordination from me," Maria replied, earning a laugh from her friend.
"You're not wrong," Lainey agreed, laughing. Her smile faltered as she watched Frank Jr pretend to get shot and fall to the ground. Last night, Lainey was due to video chat with her husband, Dylan. He never called, which was very much out of character for him. He always gave her some sort of heads up if plans had changed. "Have you, uh, heard anything from Frank today?"
"Why, what's wrong?" Maria asked, instantly noticing the uneasy expression on Lainey's face. She set her glass of wine on the table in between them and scooted closer to the strawberry blonde.
"I was just supposed to get a call from Dylan last night. He always tells me if we have to reschedule," Lainey replied, trying her hardest to not let her mind wander somewhere negative.
"I haven't heard from Frank today, but he did talk to Lisa last night. I'm sure everything is fine, you know how quickly things can change over there. He probably just didn't have time to reach out to you," Maria reassured. She reached over and placed a comforting hand atop Lainey's, giving it a small squeeze.
"You're right. It's probably nothing," Lainey said. Putting on her best poker face, Lainey sent a smile to Maria. Though she knew that Maria was more than likely correct, there was still a feeling in the pit of Lainey's stomach that was telling her that something felt... off. "Sorry. You think I would be used to this by now. Been with Dylan over ten years and we've been through how many deployments?" She sighed, shaking her head.
