Dear Erin,
You don’t know me. At least I don’t think we’ve ever met. I’m Ginger Romano. My husband, Alex, and Brand Davis are both aboard the Blue Ridge. By now you’ve probably heard about Brand’s promotion. He’s been promoted to full-grade lieutenant.
Brand’s real popular with the guys, and they wanted to do something special for him. That’s why Alex wrote me about you. A few of Brand’s friends decided to get together and throw a surprise party for him to celebrate his promotion.
Someone thought it might be fun if they hired a woman to jump out of a cake. That’s when Alex came up with a much better idea. They’re going to throw that party, and there’s going to be a woman there all right, but we want to surprise him with you. Everyone went together and pitched in and we have enough for your airplane ticket. You’re welcome to stay at the house here with Alex and me, if you don’t mind kids. We have three, and they’re a handful, but the welcome mat’s out and we’d really be pleased if you could.
Let me know at your earliest opportunity if it’s the least bit feasible for you to arrive the second week of October. We’ll need to know soon, though, so we can book your flight. Please remember this is a surprise. I’m looking forward to meeting you.
Sincerely, Ginger Romano
"You’re going?" Aimee asked again, as if she still couldn’t believe Erin had agreed to this crazy, spur-of-the-moment plan. "You’re honestly going?"
Maybe it was a crazy thing to do, but Erin couldn’t resist. She could never have afforded the airplane ticket herself, and this seemed her golden opportunity to spend time with Brand. They’d been apart so many months, and they’d trudged over a mountain range of emotions and doubts.
She had his picture, but she wasn’t exactly sure she remembered what he looked like. He’d contacted her by phone only one time in the last six months. Was she flying to him? In a heartbeat!
"I’m going," she assured Aimee, tucking her curling iron in her suitcase.
"I don’t suppose you need a friend to tag along for moral support?"
"I do, but I can’t afford you," Erin joked.
"Don’t worry, I can’t afford me, either. Apparently no one can, not even Steve." She was trying to make light of the facts with a joke, but it fell flat.
"Don’t worry," Erin promised, "I’ll be back in time for the settlement hearing. I won’t let you go through this alone."
Aimee’s eyes filled with appreciation. "Thanks. I’m counting on you." She glanced around the bedroom one last time. "Well, it looks like you’ve got everything under control." Aimee made it sound like a sharp contrast to her own life, and Erin struggled with a sudden twinge of guilt.
"Hey," Aimee said with a short, pathetic laugh, "don’t look so woebegone. It isn’t every day you get an opportunity like this. Enjoy it while you can. Play in the sun, relax, stroll along the beach. I’ll be fine… You don’t need to worry about little ol’ me."
"Aimee!"
"All right, all right, I’m being ridiculous. I do want you to have fun. It’s just that I’m going to miss you something terrible."
"I’m going to miss you, too, but it’s only a week."
Erin glanced around one last time to be sure she’d packed everything she needed. Aimee was driving her to the airport and dropping her off. In less than two hours she’d be boarding the flight. Several hours later, she’d step off the Boeing 747 in Honolulu, where Ginger would be waiting to pick her up. She’d be leaving the cold rain of Seattle behind and disembarking in balmy eighty-degree sunshine.
Not a bad trade.
The flight seemed to take an eternity. Several times Erin had to pinch herself to make sure all this was real. She felt like a game-show winner who hadn’t expected anything more than the consolation prize. Yet here she was flying to Brand with seven uninterrupted days of heaven stretching out in front of her.
The Blue Ridge was due to sail into Pearl Harbor sometime late Wednesday afternoon. The party was scheduled for Thursday evening. Ginger had taken care of most of the details, along with a couple of other navy wives and Lieutenant Commander Catherine Fredrick-son, another of Brand’s friends. For the past month, Erin had been corresponding with Ginger, and she liked her immensely.
The hardest part was keeping the fact that Erin was in Hawaii a secret until Thursday evening.
"I don’t know where the hell she could be," Brand told Romano Thursday morning. "I tried phoning every hour all night. She didn’t mention she was going away."
"Maybe something came up."
"Obviously," he barked. Brand was in a sour mood. For days he’d been looking forward to phoning Erin. It was the first thing he’d done when he’d walked into his apartment. The anticipation of hearing her voice was the only thing that had gotten him through those last few weeks. Rarely had he ever been more restless or more ready for a tour to end.
Each night for three weeks he’d dreamed of listening to the soft catch in her voice when she realized it was him on the line. For the first time in six hellish months he could speak to her freely without someone standing over his shoulder the way Alex had in the Philippines. He hoped that when they spoke this time they might accomplish something.
At the very least they could discuss what they had to do to see each other again.
For several long months he’d thought of little else but being with Erin again. Yet, when the time arrived, she was gone. Vanished. No one seemed to know where she was.
Brand had gone so far as to contact her family. Casey didn’t sound the least bit concerned, claiming Erin often had to travel out of town on business trips. But, now that Brand mentioned it, Casey did seem to remember Erin saying something about flying off to Spokane sometime soon.
If that was the case, she hadn’t bothered to tell Brand.
"How about going out for a couple of beers?" Romano suggested late that same afternoon.
"Ginger’s going to let you?" he asked disbelievingly.