SUNDAY AFTERNOON, THEapartment is full of people.Vincent and his wife Yvette.Jonah and his wife Holly.A guy named Buddy who served with Timothy and Jonah in Afghanistan.
We're grilling burgers and hot dogs on the tiny balcony, and the smell is making my stomach growl.
"So you're really doing it," Vincent says."Buying a house."
"Closing in thirty days," Timothy says.
"That's fast."
"When you know, you know."
Vincent looks at me."You sure you want to tie yourself to this guy?He snores."
"I'm aware," I say."I can live with it."
"What about the fact that he's bossy?"
"Also aware."
"And overprotective?"
"Yep."
"And he can't cook eggs to save his life?"
"That's why I cook the eggs."
Vincent grins."All right then.Welcome to the family."
It's such a simple statement, but it hits me hard.Family.I haven't had that in a long time.Not since I joined the Marines.Not since I left home at eighteen to escape my own demons.
But now I have it again.
Yvette hands me a beer."Ignore him.He's just mad because Timothy beat him at poker last week."
"It was one hand," Vincent protests.
"It was the final hand.And you lost three hundred dollars."
"Details."
Everyone laughs, and I take a sip of my beer.Holly pulls me aside while the guys argue about poker strategies.
"How are you doing?"she asks."Really."
"Good.Better than I've been in a long time."
"Timothy talks about you constantly.It's annoying."
I laugh."Sorry."
"Don't be.It's nice to see him happy.He was lost when he first got out.Didn't know what to do with himself.But now he has a purpose again."
"I'm not his purpose."
"You're part of it.And that's okay."
We rejoin the group, and the conversation shifts to work and life and all the mundane things that make up a normal existence.
