Mitchell sighed, letting his head fall back."You shouldn't have come."
River shrugged."Eh.I haven't seen you in a while."
Mitchell's gaze shifted from Ryan to me."You got out recently.Are you having trouble getting a job?"
I sat on the edge of the couch, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my thighs."I work for my family's construction business."
Mitchell's eyes dimmed."Of course."
I knew I was lucky to have family to help me when I left, and others didn't have that same support."Are you having trouble finding something?"
"My skills don't exactly translate to real life jobs, you know?"Mitchell said.
I wanted to help him, but I'd have to talk to my brothers about bringing someone new on.I had a feeling they'd want to help a veteran, especially if he was a friend of mine.But he might want to stay close to his family.
"Have you contacted the Veteran's Administration?Maybe you could get something in the government?"Ryan asked.
"Everything just feels so hard.I can't seem to get out of bed or cook breakfast.What's the point, ya know?"
"I got out because I wanted to be closer to my family.I wanted to reconnect with them, and it's been nice.One of the jobs I'm working on is with my ex."
Ryan whistled."That could be bad."
"We reconnected, and it's been great.I think I was meant to come home now when she's living there too.We picked up where we left off.Is there something like that for you?A person you want to see or something you want to do?"I asked Mitchell, worried that we didn't have the skills to deal with something like this.
Mitchell shrugged."It all seems pointless."
I exchanged a look with Ryan, and then I said, "Is there something you enjoy doing?Taking your dog for a walk, working out?If so, you could start there."
Mitchell didn't respond.
"Tell us about your girl," Ryan prompted me, even though he'd heard this story enough times through the years.
"Natasha and I dated in high school but couldn't survive the distance when she went to college and I enlisted."
Ryan nodded encouragingly, even though I wasn't sure Mitchell was even listening to me.
We were experienced with how tough distance could be on a relationship.Many guys returned to find that their girls had been cheating or moved on without telling them.It was rough."I apologized for how I acted back then, and we agreed to work together.She has an inn in this little town that's Christmas twenty-four seven.I suggested we spend some time together.Maybe she could show me the town and take me to the holiday events, make up for the time I missed.It quickly evolved into something more."
"She know you're here?"Ryan asked.
"I told her, but she didn't respond to my text."I wondered why that was.Was she worried I'd walk away again?That distance would make our relationship too difficult?"She was in charge of a parade in town, so she was probably busy."
"She worried about what happened last time?How you checked out of the relationship?"Ryan asked.
I hadn't even thought about that."I was supposed to help her with the parade she’s hosting tomorrow, but I thought she'd understand that I needed to be here for a friend."
"If you didn't talk about it, how do you know how she feels?"Ryan asked.
That was a good point.One that had me worried."It's weird she didn't respond."
"Life is short.We gotta hold onto the people that mean something to us," Ryan said.
I knew he had loss in his life, but he didn't talk too much about it."That's good advice."
"Don't let her slip through your fingers," River added.
"I won't."I intended to reach out as soon as we were done talking with Mitchell.I just hoped she wasn't upset with me.Should I have done more to get into contact with her?I thought a text would be sufficient, given the time I had to search for flights, pack, and get to the airport.Maybe I should have called her or talked to her in person, but that would have meant more time before I could get to Mitchell.
