Furnished

Before either officer could answer, Brad's window came down and they were handing their IDs to the sentry. He looked at both sides, handed them back, then saluted.

"Welcome aboard, gentlemen. Ma'am."

"He saluted again," Rachelle mentioned, still not sure why.

"Tom and I are commissioned officers. The Marine on the gate is an enlisted Marine. A corporal."

"Oh. Okay. I feel silly asking, but that means that enlisted people salute officers, right?"

"Yes. And officers salute senior officers."

"Sorry. I am just so clueless about the military."

"Just don't call us soldiers," Tom quipped. "Or...sailors!"

"Is that bad?" Rachelle asked so seriously it shut Tom up.

Brad didn't laugh. He only explained it.

"It's just inter service rivalry. So, no, it isn't bad."

As they drove down the main road, two F-18 Hornets were taking off, and it got so loud, even with the windows up, that Rachelle cringed.

"I hear them take off from the store, but it's far enough away that it isn't deafening!" she nearly yelled when Brad saw her and smiled.

"It takes some getting used to," Brad told her.

"It's the sound of freedom," Tom added with a laugh, even though he was being serious.

She turned around and told him she liked that.

"We like to think what we do matters," Tom said.

"It does. It matters a lot. And I, for one, am very grateful for men like you."

Brad saw Tom's face and smiled. He was eating it up, but the real issue was seeing his best friend acting so differently. But as he looked over at Rachelle it was easy to understand why.

"And this is where I bail out," Tom said as Brad pulled into the O Club parking lot.

"You do have your keys, right?" Brad asked just in case.

"Yes, Dad. And my wallet."

Rachelle laughed then just before Tom got out, she told him what a pleasure it was meeting him.

"You, too, Rachelle."

He hesitated then said, "Brad's a really great guy, and I'm happy for both of you," before closing the door and waving as he walked away.

They waited until he fired up the Vette before moving, and Rachelle again said how much she liked him.

"Tom's a good guy. And I'm really glad he's getting a handle on the drinking."

"I have a friend who lost her daughter in a car accident ten years ago. She almost never drank, but after the funeral, she started drinking more and more heavily. I haven't seen her since my husband passed away, but the last I heard she was drinking every night until she passed out."

"The military in general, and the Marine Corps in specific, is still very macho, and drinking is a huge part of the culture. But alcohol is a powerfully addicting drug, and if you're not careful..."

"So you run?" Rachelle asked as they got back out on the main road, not wanting to stay on anything negative.

"Yes. I try to get out 4-5 days a week. I do some light weights, but lifting isn't really my thing."

"I kind of noticed that you have a very nice body," Rachelle told him, that coy look back on her face.

"Are you flirting with me Mrs. Mosby?"

"Maybe. A little."

Rachelle laughed then said, "I really am surprised. About everything. I not only haven't dated, I haven't even liked anyone, and now here I am with someone who's, well, not that much older than my daughter, and...and what's even more surprising is that I'm really happy about it."

Brad couldn't look at her too often as he had to drive, but he knew she was looking at him and also being sincere.

"For what it's worth, I've never dated anyone more than two years older than me, and I'm really happy about..."

He looked over at her, smiled, then said, "Being with you."

He held his hand out and Rachelle took it just as an F-35 roared down the runway.

"That's my squadron!" Brad said, pointing to the sleek jet.

"Oh, my gosh! That plane is...sexy!"

Brad laughed but told her he agreed.

"Just wait until you see it up close and personal."

She squeezed his hand and told him she couldn't wait as they pulled into the squadron parking lot.

There was a metal gate with a turnstile where Brad had to use his ID card to unlock it. He and Rachelle stepped through together, and as soon as they were through, she took his hand again.

"Is that okay?" she asked, suddenly feeling old and wondering if he was somehow embarrassed.

"It's okay. But this would be better."

He put his arm around her and pulled her close as they walked then let her know it wasn't allowed in uniform.

"Oh. Good to know. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble!"

Brad laughed then said, "Oh, it would be so worth it."

After checking in with the squadron duty officer, another captain Brad flew with, they went to the squadron's hangar where two jets were in for maintenance.

As he opened the door to let her in, Rachelle stopped and stared in amazement.

"This is incredible!" she said as she stood there looking.

"I wish I could take you flying in one, but there's only one seat, so that might a little bit difficult."

Brad walked her around the plane from the nose to the tail pointing out its key features while telling her its max speed and other details she found fascinating.

"How much does one of these cost?" she asked, thoroughly impressed.

"Oh, boy. They run about a hundred million dollars a copy."

"A...hundred million? Each?"

"Yes. Each. The entire program cost is projected to be about $430 billion through 2044, so yes, it's a very expensive aircraft."

"I'm going to use a word I rarely use," Rachelle told him after the tour was finished.

Brad looked at and saw her smile.

"This is so...COOL!"

He laughed, and when he did, she did, too. She was standing right in front of him, and without saying another word, kissed him, forgetting about the handful of Marines maybe 30 feet away who were working on the other jet. One of them saw them and whistled.

"Oorah, sir!" one them called out.

"Hey! Steady over there, Sergeant Barnes!" Brad called back with a laugh.

"Roger that, sir!" the Marine NCO replied, but still gave the pilot a big 'thumbs up', and a somewhat embarrassed Rachelle could only smile.

As they drove back to his apartment, Rachelle said, "I think I like the Marine Corps."

Brad chuckled then told her he did, too.

"Are you staying in for a career or do you know yet?"

"I'd like to. I love flying in general, and now you can see why I love flying the F-35 in particular."

"I don't blame you. I think I'd stay in if I could fly a plane like that, too."

"As I said, I have five nearly years behind me, and a mere fifteen to go."

"How much longer will you be here? In southern California?"

"I've only been here a few months, so at least three years. Maybe four."

Brad smiled then said, "May I ask why?"

"Oh...just curious," Rachelle said, a happy smile on her face again.

Brad smiled back then asked her a question about Megan.

"You said Megan goes to San Diego State but you live alone?"

"Yes. She comes home quite often, but she really wanted to go to college out of state. She got accepted to Brown, but after my husband died..."

"Brown? As in Ivy League?"

"Megan is very smart. She's pre-med with a minor in philosophy and acing everything."

"Wow. Now I'm impressed," Brad said, using her words from the hangar.

"She had her heart set on the whole college experience, and we were financially able to send her there. But after...the accident...there was no more income. We, well, he...my husband, had a life insurance policy, but between the cost of living here and Megan's college, even in-state, we burned through most of that already. I have enough set aside to get her through her undergrad work, but as you can see, I'm working."

"So even letting her live somewhere other than with you, you still saved money over what it would have cost to send her to Brown."

"Oh, definitely. We'd have spent everything in 18 months. So it was a very reasonable tradeoff to have her near enough to come home and visit without making her live with me."

"Smart," Brad said before carefully asking if he could learn a little about her husband.

"Yes. I'd love to talk about him. But like you with flying, I may bore you out of your mind in short order."

He laughed then stole her line again.

"I'm willing to take the risk."

Rachelle told him about how they first met, how he proposed, the wedding, being too broke to 'pay attention', Megan, and then a very lucky break and a job that changed their circumstances dramatically.

She glossed over how much she loved him and meant to him, partly to avoid tearing up, and partly to keep from making him seem bigger than life.

"He sounds like an amazing man."

"He...was," Rachelle agreed. "I was blessed to have him all those years, but now it's time to start over."

Brad pulled into the apartment complex and asked if she'd like to stay for dinner.

"I would, but I also don't want to wear you out with the likes of me."

He pulled into his reserved spot then looked at her.

"That could never happen."

Rachelle smiled then said, "Maybe you could come to my house tomorrow. For dinner. And you could bring Tom, too."

"I'd like that. And I'll ask Tom."

"That sounds perfect."

"I'll come around and let you out," Brad told her as he turned off the ignition.

When he offered her a hand, she smiled again, thanked him, then told him how nice it was to have someone do that.

"I can't imagine not doing that."

"I kind of thought so," Rachelle said as they stood face to face.

"Rachelle? If things do seem too fast for you, you'll tell me, right?"

"Of course. But I don't see you as someone who'd try doing that."

Brad put his hands on her arms then said, "Not with you."

"Thank you for showing me your...airplane."

Brad didn't tell her Marines just called them 'jets', as a general rule. He only smiled and thanked her for going with him.

"I wouldn't have missed it."

He again gently brushed her cheek then said rather seriously, "I am so glad I met you."

"That's funny. I was just getting ready to say that about you."

"Then I guess I'll let you go."

"And I'll see you, and maybe Tom, tomorrow."

"You will," Brad said as he leaned in to kiss her again.

The kiss wasn't very long, but it was quite nice.

"Wow," Rachelle said when it ended.

"I was just getting ready to say that myself," Brad told her, causing Rachelle to laugh.

The way he looked at her made her ask if everything was okay.

"Yes. It's just that now that I've kissed you, I find myself wanting to hug you more than I wanted to kiss you."

He kind of tilted his head again then said, "No. That's not true, but it's a very close second."

Rachelle laughed then put her arms around his neck as he pulled her close. They stood there in the parking lot holding one another for nearly a minute before letting go. It was quite possibly the longest hug of either one's life, but it was also the most satisfying.

"Bye, Brad," she quietly said as her hands slid down his chest.

"I'll call you after I talk to Tom."

"I'll look forward to it."

They kissed one last time before she walked away, and as Brad watched her from behind he shook his head and said to himself, "Holy cow!"

That made him laugh, and feeling his oats, he whistled at her to see what she'd do.

"I hope that was directed at me!" Rachelle called out without turning around.

"You better believe it!" Brad called back.

She opened her car door then looked at him and blew him a kiss.

Feeling 17 again, he 'grabbed' it then blew one back at her, and Rachelle did the same. Now on Cloud Nine, he stood there and waved as she drove off, and as she passed him she tapped the horn and smiled.

"You're are so in trouble, Kyser," Brad told himself even as he hoped he was, because Rachelle was the most beautiful and most fascinating woman he'd ever met.

Tom got back about an hour later and asked how the tour went.

"Great. She loved it."

"How could she not?" Tom quipped.

"She was very impressed."

"I gotta tell you, Tom. I'm impressed, too."

"How could you not be?" Tom repeated. "I know she's a lot older than you, but she is smokin' hot!"

"Yeah. She is that," Brad kind of mused. "But looks only get you in the door, you know?"

"Wait. You're getting serious about her? Already?"

"I don't know. Maybe. It might be a huge mistake, but it feels like..."

Brad stood there for a moment trying to find the right words then said, "Like it was meant to be."

"I thought you believed in free will," Tom said with a laugh.

"I do."

"You sound like a determinist. Maybe even a solipsist."

Tom had taken several philosophy classes at VMI, and during a 90-day deployment to Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa while they were stationed at Iwakuni, he'd waxed eloquent about various philosophical topics like determinism vs libertarian free will and the dilemma of hard solipsism.

Brad couldn't remember the details, but he knew that a determinist believed that the past, in all cases large and small, determined the future. People had the illusion of free will and making choices, but there wasn't actually any such thing.

As much as that made his head hurt, hard solipsism was essentially the notion that no one could actually prove they weren't the only mind in the universe. It was often referred to as the 'brain in a vat' idea until the movie The Matrix came along. Essentially, we could be living in 'the matrix' with the illusion that other people exist but don't and never know it.

Brad dismissed it as so much gobbledygook and only laughed at his roommate's suggestion.

"I'm pretty sure I chose to walk into her furniture store and that I decided she was someone special, but even if that was all determined, I'm fine with that, too."

"So when are you seeing her again?"

"Oh. That reminds me. How would you like to have dinner with us tomorrow at her place?"

"If you weren't serious about Rachelle, I'd go just to be able to sit and look at her. But since you are, well, three's a crowd, right?"

"No. No way. She specifically asked me invite you. I have no idea why, but she thinks you're pretty great."

"Oh. Then she's even smarter than she is beautiful," Tom said, as he jutted his jaw out in smug cockiness.

"Uh-huh. My impression is she's fond of strays and takes pity on them."

Tom cocked his head to one side then said, "I can live with that."

"So...yes?"

"Yeah. I haven't had a decent meal in forever, and if I'm there I know I won't be here dreaming about Mr. Bud Weiser or or his German friend, Hein E. Ken."

Brad chuckled then got serious.

"You know I don't offer advice or tell anyone what to do, but if you need me to help keep you on the straight and narrow..."

Tom got serious, too, and thanked his friend.

"So are we going running in the morning?"

"Does a chicken have lips? Is the Pope Catholic? Does the big bear shit in the woods?"

"I take it that's a 'yes'?" Tom said with a laugh.

"Yeah. Is zero-seven too early?"

"Seven. In the morning?"

"How'd you make it through OCS, dude?"

"Very narrowly," Tom said in his typically dry way that made Brad laugh.

"Need me to wake you up?"

"No. If I don't drink, I'll be fine. And tonight I will not be drinking."

"So what's for dinner...tonight?" Brad asked.

"Hell if I know. You got any ideas?"

"Those chicken sandwiches were pretty good."

"Yeah. They were right tasty."

"This time I'll fly. And since you paid, I'll also buy."

By nine o'clock, Tom was asking himself how it could be so early. The answer was that when he wasn't drinking, the evenings seemed a lot longer than they were after he'd had a few. But he toughed it out and 'hit the rack' around 11 and got up at zero six when his alarm went off.

"Damn. I feel good!" he said to himself, the fog of booze not hanging over him as he got up.

After a slow, steady, four-mile run and a hot shower, he felt like a million bucks.

"I'm likin' this no drinkin' thing," he told Brad during breakfast.

"Great! I gotta tell you, I couldn't do that to myself. Not judging here. Just sayin'."

"No offense taken. I just got into this...habit, you know? And if I can break it, this is gonna be pretty awesome."

"I got your six, good buddy."

Tom got unusually serious then said, "I really appreciate that, bro. And for what it's worth, I'm happy for you. You know, with meeting Rachelle and all that."

"Thanks. I am, too. I have no idea how this'll turn out, but I've never felt like this about anyone before. I...I can't get her off my mind."

Tom started to say something...crass...but stayed on his best behavior.

"Whatever happens, I'm here for you too, buddy."

Brad called Rachelle just after noon, and when he heard her voice he smiled.

"I was wondering when you might call!" she told him.

"I didn't want to disturb you too early."

"I'm up at 5:30 every day, so you won't be bothering me."

"Early bird, eh?"

"Serious early bird. Don't you dare say anything about my advanced age, but the downside is I'm rarely up past 10 o'clock anymore!"

Rachelle laughed, but Brad didn't.

"There's nothing advanced about your age, Rachelle. Your kind of perfect just the way you are."

Rachelle stopped laughing as his words set in. She hadn't felt that way about anything any man had ever said to her before, except for her husband during the first two years they were together.

When she didn't respond, Brad asked, "You okay? Did I just say something wrong?"

"No. Not at all. In fact, you just said the nicest thing I've heard in a very long time."

"That makes me very happy," Brad told her.

Rachelle felt wonderful and asked if Tom was coming over.

"He is."

"Great! And Megan is coming over, too. Is that okay?"

"Are you kidding? That's fantastic!"

"I didn't expect her, but I called her yesterday after I got home, and I think I may have been a little...exuberant...about how I described my day with you."

"I had a great time, too, Rachelle."

"Same here, and that came across loud and clear to Megan who said she thought she might need to come home and see if I'd lost my mind."

"Oh?"

"I...I kind of mentioned your age, so..."

"Ah. And Megan now thinks you've gone crazy."

Rachelle laughed again then told him she kind of did.

"I have to tell you that all of this has been so unexpected. But it's also been really amazing. I certainly understand why she thinks I've lost it, but all I know is that I...I love being with you, Brad."

"I love being with you, too, Rachelle," he told her seriously but not gravely.

"So is six o'clock okay?" she said in a much more perky tone of voice.

Brad chuckled then said, "Marines will eat anytime. Day or night. And we're not usually very picky about what's in front of us. So if it's better than MRE's, we're in!"

"MREs?"

Brad explained what the Meal, Ready to Eat was, and that made Rachelle laugh.

"I'm not the world's greatest chef, but I can promise you it will be a step up from an MRE."

"Then we'll see you at six."

"Okay! I...I can't wait."

"Yeah. Me, too."

After saying 'goodbye' Brad sat there and realized he was falling for this beautiful, older women he really barely knew. And while that should have concerned him greatly, it didn't bother him in the least. In fact, as he stood up, he also realized he was happier than he could ever remember being as he went to let Tom know when to be ready.

Rachelle did the very same thing after hanging up. The only difference was that she asked herself for the first time how a man as young and as handsome as Brad Kyser could ever really fall in a love with a woman who was so much older than him. She tried to shake the thought, but it stayed with her the rest of the day and continued until Megan arrived around three o'clock.