Yeah.
Sensitive enough to need a king-size bed that wasn’t hers.
I nodded once.
“So, where am I sleeping?”
Richard answered.
“You’ve got options,” he said.
Options.
“The basement is available,” he added.
They had moved in last month.
Not visiting.
Not temporarily.
Moved in.
“Or you can head back to the barracks on base. Might be easier with your schedule anyway.”
I stared at him.
An unfinished basement with a cold concrete floor and half-installed drywall, or return to base like deployment had never ended.
Those were my options.
Evelyn stepped closer, using her soft public voice.
“We just thought it made more sense,” she said. “You’re single. You’re gone half the time. You don’t need all this space.”
There it was.
No guilt or hesitation, only certainty, as though they had justified this decision repeatedly before I ever got home.
“Be a good sister for once,” Evelyn added.
