Chapter 2

I earned my degree in architecture but was unsure which of the many avenues open to me, I wanted to pursue as a career. With me living at home, I began to see areas around me where I could be of use if I were a contractor. So, I applied for and earned my contractor’s license. I started out doing small jobs I could handle with a work crew, but eventually I bid on increasingly complex projects, and had to deal with subcontractors. I was successful and socked away a lot of money, since my expenses were minimal, living with mom, who had been well provided for by my dad’s insurance and investments. In the meantime, my communication with Tim continued. While I was busy with my business, he mentioned that Breanne had graduated high school and gone to college to become a teacher. I could just see her, in my mind’s eye, introducing herself to her elementary school class:

“Good morning, class. I’m your new teacher; Miss Brennan, but you can call me Frosty!”

I smiled broadly at that.

All the while, Tim was dazzling his superiors and making great leaps up the enlisted ranks. Some of the places he’d been, or was at, he couldn’t tell me about, but he reminded me that he was saving the world! Four years later, Tim hit me with a sad note, when he announced his little sister was getting hitched, to a guy she met in college named Larry Cooper. I kind of took it on the chin, and envied the guy who would get to bed her. I guess you could say she was now my fantasy babe, for real, since I would never be able to touch her. I had not found anyone who made me want to commit, and neither had Tim. He didn’t stay in one place long enough to develop a relationship. As for me, I was busy building my business and making sure mom was cared for. She was still active and spry, but who knew how much longer that would be. I was now twenty-six, and she was in her mid-fifties.

One of the aspects of caring for mom was making sure her expectations were met. I wouldn’t say I doted on her, but the holidays were important to her. One special holiday was Valentines Day. My dad made sure it was an extra-special day for them, even more so than Christmas. He would always give her a large Valentines card, the biggest heart-shaped box of chocolates he could find, and cooked breakfast for her, then took her to dinner in the evening. It was his way of reminding her of how much he adored her. She’d always cry and tell him how much she loved him, too. I had carried on the tradition, though not to the extent my father had, though I did tell her how much I loved her. She’d still get teary eyed.

The year I turned 27, Life threw me a couple curve balls. The first one was Tim writing to me and telling me Breanne had lost her husband just before Christmas. He had wanted to save the world too and decided to join the Few Good Men club. Since he had a degree, they made him an officer, and he became a squad leader. On his first deployment to the Middle East, while on patrol, he had been killed by an IED, which exploded beneath his Humvee. His entire team was wiped out. Tim couldn’t come home for the funeral, but his parents tried their best to console Breanne. She seemed stalwart but one could see she was fraying around the edges. Tim had managed to get a Skype session with her, to tell her how sorry he was. During their conversation, she told her brother amid teary eyes and sobs:

“My name can’t be Frosty anymore. My name is Breanne Cooper, or BreCo, so I’m now Broken!”

Tim told me it ripped his heart out, to hear her talk like that. It took a couple months, but Tims’ mom told him she was improving and relied heavily on the lift she got from teaching her young charges, each day.

The next curve came during a Skype session with Tim, the end of the first week in February. We sat at our respective laptops, looking at each other. Tim looked a bit haggard, probably due to his rough schedule in whatever hell hole he was in. I, on the other hand, looked dashing (smirk!) – though I could stand losing the ten pounds I’d gained at Christmas. After some normally insulting small talk, he cleared his throat and his tone changed:

“Hey, Drum, do you still go all out for your mom on Valentines?”

“Sure. I want her to feel good, though dad isn’t here. Why?”

“Since I can’t be home on Valentines, I still thought it would be nice to do something for Frosty on that day. If I send you an email containing what I wanted to say to her, could you put it into a card for me, and buy her some flowers and a box of chocolates? I’ll reimburse you for the cost. Just tell me how much.”

“Um, uh, I don’t know, Timber. It’s been so long since I saw her, I’d feel weird just showing up with those things. Does she live in town, or would I have to travel?” I inquired.