chapter 1

Character Intro -

Zach
Weight - 182lbs
Height - 6ft 3
BMI - 22.6

Amy
Weight - 106lbs
Height - 5ft 2
BMI - 19.5



I picked luggage up from the baggage claim at the airport. The long flight had been gruelling but at last I was here. I’m in the army and have been for 10 years now, joining at the age of 18, it was all i had wanted to be back then. I loved the danger of it all. Now though I hated it. I got married 3 years ago at 25 and she is the most amazing woman. But I’m gone 6 months at a time. I know it kills her when I’m gone. Hell it kills me! But it is so difficult to leave the army. You have to be deemed medically unfit, which I am not.

It’s a short drive from the airport to our house but it feels like an eternity has gone by, by the time the taxi pulls up to the front of the house. Amy had planned a 2 week cruise and we leave today so my day of travelling isn’t quite done yet. I smile as I remember how excited she was telling me all about it on the phone. I pull my luggage from the trunk and walk up the drive to our house. As i swing the door open i have to drop my suitcases to catch Amy who flings herself at me wrapping her arms and legs around my neck and waist so tight I’m struggling to breathe.

“I missed you so much” She whispers into my neck
“I missed you too” I say taking in the scent of her wild brown hair that’s covering my face.
“There’s so much I want to talk about, but we’re gonna be late! I got worried when you weren’t on time so I have packed everything for us, all that’s left to do is put it all into the car and drive.”
“Great! I’ll do that now. What do you want me to do with these?” I said gesturing to the bags I’d brought back with me.
“Dump them in the kitchen well sort them out when we get back with all of this too.” She said gesturing to the suitcases and bags behind her in the hallway.

We got the car packed and headed off. I didn’t realise quite how much I missed driving until I got in the car just now. It’s the little things, the normal everyday life things like driving, going shopping, your wife being the first person you think of and see when you wake up and the last when you go to bed because she’s right there in your arms. I want a normal life, back when i was 18 i craved excitement and danger. What I wouldn’t give now to have a mundane 9-5 office job, work the same days every week, drive home in my normal car to my wife who’s cooked dinner for me and our children. We always said no children because of my job, I didn’t want to be an absent father and she didn’t want to bring them up on her own.

We chat about our time apart, where I had been and what Amy had been doing. She’s an accountant, but she had been taking cookery classes and had apparently become an avid baker in the time I had been gone.