Free Free For Him by Sophie Stern Page A

We’ve just been busy with work.
CutieFrog: And what exactly have you been busy with?
StaffSergeantAwesome: Classified, but nice try.
CutieFrog: Can’t blame a girl for trying! :’(
StaffSergeantAwesome: Hey, Garrett’s right here. You wanna voice chat with him a bit? He’s signing on.
CutieFrog: Thanks Staff Sergeant . It was fun chatting.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Talk to you later, Cutie.
 

1
     
    Four months later
     
    Staff Sergeant Chris Miles stood in front of his best friend’s family home. This was it: the moment he’d been waiting for. Six months overseas, and now he was finally back at Forrest Air Force Base in beautiful Colorado.
    And today was the big day: the day when he’d finally meet Garrett’s little sister.
    Sarah.
    He’d been writing to her for months. Ever since she sent Garrett a care package and included extra snacks and books for the rest of the airmen, Chris had been smitten. Garrett warned him not to get too attached, not to fall for his kid sister, but Chris hadn’t listened.
    Instead of heeding his best friend’s advice, Chris had spent all of his free time thinking of Sarah. She was sweet and sassy and from what he could tell, just a little bit naughty.
    They’d spent months chatting online and sending handwritten notes to one another. When he woke up and before he went to sleep, he’d just talk to her. He’d just be with her. They’d video chat and send pictures and soon, he was addicted.
    He was smitten.
    Garrett warned Chris to watch himself. He told him that it was a bad idea, but Chris didn’t care. The warning had come too late and he knew he just had to have her. She was such a sweetie. He’d never met anyone like her. Not before his military days and certainly not during.
    And now he was meeting her for the very first time and he didn’t know what to do. Chris had chosen to forgo his dress uniform in lieu of a plaid button-down shirt with khakis. It wasn’t the most formal attire, but this was just dinner: not Christmas dinner.
    Garrett’s mother had invited him over and though he knew he was welcome, he couldn’t help feel a little nervous at the idea that he was about to meet Sarah Blake for real.
    He’d been dreaming about her for so long that finally standing in front of her face-to-face seemed like a dream.
    What if she didn’t like him? What if he didn’t measure up?
    Garrett had warned Chris there were things he didn’t know about Sarah, things he needed to before pursuing a relationship. Chris never found out what those things were. He never had a chance to find out.
    He would tonight though.
    That is, if Sarah didn’t completely freak out on him. He had hoped to meet her sooner, but that didn’t happen. Now their worlds were crashing together.
    Now it was time to meet the girl who meant everything to his best friend.
    Chris took a step forward and rang the doorbell. He sucked in his breath, but nothing happened. He could hear voices inside, so he knew they were home, but no one answered the door.
    Maybe they hadn’t heard.
    He rang the bell again, a thin sheen of nervous sweat covering his body. How many battles had he been in? How much had he lived through?
    And this?
    This is what had him nervous?
    Meeting a girl?
    What was wrong with him?
    He waited for a moment before he heard a small snicker. Chris turned to see two bright blue eyes peering out of the bushes at him.
    “Hello,” he said to the little boy.
    “The doorbell is broken, you know,” the child said, popping his head up. The kid must have been seven or eight.
    “I did not know,” Chris said.
    The kid just shrugged.
    “Figured. I live there.” He pointed to a blue-and-white painted house across the cul-de-sac. When he turned back to Chris, he frowned. “Mrs. Blake doesn’t like me hiding in her yard.”
    “Then you probably should get out of her bushes before she sees you.”
    “You won’t tell?”
    “Cross my heart.”
    The kid grinned and darted off. Chris smiled at