“I can if I’m close enough. Just across the hall from a closed door, I can hear things like footsteps.” I stood aside so she could enter. “Will you eat with me?”
She nodded, and when she passed me, I could smell the familiar sweetness I was coming to crave.
“What do you think of your new place?” I asked, motioning for her to sit.
“I love it. Thank you.” She blushed and focused on her food.
“It was no problem. I liked working on it.” Man, why did conversation have to be so hard? “So, Michelle who is nineteen and likes the color blue, what else can I learn about you?”
She finished chewing before answering.
“There’s not much to know. I mean, before Blake, I remember playing softball and hanging out with friends. But that’s not who I am now.”
“Who are you now?”
“I don’t know who I am. But when I figure it out, I’ll tell you.”
I thought about what she said.
“We’ll figure it out together.”
* * * *
Over the course of the next few days I observed Michelle, trying to figure out what motivated her, what she liked and didn’t like. She excelled at cooking and liked honest praise for her efforts. She liked spending time with her brothers and doing activities with them. She didn’t like bugs, much to Aden’s displeasure. She didn’t like Jim’s singing, but was too polite and amused to say anything. But the biggest epiphany was her desire to be a normal girl.
We were on the porch watching the boys run through the sprinkler. Winifred had just returned from a rummage sale with some fashion magazines from the prior year. When she set them on the porch while unloading the rest of the things from her car, Michelle had picked one up and started thumbing through it.
She’d pause every now and again to study an ad. I began to notice a pattern. Ads with everyday girls caught her eye.
She needs to know what it’s like to be a normal nineteen-year-old, I sent to Winifred as I carried a bag of men’s clothes into her apartment. Most likely that clothing would find its way up to the Compound.
And do you know what it’s like to be a normal nineteen-year-old girl? Winifred’s amusement was clear over our link.
I have some ideas. But I’ll need your help.
You will always have my help.
I waited until Jim was home and Michelle had taken the kids upstairs for the night before discussing what I wanted to do.
“I want to take her on a real date.”
Jim made a pained sound.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Emmitt.”
“Why not?”
“Every time she leaves this place to ‘go out’ she comes back drunk. That girl has a drinking problem.”
Winifred stood, walked over to Jim, and smacked him on the back of the head. Just as calmly, she sat back down. Jim was grinning from ear to ear.
“What did you have in mind, Emmitt?” she asked.
“A nice dinner at that fancy place just outside of town.”
“She’ll need nicer clothes than what she has here.”
“I know. I want you to take her shopping on Saturday. A girls’ day. Back on base, the women would get together to have their hair done and go for lunch. The point was to get out and just be with the girls.”
“You hung out with Army wives?” Jim asked.
“Don’t be slow,” Winifred said.
“I didn’t hang out with them, but I observed. I don’t want Michelle to cut her hair, but I’d like for her to relax.”
“And you think shopping will do that?”
“Alone? No. I’m hoping, with you along keeping her safe, she might.”
“What about taking her to get her nails done?” Jim said. “Girls like that.”
Winifred was quiet for a moment.
“Yes. I think it would be good for her to get away for a little bit. While I’m out, I’ll get us all cell phones. Her obsession with the tablet made me realize we are behind on adapting technologies.”
“I don’t need one,” Jim said. “It’s a waste of pack money.”
“I’m stapling yours to your ear so I can reach you at any time.”
The snarl behind Winifred’s words had me discreetly covering my mouth so she wouldn’t see my grin. It still annoyed her that he took Michelle and then wouldn’t say where.
“I’ll talk to Michelle in the morning,” I said, standing.
* * * *
As soon as the boys raced down the stairs the next morning, I opened my door and caught Michelle in the hallway.