Danny was back in Hawaii for good. At least that was how he tried to look at it.
He knew the probability that he would spend his entire Air Force career at Wheeler was small, but he'd been away from his family for the last four years and it felt so good to be back. He wasn't sure if it was just dumb luck or if Academy roommates were posted together, but when he returned to Hawaii Hank came with him as one of the new pilots assigned to Wheeler Air Force Base.
And it wasn't something that was lost on his sister either.
Sarah appointed herself Hank's tour guide to help him learn his way around when he would find himself off base. It didn't take him long to realize that his sister had started to fall for his roommate and his protective instincts kicked in. He trusted Hank without question, but Sarah was his only sister and he would do everything in his power to protect her. Even from someone he trusted without question.
But what exactly was he protecting her from; an empty, long distance relationship that wasn't going anywhere? Hank wasn't Caroline and Danny knew that. He already expressed an interest in Sarah when Danny's family came out for his graduation and he also knew that when Hank took Sarah for coffee, they talked the entire time they were together.
Danny would never admit that he was jealous of his sister's relationship with his Academy roommate. Because as much as he wished for what she seemed to have with Hank, he knew that as long as he and Caroline were together it wouldn't happen. And there was the rub.
He put off any decision about her because he needed to get through the Academy. But, if he'd let her go when he left Hawaii four years earlier he wouldn't have to be thinking about it now.
He received a telegram from her a week after he returned. Her parents had been after her to come home for a visit and she thought that since he was home she could take care of two visits. She wouldn't be back for long though. Major Harris was only able to persuade her to come home for a four-day weekend and not a minute longer. It was typical Caroline to put herself before her parents.
He never understood the relationship between Caroline and the Harris's. She never talked about them much during senior year at Pearl High and in her infrequent letters to him in the subsequent four years, she never really mentioned them. On the few occasions that Caroline brought him home Mrs. Harris always seemed to be glad to see him and welcomed him. Major Harris was a little stiff at first, but when he would talk to Danny about the Academy he loosened up and would encourage him to pursue his goal. He often thought that military life didn't suit everybody and Caroline seemed to resent it. And if that were true, why did she pick him to go after?
Those were questions that he didn't have answers for and maybe it was time for him to ask her. In her telegram, Caroline informed him that she would arrive on Friday and she expected him to be at the airport to pick her up. What in the hell was he, a taxi service?
"You've had somethin' on your mind for awhile son; do you want to let me in on it?" He looked up from where he sat on the back porch sofa and his father stood at the screen door. Danny knew without question what his father meant and he sighed.
"It's something I should have taken care of before I left for the Academy and didn't."
Major McCawley nodded before he stepped out on the porch and sat down next to Danny. "Ever since you were a small boy, this was always where you came when you had some thinkin' to do. And by that look on your face, I'm guessin' that this situation you should have taken care of is Caroline Harris."
He nodded. "Yes, Sir."
"So if this is somethin' you know you need to do and it's the right thing to do, why are you tyin' yourself up in knots? She'll be here this next weekend and you can sit down with her and talk things through. Just like you should have done before you left here." His father told him without mincing words.
"It's been a long time Dad." He reasoned.
"That's true. And most of that time has been spent in two different time zones. You told me about a girl that you met while you were in Colorado and it sounded as though it could have been somethin'."
He shook his head. "She wasn't the right girl."
Major McCawley frowned in confusion. "Come again?"
"If I'd felt anything real for Evelyn and thought that she might be the right girl, I wouldn't have hesitated called things off with Caroline so I could pursue her."
His frown deepened. "So are you tellin' me that Caroline ain't nothin' more than a placeholder?"
"Come again?" Danny echoed his father.
"You know damn well what I mean Danny. You ain't bothered to let her go because you don't have any other prospects?"
His father's words stung. "I had four years of school to get through." Danny answered as though that was all that needed to be said.
"And that don't have anythin' to do with the price of tea in China. You used your relationship with Caroline to avoid gettin' involved with another girl. She ain't ever made you happy and I don't know how happy you've ever tried to make her."
He sighed. "I stopped trying Dad because nothing I did seemed to make her happy. She resented the hell out of having to come here with her parents and never let me forget it."
"Then why didn't you break things off before you left for the Academy? It was the sensible thing to do and you have always been a sensible boy."
"I honestly don't know Dad. I was so busy with school that sometimes I forgot that I had a girlfriend. And it didn't help that I hardly ever heard from her." Danny tried to explain.
"Did you write to her?"
"Yes Sir I did. The first year I was at the Academy I wrote to her every couple of weeks and told her what was happening and always asked how things were going with her in New York. When she would write back she never asked how I was or how school was going and the letters were full of places that she went and the crowd she ran around with."
"Son, your a man now and I can't tell you what to do anymore. So man to man my advice is to put an end to this and look for a girl that can make you happy. You're through with school and have become a pilot just like you always wanted. It seems to me that you need to find a girl who won't mind bein' married to the military because any girl that marries you will be. Just ask your mama." He added with a grin.
"You don't have anyone in mind, would you?" Danny grinned back.
"No I don't, but you're a young man and you have your whole life ahead of you. Once you settle things with the Harris girl take your time and look for the right girl. Who knows, she might be right under your nose and you just don't realize it yet."
"Dad, are you trying to tell me something?"
Major McCawley looked surprised. "I ain't tryin' to tell you anythin' son. But I found your mama when I wasn't even lookin' for a girl. If you're lucky, it can happen that way for you too." And he put a hand on Danny's shoulder before he stood up. "Your sister seems to be goin' for that roommate of yours. Do I have anythin' to worry about?"
He shook his head. "Hank's a good guy and he seems to be going for Sarah too."
"You think there might be somethin' to this?"
Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really know. We have separate quarters now so I don't hear things the way I did when we were rooming together."
Major McCawley nodded. "Well, you know him better than your mama and I do so we're goin' to rely on your judgment here."
"Yes, Sir." And as his father headed to the screen door, Danny stopped him. "Do you really think there's a girl out there for me?"
"There's someone for everyone Danny. And now that your full concentration ain't on gettin' into and through the Academy you might finally see her." He answered before he opened the screen door and walked into the house.
Things needed to change and Danny's father reinforced that. He was right when he told Danny that he needed to find a girl that wouldn't mind being married to the military, but where was she?
