I run my finger along the edge of the envelope. I’ve been staring at it for over five minutes now. The return-to-sender message stamped across the front makes my head spin.

I haven’t gotten a letter from Mark in over a week, which isn’t normal for us, and now I got my last one back in the mail. My stomach rolls at the possibilities of what this could mean.

“You ready?” I glance over my shoulder to see Chaerin standing behind me, all dressed up and ready to go out in a black, form-fitting dress that shows off her long legs. I’m sure her husband is going to give her about wearing that dress, but that’s probably why she did it. She likes when he goes all caveman on her, and I have to admit it’s cute when he does. It’s something I’d love to have for myself one day.

When our eyes meet, her smile drops and she rushes over towards me.

“What’s wrong?”

I hand her the envelope.

“Maybe he got moved or something. It could be anything, Dara.” She pulls me into a hug, and her gentle comforting makes a tear slip free.

“I just mailed the letter to some base and they make sure they get it to him. They’d know where he was and forward it on. This means...” My words trail off because I can’t even say it. Could something have happened to him? I’d have no way of knowing, and worse, I don’t even know how to get a hold of someone who would. They probably wouldn’t tell me anything.

“You don’t know what it means. Maybe he got out. All done. It’s been over a year now, and I remember you told me he had a year before he retired. That was when you first started writing.”

Her words bring me some comfort. But why didn’t he tell me he was leaving? Give me a new address or something, a way of getting ahold of him? Or maybe, like I was dreading, as he’s no longer in the Marines, we’re done.

That doesn’t hurt as much as the other possibility, but it still cuts deep. Deeper than I ever thought possible.

“Dara!” Chaerin pulls back from our hug, grabbing my shoulders in a firm hold. “That man is not done with you. Trust me. Think about it. You know him better than anyone. You have to with as much as you two write back an