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stuck.
    “Ryley, can I ask you some questions about the day Penny left?”
    My question must spark Evan’s curiosity because he mutes the show he’s watching and sits up, moving closer to Ryley. The three of us look at each for a moment before Ryley sits up straight and reaches for Evan’s hand. I can’t imagine what the wives and families went through when they were told we died, but I like thinking Penny was there for Ryley since she was pregnant and helping her cope, at least for a brief amount of time.
    “I’ll tell you anything,” she starts before taking a deep breath. “It’s been a while, but my memory of that time in my life is fairly clear. What do you want to know?”
    Everything, anything, and nothing at all , is what I want to say. I don’t want to know that my wife left me for another man and decided to take my child away from me. I think if that were the case, Ryley would’ve told me by now.
    “Did you or anyone else file a missing person’s report?” I cut right to chase, knowing her answer could either deter or help me.
    “I tried, but no one would take me seriously. The story was the same, ‘husband died, wife left’. Anyone on base I would try and talk to brushed me off, and the local police didn’t think it was anything since you had died,” Ryley states, slightly agitated, probably because I’m asking. She glances at Evan before reaching under their coffee table for the box of tissues.
    “As soon you guys deployed, Penny and I had taken Claire to the park. It was something we did on any normal day so it was nothing was out of the ordinary. Our lives didn’t change because you guys were gone. The next day we were at the commissary buying you supplies and putting boxes together just in case you weren’t back by the end of the week.
    “As the weeks started turning into months we started our deployed wives’ habits: eating at each other’s houses, sending packages, always trying to do stuff together to keep our spirits up. We kept saying you guys would be home any day and we didn’t want to you to see how much we worried. The few letters we received kept our hopes up, but we yearned for a phone call.
    “One day, we’re walking to the beach and Deefur starts growling. It wasn’t the kind of growl he does when he’s playing, but the hair-raising growl and he wasn’t even a year old yet, I don’t think. A man was coming toward us and apparently Deefur didn’t like that so we followed his intuition and crossed the street. That’s when Penny noticed we were being followed. She had seen the same car a few blocks over and thought it was weird and that this hadn’t been the first time. She said the car really didn’t fit in on the base, but couldn’t pinpoint why. We chose to go home instead of the beach, which was probably for the best because Claire wasn’t feeling that well. We walked back to your house and I made sure her and Claire were inside before I drove off. I kept watching in my rearview mirror for the car, but never saw it.” Ryley looks at Evan and smiles, while he brings their hands up so he can place a kiss on hers.
    “That night I called Penny to see if she wanted to go to mall the next day to buy some baby stuff, but she didn’t answer. Thinking back, I should’ve gone over there because it was late, like after nine, and she never had Claire out that late. But I thought maybe you had called her and I didn’t want to interrupt her knowing how much those calls meant to us.” Pausing, Ryley wipes away a tear, which has fallen down her cheek. I hate that I’m asking her to relive this time in her life, but I’m hoping she has a clue as to what happened to my wife.
    “It was the next day that everything went to hell. Between the Chaplin coming to my door and my parents, I never called Penny and she never phoned me either. I … I didn’t think anything of it because we were grieving and I knew we’d grieve together, eventually. I never questioned that she