Chapter 2 - The Calls That Stopped)
After Sophie's birthday, the rhythm of home changed.
Before that night, Jack received two or three photographs every week.
Sophie eating pancakes.
Sophie holding a spelling test.
Sophie asleep on the couch.
Then the photographs stopped.
Video calls became shorter.
Natalie often claimed Sophie was busy.
At school.
At a friend's house.
Sleeping.
Showering.
Doing homework.
One Sunday Jack called six times.
No answer.
When Natalie finally responded, she sounded irritated.
"You're suffocating us."
Jack walked outside the barracks.
"Where's Sophie?"
"She's fine."
"Put her on."
"She doesn't want to talk."
Jack went silent.
Natalie continued.
"She's adjusting."
"Adjusting to what?"
"You being gone."
Jack gripped the phone harder.
"Let me talk to my daughter."
"No."
The line disconnected.
Jack stood in darkness for several minutes.
A soldier named Marcus Bell stepped outside behind him.
"You good?"
Jack nodded automatically.
Marcus leaned against the wall.
"That's not what your face says."
Jack forced a breath.
"My daughter won't talk to me."
"Teenager?"
"Eight."
Marcus winced.
"Yeah. That's different."
Jack showed him the messages.
Marcus read them.
Then looked at Jack.
"You trust your wife?"
The question irritated him.
"Of course."
Marcus handed the phone back.
"Then trust her. But save everything."
Jack frowned.
"Why?"
"Because when people start telling you not to believe your own instincts, records matter."
Jack remembered that sentence.
He began saving screenshots.
Dates.
Times.
Calls.
Messages.
Not because he believed Natalie was betraying him.
Because he wanted to understand what had changed.
A week later, Sophie called from an unfamiliar number.
Jack answered instantly.
"Sophie?"
"Dad?"
Her voice was barely audible.
Jack stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
"Baby, where are you?"
"School."
"Whose phone is this?"
"Mrs. Alvarez."
Mrs. Alvarez was Sophie's teacher.
Jack's stomach tightened.
"Why are you calling from your teacher's phone?"
Sophie hesitated.
"Mom took my tablet."
"Why?"
"I kept calling you."
Jack closed his eyes.
"Are you okay?"
Another pause.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"When are you coming home?"
"As soon as I can."
"Mom says you don't want to."
Jack stopped breathing.
"What?"
"She said soldiers can come home if they really want to."
Jack turned away from the other men in the room.
"Listen to me. That isn't true."
"I knew it."
"Listen. I would be there tonight if I could."
Sophie sniffled.
"I miss you."
"I miss you too."
A door opened on Sophie's side.
She whispered quickly.
"I have to go."
"Sophie, wait."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
The call ended.
Jack immediately called Natalie.
She did not answer.
He sent one message.
Do not ever tell Sophie I chose to stay away from her.
Natalie responded twenty minutes later.
Stop turning her against me.
Jack stared at the screen.
Something colder than anger settled inside him.
He began requesting leave.
It was denied.
Operational needs.
Jack accepted that.
He had no choice.
But from that day forward, he documented everything.
He also checked the joint bank account.
The balance looked normal.
Mortgage payments appeared current.
Utilities were paid.
Nothing seemed obviously wrong.
That was because Derek had been careful.
He and Natalie used the home equity funds separately.
They avoided Jack's ordinary checking account.
They knew what Jack was likely to inspect.
What they did not know was that the lending institution had begun mailing notices to the house.
Notices Natalie intercepted.
Until one envelope slipped behind a side table.
Then another.
Then a third.
They remained there unopened for months.
Meanwhile Derek grew more comfortable.
He brought friends to the house.
Used Jack's grill.
Drove Jack's truck twice before Natalie warned him that GPS tracking might reveal the trips.
Derek laughed.
"He's on another continent."
"Still."
"You worry too much."
Natalie watched him drink directly from Jack's bottle of bourbon.
"What happens when he comes back?"
Derek smiled.
"He won't stay."
"Why?"
"Because you'll make sure he doesn't."
Natalie said nothing.
Derek moved closer.
"By the time he returns, Sophie will barely know him. You'll tell him the marriage is over. He'll be angry. You document it. You say you're afraid. He gets ordered to stay away."
Natalie stared at him.
"And the house?"
"Temporary possession goes to the parent with the kid."
"And the loan?"
"We keep paying it until the refinance."
Natalie frowned.
"What refinance?"
Derek smiled again.
"The one where his name disappears."
For the first time, Natalie felt nervous.
"This was supposed to be temporary."
"So was your marriage."
Natalie's face hardened.
Derek had learned how to provoke her.
That was how he controlled her.
He could make cruelty sound like strength.
He could make theft sound like independence.
He could make betrayal sound like freedom.
But there was one problem.
Sophie still loved her father.
And no matter how many times Natalie criticized Jack, Sophie refused to agree.
She kept a photograph of him under her pillow.
She marked days on a paper calendar.
She asked every Sunday when he was coming home.
Eventually Derek lost patience.
"Send her to your mother's."
Natalie looked up.
"For how long?"
"Until he gets back."
"My mother lives three hours away."
"Perfect."
Sophie overheard the conversation.
That night, she packed her stuffed fox, two shirts, a notebook, and the photograph of Jack.
She did not cry.
But before going to bed, she wrote a letter.
Dad,
Mom says I have to live with Grandma for a while because I cause problems when Derek is here.
I don't like Derek.
He sits in your chair and wears your robe.
He says you don't own anything anymore.
I think Mom is lying to you.
Please come home.
Love,
Sophie.
The next morning, Sophie hid the letter inside Jack's old military field manual in the home office.
She believed he would eventually find it.
Natalie sent her to Grandma Carol's house that weekend.
And when Jack called Sunday evening, Natalie said Sophie was at a sleepover.
It was the first lie Jack could prove.
Because twenty minutes later, Mrs. Alvarez emailed him.
Mr. Miller,
I hope you don't mind me contacting you. Sophie told me she is transferring temporarily and will be staying with her grandmother. She seemed very upset and asked whether I could tell you goodbye if she could not reach you.
Jack read the email twice.
Then called Natalie.
This time, when she answered, Jack's voice was calm.
"Where is my daughter?"
Natalie did not respond.
Jack repeated the question.
"Where is Sophie?"
Natalie's silence lasted three seconds.
Then she said something Jack would remember for the rest of his life.
"She doesn't need you right now."
Jack looked at the deployment calendar hanging on the wall.
Forty-three days.
Forty-three days until his scheduled return.
May you like
He had survived eleven months counting down to home.
Now he began counting down to the truth.
