Third Chapter

As the ship steams into the busiest harbor in the world he stands there, silent with his arms crossed in back of him. He stares out over the harbor. Another bright sunny day, the sun shining on the big mountain in the background, like a postcard. He can see the pier with all the people crowded on it but can’t see Lisa.
As the ship moves closer to the pier he still does not see her, but he hears Jake yelling to his girl as they see each other. He continues to scan the crowd and then suddenly he spots something. Not sure if it’s her or not though. He wonders if he was away that long that he can’t even remember what she looks like. As the ship moves closer he slowly starts to remember, her black straight hair and slightly closed eyes.
The ship moored at the pier, the lines come over the rails and the deck hands tie up the ship. Chris still stands there watching the sailors secure from line handling and get ready for liberty. He wonders what he is going to say to Lisa when he meets her or what she will say to him. He wonders what she meant by saying she had a surprise for him. As he wanders down the stairs and heads for the brow with his bag on his back, looking like a fresh recruit right out of boot camp.
But he’s not walking off the brow for the first time. This will be Chris’ last time walking off the ship for he has decided to quit and walk away from his job and go back home with Lisa and get a civilian job. He walks across the quarterdeck and stops, looks at the ensign that is waving those three beautiful colors in the wind, pauses, and then salutes it sharply. As he brings down his salute he turns and continues down the brow towards the pier where he last saw Lisa. He scans the crowed pier looking for Lisa but cannot see her. He gets to the bottom of the brow and steps down to the pier. He sees all his friends hugging and kissing their loved ones. He looks around at the area around the pier, the mountain still there of course; a couple of new buildings began construction and all kinds of signs and balloons welcoming them home in multiple languages.
Then all of a sudden he walks straight into someone. He quickly turns his head from looking at the scenery wondering why someone was so directly in his way. And then there she is, standing there, smiling as bright as she is. As they stand there looking at each other he’s stunned and doesn’t know what to say. All this time before he’s thinking of what to say and now he’s speechless. He drops his bag and wraps his arms around her still not saying anything.
Lisa says, “I’ve missed you so much Chris.”
Still standing there hugging each other Chris suddenly realizes something. Something different about her from the last time they hugged. He begins to passionately kiss her as if he never kissed her before.
He hugs her again and says, “I’ve missed you too.” He still can’t figure out exactly what’s different though. He then realizes, that’s it, his body isn’t flat against hers like last time, there was something in between them.
He unwraps his arms from her and steps back and looks at her. She’s still standing there smiling knowing exactly what he’s thinking.
“Yes, it’s true,” she says.
“How many months?” Chris asks.
“7 months,” Lisa replies.
“Just before I left, eh?” Chris says smiling.
“Yep,” Lisa says still with an excited smile.
“ So how are you, health wise?” Chris asks.
“We’re BOTH healthy,” she says.
“So THAT was the big surprise,” Chris says still smiling but more relaxed and less in shock now.
“Yep. Surprise!” Lisa says as she leans into him and begins kissing him again.
As they kiss, Chris feels a tap on his shoulder and turns to see who it is.
“Jake, what’s up!” Chris says now with his arm around Lisa.
“Sup Chris, I see you guys are expecting too,” Jake says with his arms around his family.
“Wow, another one Jake?” Chris says looking at Jake’s expecting wife.
“Yep, this is it though,” Jake says laughing with his family.
“Well, we gotta go I’ll call you later,” Jake says as he makes his way through the crowed pier.
“Ok, take care Jake,” Chris says as he waves at him.
Lisa asks Chris, “So now what are you going to do?” They begin walking down the pier.
“I don’t know,” Chris says as he wonders what to do.
“Are you still gonna get out and get a civilian job?” Lisa asks kinda worriedly.
“I don’t know, I just don’t know. Let’s just take it one day at a time,” Chris says as they approach the car at the end of the pier.
“Sounds good to me,” Lisa says as she gets the keys out.
Chris takes the keys from her and opens the door for her, smiles, and says, “Right now let’s just go home.”