Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Blaise was probably the best boyfriend Abby ever had. He listened intently to everything she said, thought she was funny, and frequently surprised her with small gifts.

He still refused to kiss her as a matter of principle but he held her hand often and hugged her occasionally. It left her wanting more but she realized pushing him on the matter wouldn't do any good. He was a traditional man.

That being said, Blaise had adjusted his ways to her lifestyle quite a bit. He had even stopped using formal titles for Katie and Al. Since they started dating he had smiled and laughed a lot more too.

She could tell he was genuinely happy to be with her even if she wasn't the most loquacious person in the world. Even so, he complimented her regularly and that was nice.

Once you got past his three layers of formality, Blaise was a fun person to be around. He had interesting things to say when he did decide to speak and he fit in with her family well. Adam liked him a lot because he showed the little boy how to use a wooden sword.

Abby didn't like the fact that time was ticking away from them. Winter turned to spring and she realized there were only a couple of months left before he would be leaving for Raisha and be gone a year and a half.

They spent as much time together as they could possibly manage but it never seemed to be enough. Once the weather got nicer, they spent a lot of time walking around outside holding hands and exploring the mountain scenery when she was free.

Which wasn't often. Abby remained in high demand, especially since plays could now be practiced and performed during the winter due to the new auditorium.

Her actors had not been thrilled that the last one had been put off due to construction but quickly realized that the auditorium had been worth it. Now they could put on plays all year long without heeding the weather.

Since she couldn't get away often, Blaise frequently joined her at the printing office to help color in illustrations once the training was done for the day. Now that board games had been added to the mix, they really did need more hands.

Mitzi's new husband Kel joined them frequently too since his wife was so busy with her job. They had gotten married as soon as the snow began to melt in a grand party consisting of that lavender blackberry cake Katie liked so much and the traditional wedding songs and dances Ayana and a few of her friends had taught the younger Kanta.

Her family and friends from back home had come out for the occasion. She was from Raisha and had only come here to intern at the printing office and bring back the skills and information needed to help start up a second one. Now she and the other interns had been deemed fit to run things; all they needed was the equipment.

Mitzi and Kel would be staying in her brother's spare room until they were able to build their own house. He had already gotten permission from Commander Carrick.

He wasn't the only Warrior who had a Kanta sweetheart but he was the first to get married. None of the others had gotten betrothed yet and Carrick was relieved. It was less hassle for him if they waited until the mission was over so he could fill out all of the discharge paperwork at once.

"Can you pass me the pink marker?" Blaise asked.

He was working on a Monopoly board right now and needed to color in the pink properties. Katie hadn't been able to remember all of the names because she didn't play the game often enough so some of them had been replaced by ones she made up.

Of the pink properties, she only remembered St. Charles Place. The others got renamed after completely random things from back home such as Toyota Street and Microwave Avenue. Katie really wasn't all that creative sometimes.

"Here you go," Abby said cheerfully as she handed it to him.

Their hands brushed as she did and butterflies let loose in her stomach. After so many months of dating, simple things like this still affected her.

Blaise was very handsome. Originally she found him attractive but not overly so. The more time she spent with him and was able to study his face she chastised herself for being blind before.

He was a beautiful man with a heart-stopping smile that he seemed to reserve solely for her. Somehow that made it even better. Abby counted her lucky stars all the time and tried to avoid thinking of how they would be apart soon. Again.

Simple moments like this where they talked and joked with her friends in the printing office and passed each other markers and colored pencils were lovely. She would miss them a lot when he was gone.

Blaise had become one of the most consistent people in her life and certainly the one she cared about the most aside from her family. What was she supposed to do without him for a year and a half?

Al had already promised she could come with him on his monthly visits to Raisha but it wouldn't be the same at all. Most of the time those were only day trips. She would only be able to see Blaise for a few hours at most because he would be busy with training the new recruits.

If she got truly desperate there was always the possibility of staying in Raisha with some kindhearted person willing to loan her a spare room for a month between Al's visits. But there was a good chance everyone back home would go crazy without her since she was so heavily involved in everything.

Sometimes Abby regretted throwing herself so deeply into the affairs here. However, she did love her new friends and the work she was doing and reminded herself of that fact when she got tired.

She had been the type who got restless if she didn't have enough to do growing up. It was why she had been involved in so many extracurriculars such as piano lessons and her school's drama program up until her parents died and everything changed.

If she simply lazed around the village doing nothing after arriving here she would have lost her mind. Keeping busy had helped her keep from moping too much when Blaise left.

Now that she knew how wonderful life with him by her side could be, it would likely be fifty times worse. She could work herself to death and still not be sufficiently distracted while he was gone.