With less than half an hour to go, Cole passed Marie off to Isabella and pulled his green sea bag from under the bed. There were few possessions that conjured up vivid emotions like the ones Cole now felt. His sea bag was one of them. It bore the harshest of his memories. It had been issued to him when he first reported to the Coast Guard Academy. For Cole, it was a rough four years of instruction followed by two miserable years on Delaney followed by another year where he’d damn near gotten himself killed in the name of a good time. Isabella sat on the floor with Marie and watched him. As he pulled boxers and socks from the drawer, she again said, “No. Tell them you won’t leave.”
Moving to the closet, he pulled some of his shirts off their hangers and a few pairs of pants.
“Isabella, th
