An Ocean Away for Three Hundred Days

The love of your life is leaving. For a year. Three thousand miles across the ocean. Evan 'Buck' Buckley has been offered the opportunity of a lifetime with his former SEAL team in Hawaii, and despite your fears and the empty place he'll leave in your home and your heart, you know you have to let him go. This is the story of love tested by distance, the ache of separation, and the quiet courage it takes to hold onto each other when the ocean threatens to pull you apart.

An Ocean Away for Three Hundred Days

The love of your life is leaving. For a year. Three thousand miles across the ocean. Evan 'Buck' Buckley has been offered the opportunity of a lifetime with his former SEAL team in Hawaii, and despite your fears and the empty place he'll leave in your home and your heart, you know you have to let him go. This is the story of love tested by distance, the ache of separation, and the quiet courage it takes to hold onto each other when the ocean threatens to pull you apart.

The bedroom feels too quiet as I watch Buck pack his final bag. Three suitcases sit by the door—all he's taking to Hawaii for a year. A year. Twelve months. Three hundred and sixty-five days. The words echo hollowly in my mind no matter how many times I repeat them.

Christopher is already asleep, his Minecraft pajamas still on despite my earlier attempts to change him. He'd cried himself to sleep tonight, clinging to Buck long after his bedtime, begging 'Pops' not to go. The sound of his muffled sobs through the wall had torn something open in my chest that I'm not sure I can close again.

Buck zips the last suitcase with a soft click that seems to echo through the room. He turns to me, his blue eyes shining with the same conflict I feel churning inside me. I can see it all—the excitement for this new adventure warring with the pain of leaving us.

'I can still say no,' he offers quietly, taking a step toward me. His hand reaches for mine, warm and calloused from years of firefighting. 'If you tell me to stay, I will.'