Avalon

When Eric Hanson left the Navy, he knew the transition to civilian life would have its challenges. The faint threat of PTSD symptoms are lingering at the edge of his psyche, and his hope is that separating from the military will help banish those demons. Life as a civilian requires a whole new set of daily skills. Finding work in the field he loved was easy. He has options to choose from. Learning to speak like a civilian, after years of calling the bathroom the “head” and his bed a “rack” – impossible. Addressing his civilian boss by his name, rather than “Sir” – equally difficult. Finding a place to live in the small town of Avalon on California’s Santa Catalina Island proved to be another challenge. But the most difficult challenge he encounters is entering into an actual relationship with someone he won’t be able to walk away from, with no more transfers or deployments in his future. When the only person in town that he knew, an angry young woman he’d met briefly while on leave, advertised for a roommate, he was glad to move in, reminding himself that they were Just Roommates. Until they weren’t. Michelle Diaz is a girl with a chip on her shoulder. Life has dealt her a crappy hand and she doesn’t like it. She uses a bitchy attitude and snotty sarcasm as a shield, to ward off the inevitable disappointments that life has to offer. Coexisting in an actual human relationship is something she has no experience with. And to top it off, if she wants to keep her house, she’s going to have to take on a roommate to share expenses. When an annoying sailor that she’d literally run into the year before answers her ad, she takes a chance on sharing her home with him. They were after all Just Roommates. Until they weren’t.