To say that Cash was born with a silver spoon in his mouth was an understatement. His family was the convergence of two bloodlines that were practically Southern royalty. The tobacco town in North Carolina that he called home had been founded by his great, great grandfather - And on his mother's side, the Reagans has been powerhouses of American politics for generations. A big, plantation home (one of the few in North Carolina that was still operational as a farm for tobacco) was where he was born, and where he was raised. Long summers spent wandering his family property gave him a love for the outdoors, and deep winters spent at social affairs gave him a knack for being charming.
It was a hazy sort of childhood, wanting for nothing but interspersed with moments of sharp, stark contrast. The only child of his parents' marriage, there was an immense amount of pressure on Cash from the time he was old enough to babble. His father, a decorated Navy Admiral, didn't have time for a son that was not presentable and worthy of respect. Cash had been a long time coming for both of his parents, born later into their lives after a long, hard battle with infertility. They loved him, surely - But they also expected the world from him.
They would spend a week of every Winter in Colorado, though. His mother had gone out to Calaveras as a little girl, and had grown enamored with the place from that time on. It was the one time of every year that Cash knew their expectations would be lowered - There were no dinner parties, no officers' luncheons - It was only ever the three of them, and Calaveras became this magical safe haven in his mind, shrouded in boyish nostalgia.
Once he hit junior high, Cash had already started to grow into himself. Immensely likable, from a well to do family, and with the physical conditioning of someone who planned from a small age to go into the military - He was a shoe-in for the popular crowd, and that was where he would stay for the whole of his public school career. It was around that age that he met his best friend - Haley Adams. She was less sure of herself on the first day of 6th grade, having moved from Vermont to live with her mother's family after a nasty divorce between her parents. Cash knew these halls, and these people, though - This community had been his to command since he'd come into it, and after uncharacteristically walking straight into Haley on the first day of school, he decided it was only right that he show her around.
The pair quickly became inseparable. In junior high they were ridiculous friends who would race their bikes home after class. She was the one girl Cash was allowed to have over, and his was the only boy's house Haley was ever allowed to visit. Very Southern values in this community. In 7th grade, Haley even started to be invited to their family trip to Colorado. Once they hit high school, though? Well, they were the school's power couple and there was no denying it.
While Haley finally found her stride and found herself in Cheer and Valedictorian, Cash was far less interested in High School. Sure, he paid attention enough, but that was only as he set his sights on his seventeenth birthday. The minute he could apply to the Platoon Leaders Class for the US Marine Corps, he did. There was no turning back then, it was training, college, and then into active service in the Aviation branch.
Cash went to school for an English degree, a fact which few who knew him later on would believe. Language had always been a fascinating thing to him, though. It was the one class that could reliably keep his attention. It was the one thing he was decent at outside of his dedication to the military lifestyle. In college he picked up Arabic as well, making the reasonable assessment that it would serve him well in his time with the Marines. There was very little time in his life for anything else, including Haley. They stuck it out, though, and at nineteen they were married. One day he'd be out of school and out of training, he promised. One day things wouldn't be so hectic.
It was a stupid promise. Once he was out of school and out of training, he was an Officer. Sure, it brought home the kind of money that could support both of them, but it wasn't like it gave him a lot of free time. Deployment was a near constant thing for him - He was a skilled pilot, talented well beyond his years, and with his pedigree the military would keep him busy as much as they were able.
All the while, Haley stayed at home. All the while his parents got older, and his father started to lose parts of himself faster than anyone ought. For ten years Cash as away nearly constantly, and saw neither his father's loss to multiple sclerosis nor the fact that Haley had turned to the arms of someone else for comfort. All he saw was sand, battle plans, and flight simulations - Experimental new planes, the smell of gasoline, the white-hot blaze of ejecting just before his bird was brought down.
Finally, when he hit Captain, he felt like he could slow down. This was something worth bringing home to his parents, and he took a significant amount of leave to go see his family. His father couldn't remember him clearly, having to be prompted and encouraged by his mother. It broke his heart. Leaving his family home behind, he drove to surprise his wife. She'd been waiting for him to come home for months, and the thought of that small joy was enough to shake away the dark cloud from visiting his father. He realized this might be a mistake the moment he drove up to the house.
In his driveway was a car he didn't recognize. Surely Haley had a friend over, though - It wasn't the end of the world. Sure, he couldn't put her on the floor and… Okay, let's not dwell… But it would be fine. Nevermind that the front lights were off. Nevermind that the house was silent as he approached. Maybe she was having someone over for a few days, they did have a guest room, after all. Rationalize though he tried, there was no rationalizing what he found. Upstairs, in his bed, he found Haley and a good friend of theirs from high school.
To say that he was mad was an understatement. Despite this, the argument that followed his discovery didn't last more than five minutes. Cash took the time only to grab a couple of sentimental items he refused to go without, and then stormed back to his car. From that point, he just drove. Drove until he couldn't see that little tobacco town in the rearview mirror of his Cadillac. Drove until he wasn't in North Carolina. He had weeks and weeks of leave ahead of him and the last place in the world he wanted to be was back there, staring at the mortality of his father, and betrayal he couldn't help but feel he had earned. For the first time in his life, Cash ran. In fact, he drove all the way to Colorado. He'd never been to Calaveras in the Summer before, it had a different sort of charm.
He stayed there for three weeks, during which time he was sent divorce papers. Cash found that pretty rich. He signed them anyway, not fighting her on anything. She could have the house, she could keep her stipend, she could have the dog - Besides, she had left him his car and that's all he really cared about.
Eventually, he did have to leave Calaveras, but the place had given him such solace for those few weeks that he vowed to return. He requested a transfer to Colorado, and due to his record, it was granted. Mind, it took close to six months, and finding a house in town took another six weeks, but now - Just before Christmas - He was ready to move in and start over.
Let's not mention that he has yet to bring himself to take off his wedding band, yeah?