Second Chances

A Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver Story

The Break-Up

Kimberly sighed as her boyfriend Jake followed her around their penthouse home, complaining about something or the other, she couldn't really muster up enough attention to care when she had finals this week. She was so close to getting her degree in Literature so that she could go back to school and become a literature teacher, and perhaps a coach as well. She finally turned to him as he broke through her reviere. "Kim, you don't love me," she heard his voice, but to her it sounded like he was whining.

"Of course I care about you," she returned, mustering a smile to her face. She had never thought back when she was seventeen she would be where she was now that she was nearing thirty. She had been in the olympics until she had hurt her knee at twenty-five and as she found herself without any credible skills that she could use, she had gone back to her first love, fairy tales, and that had expanded to literature, and she found that she wished to share her love with others which had led her to teaching. She still lived in Florida, but was considered a move, which she hadn't told Jake at all.

"No, you don't," he replied. "Maybe you believe that you do. Besides, Kimmy, caring isn't the same as loving."

"Oh, come off it, Jake. I don't have time for this. I cook your meals, I do your laundry, I take care of you, would I do any of that if I didn't care?"

" I don't know," he replied sullenly. "but I don't have your heart. A man knows Kimmy."

Kim gritted her teeth together, she couldn't stand being called Kimmy. Jake Wilson had been in one of her literature classes, and had seemed intelligent enough. She supposed he was interesting enough, they had run into each other in the gym and she had spotted him doing some karate, and he had vaguely reminded her of someone from her past. He had seemed to have a great sense of humor, but the longer she was with him, the more needy he appeared. He wasn't wrong in saying she didn't love him and he wasn't the first one to accuse her of this. She had tried, she always tried to love them. The men she had dated but nothing had seemed to work out for her. Something was always more important than the men in her life, and had been that way ever since she had moved away from Angel Grove, California.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, experated.

"I want to matter to you," he said in a calm, even tone. "I want to be able to count on you. A man needs a woman to back him up, to lean on, and I don't believe that's you. There's someone else that you love, Kimmy, and it's not me. Who is Tommy?"

She felt the shock go through her as she became defensive, "I don't know who you are talking about," she stated lowly, almost dangerously.

"Really? Kimmy, you don't know who you call out for in your sleep." She silently cursed herself.

"It was probally someone from a movie I watched when I was a kid."

"You are lying," he accused her.

"And? What are you going to do about it," she knew she wasn't being fair but she didn't seem to be able to stop herself. She knew how this would end. He would break up with her, she only hoped she would do well on her finals. Moving again would be stressful, but she had money saved up. She could stay in a hotel until finals were over, and then she would figure something out.

"Kimmy, I do love you. I just want you to love me. You never tell me anything about your past. I don't even know where your hometown is."

"My past is irrelevent," she stated airily. "If you want to know anything, it's on my facebook profile."

"Kimmy, we can't go on. We either move on, or split up now."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"I'm leaving, Jake. I obviously can't give you whatever it is you need. Have a nice life," she stated as she began packing her backpack and other bags that included all her most important things. "It's been swell, but I now bid you adieu."

"Kimmy!" Jake called, scratching his head, puzzled at what had just occured.

Kim opened her trunk and her eyes landed on her old scapbook. She placed her things in it, and grabbed it to put in the front seat. Her heart melted just thinking of the images in that scapbook. It wasn't something that she could ever show anyone. It had to remain secret, as did the reason she had broken up with Tommy. Tommy.

Just the sound of his name filled her with hope and dread at the same time. She had hurt him so much, so why did she keep hoping, why did she keep on loving him no matter what the distance between him. She was now nearly thirty years old, surely, he was married by now. The road between them was a chasm now, could it ever be put back together. Could the scar between them ever heal? Perhaps, he had married Kat. She really did wish him the best. When you loved the way she loved him there was no room for anything but love and remorse, but she knew the fault was all hers.

She had tried to keep in touch with her friends but it had proved unbearable when all they wanted to do was drill her about her letter to Tommy, or tell her something about him. She had thought she could leave him in the past, but it was proving impossible. She had heard about the new Dino Rangers, in Reefsdale, California, and had added them to her sacred scrapbook. Something about the black ranger reminded her of the past but she didn't dwell on it. Perhaps, she should find out what had become of Zordon and Alpha V. She didn't know, she was lost in her thoughts when a transfer truck rammed her in the side and she only had time to scream and call for Tommy before everything went black.