Part
4: Runaway Train
Chapter
49
Sam looked over at Meredith for the millionth time during their hour drive home. She was completely zoned out, her head resting against the cold interior of the window, staring out at the cars and scenery passing by. "What's on your mind?" Sam asked.
"Huh?" Meredith asked, snapping herself back to reality as she looked over at Sam.
"You've been completely in your own world since we got in the car and we're almost halfway home," Sam explained.
"Oh, yeah," she said quietly before returning to her normal tone, "I'm just… thinking."
"Care to fill me in?" he asked as he switched lanes.
Meredith smiled at him, "Derek," she said simply.
"Miss him?" he asked, his eyebrow slightly arched.
Meredith sighed, "Yeah, I think I do," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm such an idiot," she mumbled as her head collided gently with the glass of the window once again.
Sam chuckled at her guilty antics. "You're not an idiot. You're just you. No one can hate you for that."
"Oh thanks, Sam. That really makes me feel so much better. I'm screwed up just because that's who I am," she joked.
"We already established that I'm not really a psychiatrist. So, the stuff I learned in my small amount of psychology classes is all I have to offer," he responded.
"Sarcastic ass, Sam, is back," she said smiling.
"Yup. He just goes on coffee breaks every once in awhile."
Meredith laughed a little before settling back into the more serious mood that they'd discovered between them today. "So, what do you do, really?"
"Really?" he asked looking over at her, "Well, I write. Novels and such."
"You're an author?" she asked, interested.
"Yeah. I travel a lot for research. I'm sort of a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. I have to make sure everything in the settings is perfectly realistic," he explained.
"So that's why you love to read so much?" Meredith asked.
"Well, I haven't really picked up a pen in about four years. I put my work on hold when my marriage got rocky, and then just dropped it all when the divorce came. Those books I've been reading were mine. My wife, well, I may be the only one who can recognize it, but she's embedded into every story I've ever written. It's nice to read them. It's like she's still lying in bed next to me, listening to my newest idea," Sam said, a smile coming over his face as he reminisced.
Meredith leaned back with a small, satisfied smile on her face, "I'm glad we aren't fighting for information about each other anymore."
"Me too," Sam answered, a small smile on his face as well.
