They had their flaws, that much was obvious. But they were perfect in her mind.
The couple jogging at a leisurely pace in front of her laughed, and she felt a smile tug at her own lips. The girl whined, and he grinned and teased her for it. Their words didn't reach back to her, just their tones. Their expressions couldn't be seen clearly, but their body language screamed happy.
Her best friend made fun of her for this, called her a stalker when she wasn't ranting on about the insanity of measuring every man that stepped into her life to one she didn't know. Chloe learned not to mention her morning jogs anymore, because even she found it odd that she'd broken up with her fiancé because their relationship wasn't like theirs.
She should probably call up Robert and thank him or curse him for this new habit of hers. She'd never exercised a day in her life until he'd told her around New Years that she might want to start running or going on a diet to drop a few pounds for their Valentine's Day wedding. The snide comment hit it's mark, and she'd unhappily been obsessing about her weight ever since. A few days after he'd said it and she was in a pair of tennis shoes jogging through the park.
Then she'd spotted him. This tall, gorgeous blonde in a light blue pullover running through the trails oblivious to the world around him. He'd been upset, defensive running, she'd thought right away. He went left when the usual mesh of joggers went right and without a second thought she'd followed him, already tired of the looks being received by other runners passing her.
She'd followed him through his run, trying to figure out what could possibly have him so… lost in hurt. It was hard to keep up, but she was nothing if not relentless or maybe just a hopeful romantic in search of a perfect love story. She'd seen him and known she'd found it. But shyness, something completely foreign to her until that day, had stopped her from speaking to him, asking him for answers to the questions running through her head.
By the time she collapsed against the gate leading into the park he was chatting and gesturing wildly to a dark haired woman. It wasn't until she stopped and started gasping in air that she realized her lungs were burning and the muscles in her legs refused to take her another step.
Chloe watched the conversation from a distance, and deducted that whoever that woman was, she wasn't the cause of his pain. Maybe a family member, but not his girlfriend.
Then Robert had shown up with a cup of coffee and the offer of a ride back to her apartment, dragging her away before she could get her answers.
She'd always cursed joggers, and that afternoon she'd cleared her schedule to fit in a run again as soon as possible.
It was a week later before she made it back to the park for another jog. And she'd only caught a brief glimpse of her blonde before she'd once again switched directions to follow him. This time, anger seemed to drive him.
She wondered how he'd take being her inspiration and the object of her semi investigation.
Again, she ran the course from a few feet behind him, sometimes more than that, but rarely less. And she spent the entire time trying to figure out his story and forgetting the way the run was possibly killing her considering her utter lack of the ability to get enough air. He just had to be athletic and run the longer way through the park.
Again, the jog ended with her falling back against the gate, just a little less sore than she'd been a week earlier, still watching him as he turned to run through again only to end up slumping into a bench in defeat. Chloe didn't have the heart to go and bother him, so she'd turned away, mentally marked her calendar to return sometime this week and pushed back her wedding.
Two days later and she didn't see him. The disappointment didn't slip past her, but she ran their course anyway, slower and less enthusiastically, this time feeling the pain as it slowly descended upon her until she thought her lungs would burst.
Oddly enough, she was worried about her handsome stranger, and when she'd gotten back to her apartment she'd rearranged a few meetings to fit in another run in a few days.
It was two weeks after that before she saw him again, and for the last six days she'd been at the park at the same time every morning running their path and almost giving up hope of seeing him again. She'd promised herself that she'd push the thoughts of him away if he wasn't there today.
She'd heard his laugh before she'd seen him. And despite never hearing it before, she knew it belonged to him. A smile formed on her face right away when she spotted a blonde woman beside him trying to keep up and complaining about having to get out of bed so early.
Questions didn't need to be asked or answered to know this was the woman that was causing him pain before. This was the woman that had him grinning madly all through their run. He loved her, and now he had her. And some part of Chloe wondered if now all wouldn't be right in the world.
Six more weeks, Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings they were both there for a run, her stranger and his love. And Chloe followed behind them, smiling with two people she'd never even spoken to.
Then it all fell apart again.
She'd gone through her jog for another month before deciding they weren't coming back. But she'd broken up with Robert by then and somehow this trail just seemed like a good luck charm. Sometimes she shook her head at her obsessive ways when she could hear the echo of their laughs ringing through her ears.
Her jog ended that morning a few steps early.
Because sitting on the bench her stranger had collapsed on before was the woman he loved. A baby blue sleeve of her sweat shirt being used to wipe away her tears as she sniffled and tried not to draw attention to herself.
Chloe, always the reporter and too concerned for her own good, dropped down beside her. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah," she answered shakily. "I'm fine."
The shorter blonde shook her head slightly, pushing back her hair. "You sure? Did you twist your ankle? I've got a cell phone, I can call…" Even as she suggested it, she knew it wasn't true.
"No, but thank you. I'm alright. It's just… He's gone," and the last word had turned into a sob despite her best efforts.
Always one that liked to think of herself as prepared, Chloe was unhappy to find that she didn't even have a tissue to offer to the other girl. The one that had unknowingly offered her so much hope. "I've noticed you two before," she admitted, hating that all at once she sounded uncertain. "You always seemed really in love to me."
"I…" She looked like she wanted to ask, but let it slide instead. "We are. He didn't want to… It's hard to explain."
"Well, hey, if you want to talk about it, I can at least promise to be an impartial ear."
"He had to leave, and I knew that before we even got involved. It didn't stop me from loving him. And now everyone is… My ex-boyfriend is always in my face about how horrible Rafe is because he left me."
Chloe smiled and nodded. "My experience is that exes tend to be that way. He probably still has a thing for you."
"He's the one that pushed me away. Not that… I loved Rafe, I love Rafe. But Jamal pushed me away when I was still trying to fight my feelings. What was I supposed to do? It wasn't fair of him to treat me that way, and it wasn't fair of me to keep lying to the both of us about how I felt. I didn't go into it with Rafe thinking we'd be together the rest of my life. I even married him… Still knowing."
"I never talked to him or anything, but I like to think I'm a good judge of character. So he's not going to prison… The military?"
"Something like that," she smiled. "I'm Alison."
"Chloe Sullivan."
"It's nice to meet you… Thanks for listening to me, but I… I need to go." And with that Alison got up from the bench and walked out of the gate.
A moment later, Chloe stood and started walking to Kelly's to get a decent cup of coffee so she could process the conversation she'd just had. Her stranger… Rafe, was gone. And from the sounds of it she shouldn't expect his return anytime soon.
So she hadn't expected it.
Then, three months to the day after her conversation with Alison, she'd nearly tripped over her own feet when she spotted him sitting on the bench.
Like the first time she'd seen him, he was upset. Or maybe miserable was a more appropriate word.
"Everything alright?" she'd inquired cautiously.
He was slightly startled when he looked up at her. "Yeah… Yeah. I-I'm sorry… do I know you?"
Chloe flushed, and it was her turn to stammer slightly. "N-No, not exactly. I've just seen you around here. We used to run the same path."
"Sorry. I… I don't remember." Rafe let out a short, bitter laugh and threw his hands up in defeat. "I don't remember anything."
She inhaled sharply. "Oh, I'm so sorry. But hey, at least you're back here, right? I talked to your wife a few months ago and got the impression that she wasn't expecting you back. She seemed pretty destroyed by you being gone, and when I'd noticed you before you always seemed so in love. She's had a really rough few months, I mean, I'm a reporter for the PC Harold, so I knew about the trial and accusations. My editor had a field day with Alison Barrington being on trial for murder, he never really believed me when I said she couldn't have possibly done it." Chloe stopped to take a breath then smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to babble on like that."
"No, no, it's alright. It's just… my wife?"
"She told me you got married… Is that a secret?"
"No, no… Sorry." Looking away he seemed slightly more miserable if that were even possible. "Have we ever been introduced?"
"Oh! No, sorry." Wiping her palm on her thigh, she held out her hand. "I'm Chloe Sullivan."
"Rafe Kovich," he smiled, shaking her hand. "You mind if I tag along for your run?"
Chloe bit back the comment about how she hadn't bothered to ask him the first time and simply nodded instead. They jogged in silence through the path she now knew like the back of her hand.
After that she'd see Rafe or Alison every once in a while in the park, they'd wave to each other but never talk. She couldn't help but observe each time how unhappy they both looked, how their entire beings screamed that they wouldn't be peaceful until they were together. It saddened her when she saw them apart, because she knew how perfect they were together.
And today, her theory had been confirmed when she'd taken the first turn and heard his laughter before she saw him.
All these months and now it looked like they might finally get their happy ending.
She waved at them and smiled as she passed the two of them sitting on the bench.
Maybe there was hope for a good love story after all.