CH 5- A Comforting Friend

Fox walked close behind Theresa as they turned the corner toward Le Café du Soleil.

The walk there had been extremely quiet and neither of them said very much. Even though Fox had made little attempts to start conversations, Theresa mostly nodded and smiled.

He even wondered if taking her out to talk was such a good idea. So far, she didn't seem to enjoy their little pre-date and it worried him.

"How can I make you open up to me Theresa?" He thought to himself.

He looked over at her as they walked.

Although her body was there, her mind seemed to be a million miles away. Fox knew that she was thinking about Ethan. If only he could get her to forget him. But he knew that it would take time. Ethan still had a big part of her heart and it would be a while before she would let him in, but he would not give up.

"Theresa?" He asked, stopping in front of the café.

She had already begun to walk past him when she stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?" She looked at him puzzled.

"We're here." He smiled at her, looking up at the building.

"Oh," she bashfully smiled. "I didn't even notice."

She walked into the café as he held the door open for her.

They took a seat next to the window, as a waitress came over to them.

"Hi, what can I get for you today?" she asked with a smile.

"I'll just have an iced cappuccino." Theresa simply said.

"And I'll have an ice-latté." Fox added.

When the waitress left, Fox just stared at her.

"Theresa, are you alright? You've been so quiet since we left the house." He finally asked her.

"Oh I'm sorry Fox." She apologetically smiled. "I haven't been much company have I?"

"It's alright. I mean, I understand that you're not exactly in high spirits. I'm sure whatever's going on between you and my half-brother has really got you down."

She immediately looked up at him.

"How did you know I was upset about Ethan?"

Fox bit his bottom lip. He didn't want her to know that he had been listening at the door while Ethan and her talked.

"Um, well it's pretty obvious that you're upset about something and plus Ethan and I were talking earlier and he told me that you two were pretty close to getting married." He quickly thought.

"Yeah," She wearily smiled, tears coming to her eyes. "That is until I helped to ruin his life."

"What do you mean?" He asked, pretending to be completely oblivious of the situation.

"Well, I knew all along that Julian was not really Ethan's biological father and I kept it from him. When he finally found out, he was furious. He said he could never trust me because I had kept it a secret from him for so long."

She took a deep breath and stared out the window.

"I should have just told him the truth."

"Well Theresa I know that you probably didn't tell him because you didn't want to hurt him right?" Fox looked at her.

"That's exactly why I didn't tell him. But Ethan said that it wasn't my place to decide that. He said I should just have been honest with him." She looked up at him. "Now his life is falling apart because he's not a Crane anymore."

"Well, I'm sure his life is not falling apart. Speaking from experience, being a Crane isn't exactly the greatest. If anything, Ethan's probably better off without the paparazzi, outrageous headlines, crazy scandals, threatening letters..."

"Fox, you know what I mean." She laughed at his exaggeration. "Ethan will never be as financially stable as he was when he thought he was Crane."

"Yeah, that's true." He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his drink. "But money isn't everything Theresa. Besides, I'm sure that whatever you did, you did because you love him."

She slowly nodded in agreement but then sadly gazed out the window.

"Theresa," he sighed, placing a hand over hers.

She looked at him.

"What's the matter? Don't you agree with me?" He asked, surprised that she didn't pull away.

"No, I do. It's just that it's not that easy Fox." She looked into his eyes. "I've told Ethan countless times how much I care about him, but he still emphasizes the fact that we can never be together because he doesn't trust me. It just kills me to know that I've hurt him that much."

Fox watched as tears fell down her face.

He reached over and lightly brushed them away.

She looked up at him surprised but smiled in response.

"Theresa, you really shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Ethan's just really upset right now. He has a lot on his plate and he just needs to sort everything out. I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

Secretly Fox hoped that Ethan would maintain his close-minded ways. That way, Theresa would draw closer to him and he would have her all to himself.

"What are you smiling about?" She asked grinning at him.

"Oh," he fumbled. "Uh, I was just thinking about how easily we hit it off. Didn't we just meet each other a couple of hours ago?"

"Yeah, we did." She lightly giggled. "I guess it's just because you're so easy to talk to Fox."

She looked at him and smiled, the sunlight giving her hair a beautiful auburn color.

"Well thank you. I just hope I made you feel better."

"Oh you have, trust me. Thanks to you I may actually be able to sleep tonight." She looked down at her watch and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to get going," she sighed. She grabbed her bag and slid out of her seat. "But this was really great Fox. Thanks for taking the time to listen to me. You're an angel."

She bent over and gave him a kiss on his cheek, sending immediate chills down his spine.

"See you later." She smiled heading out the door.

Fox leaned back in his chair and grinned.

"Well it wasn't exactly a make out session Fox, but at least you got a kiss." He mumbled to himself. "And hopefully after this, there will be many more."

He glanced out the window and watched her walk away, her hair blowing in the sweet summer breeze.