Lovers & Leavers
Chapter 5: The Beginning
As she sped down the highway keeping her eyes glued straight in front of her, Amy barely noticed that one of her tires was becoming increasingly flat. If she noticed, she didn't really care. Today, she just wanted to run, well not run, but drive, drive, drive away all of her problems. Amy normally never ran away from her problems, but now, in the case of love, she felt she had to.
Finally relenting, Amy pulled over with a sigh when she knew that the tire couldn't get any flatter. This was just going to take more of her precious time. She didn't have much time to be where she wanted to be. But, anyway, she got out of the car to get the spare donut out of her trunk and roll it over to the flat tire, which was the left back one. However, Amy had still not mastered the expertise of changing a tire. She knew the basics, but she always forgot a step along the way. She sighed and looked out over the deserted highway, wondering whether she'd be stuck forever. She knew THAT wouldn't be possible, but it sure felt like it.
"Cell phone. I have my cell," Amy thought to herself as a light turned on in her head. She headed to her purse that was in the car. Turning on the phone, she saw that the battery was low; she had forgotten to charge it last night. "Darn! Darn, darn, darn!" Thinking she had enough power to call for help, she dialed her local mechanic. Ring. Ring. Beep. The line went dead after two rings, and the battery power was gone. Amy cursed. What was she going to do now?
He had done it again. He had left his son. His only child. How Victor must hate him! Why did he keep running away from his problems? He kept telling himself that Bruce kissed Amy, and Amy didn't kiss him back, but some little voice in his head kept saying, "David, Amy loves Bruce. She's always loved him. Back off." That's what he was doing now. It was time for him to move on---back to Greenwich.
He knew Kelly wouldn't want him to be hung up on her. Kelly always had believed that people should move on with their lives after a death in the family. But, still, he couldn't let her go. He wouldn't---not after he had tried to love again and having that fail.
David drove on a bit more, switching on and off the radio. He stopped for coffee once, but then headed back on the road. With the exception of a pickup truck that he had passed a while back, he was the only car on the road---until he saw a car stopped on the side of the road. Somehow, this car looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't recall why just then. He continued on, but suddenly changed his mind. So, he pulled into a deserted house's driveway and turned the car around. He just thought that this driver might need help and didn't want not helping the driver to fog his conscience up.
He pulled up behind the pulled-over car, but realized, as he stopped the car, why this car had been familiar. This was Amy's car, and Amy of all people was inside. What was she doing on this road? Why did it have to be her? She was the last person he wanted to see right now, apart from angry Victor. He'd rather have seen the ghost of Kelly—wait, no, he'd take that back. He knew that he had to help Amy. After all, Amy was not one to remember the procedure of changing a tire. He was surprised to see that she'd remembered where the spare donut was. So, he opened the car door, got out of the car, and started walking toward Amy.
A car had stopped to help, and a driver was getting out of his car-a driver that looked familiar. It was David! David! He was the last person she wanted to see right now. Why was he here?
Amy got out of her car to question him in the snobbish sort of way she had planned, but then stopped. She needed help, and David was the only person she had seen along this road. What if she yelled at him, and he decided not to help? So, she decided to take a calmer approach. Maybe she'd better apologize again. David did not have a smile on his face after all.
"David, what are you doing here?" Amy asked him, in the calmest voice she had at the moment. Apparently, it was too smug for him.
"What? Do you want me to go home and just leave you here?"
"No, I didn't mean to be so smug about it."
"Look, let's just put the donut on so this will be over with." David went back to his car to get his emergency supply of tools and then came back and started changing the tire. He didn't ask Amy for help with anything and just did it all himself. After about fifteen or so minutes, he was done and was about to go. Amy, who had noticed this, decided to start up conversation.
"So, thank you for doing this, David. I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't stopped."
"You'd still be in a sticky situation because you always did forget to charge your cell and write down the instructions to change a tire."
"Still, I'm grateful. You don't know how grateful I am that you stopped."
"Grateful? You? If you were grateful, you and I'd still be together. You would never have kissed Bruce, and you'd have actually kept out dates for once."
"I told you, I never kissed Bruce. He kissed ME."
"You didn't seem to upset that he kissed you, though."
"Look, I'm sorry, David. I'm sorry. I don't want to let this go because of one silly little kiss."
"Let what go? And it wasn't only a kiss. You decided that you'd have dinner with him for hours and blow off a date that we had made for a week."
"I forgot about it!"
"Don't you have a planner?"
"Yes, but….work is just so stressing right now….all I wanted to do was relax, and I didn't feel like a French restaurant was going to let me relax."
"Well, you could've told me that you didn't want to go…and we could've relaxed together," David smiled slightly at this and so did Amy.
"Is there anyway you can forgive me, sweetie?" Please? Can we put our relationship on trial?" I still love you. I've always loved you. It took me until I thought I'd lost you to realize that, but I do. I love you. I don't love Bruce. Maybe I thought I did, but I don't. I thought that I didn't love you because I loved Bruce. But I never loved him. I didn't feel it. With you, I feel that love. I just hope that you love me in return."
"Sweetie, I've always loved you, ever since I laid my eyes on you. Even when you were engaged to Stu, and I'd just met you! That's part of the reason I was always hanging around. I was devastated when I broke up with you. I couldn't bear ignoring you, even though I told myself that you loved Bruce. I want more than anything to rekindle our relationship. Will you have me again?"
"Only if you'll have me again."
"Yes, Amy Madison Gray, I will." Tears shown in both of their eyes-tears of happiness, of course. They leaned into each other and kissed, far more passionately than any kiss that Amy and Bruce ever gave each other. This was a couple that, even through arguments and time of not speaking to each other, loved each other passionately. This was a love that was deeper than any love was. Deeper than Amy's love for Stu, Bruce, or even Michael. Deeper even than David's love with Kelly. Amy and David were soul mates- two loves reunited together at last.
Reluctantly, Amy and David pulled apart and got into their separate cars, but they both drove to one place. Greenwich. It was time to say goodbye to their old lives and start a new one together. Kelly would not be forgotten completely, and neither would Michael or Bruce or anyone, because the past always touches the present and the future in some way. Still, there would be no more obsessing over the past and pulling together relationships that could never be, for that's what had pulled apart Amy and David in the first place.
When the two cars reached Greenwich, Amy followed David to the cemetery where Kelly's memorial was. Getting out of their cars, they walked hand in hand to the plot and sat down together. No words were spoken, not that they needed to be. The couple just held hands as they meditated in the stillness of it all.
THE END?
Or is it only the beginning of a new chapter of Amy and David's life, one without past relationships? Yes, it is only the beginning……
