Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews, I can't thank you guys enough. I'm trying to make the chapters longer and longer. I think this one is a bit.

Chapter 4

Jackson drove back to Mark's Grocery mechanically. For once, he truly had to admit that he really had no idea what he was doing. What had been the point of that whole confrontation? But did life have to have a point; did everything always have to be so perfectly planned out? The past five years had been. And it was boring.

Jake walked up to Jackson when he came back. "Geez, you took quite a while over at Lisa's," he tried to make his tone light but Jackson could see the suspicion in his eyes. He smirked.

"Yeah, me and Lisa go way back."

"Er, well… Thanks for taking the bread over, I was gonna do it," Jake said awkwardly.

"No problem." Jackson walked over to his register and retied his apron. He could feel Jake's eyes on him and ignored it. What a loser. Lisa deserved better.

- - - -

Lisa slapped the sponge across the counters. Damn Jackson. Was Keefe right? Was he here to kill her? Then why hadn't he? Lisa felt a shiver when she realized what a perfect opportunity he had had. She went and dumped the bucket of water outside and leaned the mop against the small veranda. For a moment Lisa stared out across the street, feeling the nostalgia of the view of the same houses she had seen as a child, the same trees, the same street. The house phone jingled from inside.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Lisa, it's Jake."

Lisa stood up straighter. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I'm on lunch break. I was wondering… if… Would you feel like going to see a movie sometime?"

Lisa took the phone away from her ear and looked at it. There was a pause and then Jake said hurriedly, "Okay, sorry, that was really… I just meant, you know, we're friends and, well, if that was too soon…"

Lisa wasn't listening. A man in an airport line, Save you a seat… "Yes, yes, sure, that sounds like fun," Lisa said suddenly.

"Okay!" came Jake's obviously relieved voice. "Great, I'll pick you up at seven on Saturday, okay?"

"Okay."

"See you later. I'll call you."

"Okay, bye Jake."

Lisa slowly set the phone down. There was nothing wrong with this. She knew Jake, she could trust him. Lisa felt her spirits lighten again. She bounced over to the cupboards for a can of soup. There was no way she was using that bread.

Jake looked up when he felt eyes on him. Jackson was standing in the doorway of the employee lounge and Jake had a feeling that he had just heard all of his conversation with Lisa.

"Hot date on Saturday, Jake?" Jackson moved over to the tiny fridge and took his lunch from it.

Jake cracked a nervous smile. "Yep. Lisa Reisart. I thought I'd never get to see her again."

Me too. "So… Where are you guys going? There's not much to do here."

Jake looked insulted. "I'm taking her to the drive-in theatre."

"Oh." Jackson nodded and went back to eating, but Jake had the feeling that he found him sort of stupid.

"Well…" Jake began uncomfortably. "We've finally found another cashier so you don't have to work a double shift anymore. You can leave at three now." Jackson nodded but Jake saw him stiffen, and he wondered, not for the first time, why Jackson was desperate enough for money to work at a grocery store. He just didn't seem like the type…

When Jackson drove home that day, it was to find his mind flip flopping. Lisa was tumbled around in there, for he had believed he would never see her again, and now he had touched her, she had lay on top of him, even… Well, she had fallen on top of him. Whatever. And then the other, practical half of his brain wondered what he would do without the extra money from the double shift. Money had never been an object before and Jackson wished he would've saved more of it. He should've known the fickleness of his job.

- - - -

Sunlight slowly peeked from the horizon, bathing Cove Springs in pink, casting the shadows from the palm trees and glinting off windows.

"Lisa… Lisa, wake up."

Lisa slowly opened her eyes to see her aunt bent over her. "I'm going to my friend Bette's house. I'll be back by five, okay? You can come if you want."

Lisa shook her head sleepily. "No, no, I'm fine."

"Okay." Annie smiled at her. "There're pancakes in the fridge, you only need to heat them up. Have a good day, lazybones." Lisa watched her leave and then rolled over on her side and stared out the window at the sunny day. Her date with Jake was in two days. When had she last had a date? Lisa sighed and got up and headed for the shower.

- - - -

Glancing at the clock, Lisa yawned and turned off the TV. Three p.m. already. Honestly, when did soaps become so boring? They were absolutely ridiculous lately. Lisa got off the couch and decided that she would go take a walk. She locked the door behind her and set off down the driveway, taking a right at the end of it. She passed the house with the picket fence and two little girls running through a sprinkler waved to her, in between screaming and laughing. Lisa waved back and grinned.

Three houses down from hers she stopped. This was Jake's old house. Lisa looked at the now weedy flowerbeds and dry yellow lawn. She remembered when she would spend practically every day at his house, running over when her parents would start a particularly hateful fight. A year after the second summer she had come to visit her aunt her parents had stopped coming with her. A very faint pang hit her, dulled with time, and she blinked at the house.

Well, it looked deserted. The For Sale sign was still up. Lisa took a step forwards and then stopped. What was she thinking? But she could just go into the house and take a quick peek. The reckless part of Lisa took over and whispered that the old, loner Lisa would never do this. And Lisa never wanted to become as boring, as lonely, as she had used to be, so she started towards the house. Jake would laugh when she told him that she had snuck back into his old empty house.

Lisa took a quick peek over her shoulder and tried the doorknob. Locked. Well, duh. She slipped around to the back of the house and pulled at the sliding glass door. It opened easily and Lisa slipped inside.

The SOLD sticker tumbled through the tall grass by the sign in the slight breeze and rolled over to the sidewalk.

Lisa walked around the living room where she used to watch movies and spill popcorn with Jake as an eleven year-old. She felt another pang. It took something, this house, this place, Cove Springs, that forever stayed the same to really realize how much she had changed. Hadn't someone famous said something like that?

Lisa remembered she had had the biggest crush on Will Binkly in seventh grade. Binkly. What a name. Lisa stepped over to the corner of the room where a dark stain spread across the carpet. Jake had spilled an entire soda there during… well, some laughing fit or other. Lisa smiled as she looked at it. She stepped into the kitchen around the corner. Hmm, Jake had left his fridge here. Odd.

Lisa continued on to the hallway that led to the two bedrooms. She walked into Jake's and looked around. There was a desk sitting in the back of the room and Lisa walked over to it. Why had Jake left his desk behind? A very faint alarm bell began to sound in the back of her brain, but Lisa ignored it …paranoid… and moved on to the next room across the hall. She got in and stopped.

There was an unmade bed and luggage bag sitting on the ground. Lisa blinked and looked around. Was there someone squatting in Jake's house? The For Sale sign was still up! Just in case, Lisa decided that she had better leave. She had felt sort of daring before but now she felt like a psycho. Wandering around in her old friend's house… She started towards the bedroom door and then stopped. A picture of a beautiful woman with familiar blue eyes was sitting on the bedside table. Lisa went over to it and picked it up, her brain screaming at her to leave. She looked so familiar…

"Having fun?"

Lisa jumped so much that she almost dropped the picture on the ground. She felt a hand grip her arm and spin her around. "Give me that," Jackson snapped. He wrenched the picture out of her hand.

"I thought the house was empty…" Lisa cursed her trembling voice. Jackson's eyes jumped from the picture to Lisa. She wished her anger would come back from yesterday but fear and shock had overwhelmed it.

"So tell me, Leese, do you normally wander around houses that aren't yours?" Jackson forcefully set the picture down on the table.

"I'm sorry," Lisa said weakly. "This used to be my friend Jake's house, I just wanted to… I mean, I thought it was empty, I didn't know…"

"Ah, Jake," Jackson's eyes were fixed on her face now and Lisa found herself backing away. He honestly had no idea what made him say what he said next. "He's a jealous bastard. You could do better."

Lisa's mouth dropped open, shocked. "Okay…" she said awkwardly, her eyes sliding to the ground. Jackson grit his teeth.

"No, I mean it."

Lisa brought her eyes up to Jackson's and was met with an odd intensity there. "Who is she?" she asked desperately, pointing to the photograph. Jackson jerked around.

"My mother," he answered in a clipped voice. "She's dead."

"I'm… sorry," Lisa said softly.

Jackson turned around again and looked at her. Lisa looked up. He stepped closer until she could feel the warmth from his body, so near her. They stood so close together, neither touching each other, Jackson with his fists clenched. Lisa could feel herself slowing melting, closer and closer into his blue eyes. Before her eyes fluttered shut, she could see Jackson's fist unclench and reach towards her and then stop.

Jackson leaned in and Lisa felt his nose brush hers. Her eyes opened and Jackson leaned in again, tipping his head the other way and tilting his chin forwards, and fireworks popped in front of Lisa's eyes so brightly that she stepped back. Jackson opened his eyes and looked at her, his lips parted, and Lisa realized that his hand was at her arm, just grazing her arm, and she felt the skin underneath it seem to cry out.

"I…" Lisa shook her head helplessly. Jackson watched her for a moment, his eyes welling with unspoken emotion, emotion that Lisa would never have imagined in Jackson Rippner.

"You're a coward, Lisa Reisart," he said harshly.

Lisa watched him, confused now, disappointed, and unable to admit it.

"What're you gonna do on your date with Jakey, run away when he tries to hold your hand?" Jackson mocked.

"How do y—? Shut up," Lisa said quietly. But Jackson wasn't done yet.

"Leese, remember what you told me Henrietta said? 'Always look forward'? Have you started practicing that yet? I don't think you have."

Lisa searched her mind for something biting to say, but she couldn't find anything. She felt her eyes prickle.

Lisa put her hands up and pushed Jackson backwards so that he stumbled, biting her lip hard and refusing to let the ashamed tears fall. He stopped talking and let her push him, again and again, until he had backed out of the bedroom door and into the hallway. He grabbed her arms then and stopped her.

"No more, Leese."

"Yes, more," she said over the lump in her throat. "Just kill me already. Keefe said that you would come after me, after you escaped from the hospital. Just stop being so cruel and get it over with."

"Oh Leese, I'm not going to kill you. I never came here to kill you."

"Why are you here!"

Jackson shook her shoulders. "I bought a house here! That's all! Simple! I got fired! I'm like every other poor jobless sod in the universe!"

"Except your old job was murdering people."

Jackson turned his head to the side and took a deep breath and then looked back at Lisa again. "Yes, you've mentioned that. Get over it."

"No. You should be in jail."

"Lisa, there are people that have done just as bad things as I have, worse, and they're not in jail."

Lisa shrugged out of his grip on her shoulders and turned and began to walk down the hallway. Jackson grabbed her hand and stopped her. "Come on," he said. "Don't I deserve a chance to start over again like everyone else?" he smiled. Lisa looked at him for a moment, and then pulled her hand from his and walked away again.

"Leese!" Jackson ran forwards to her. "Leese, come on… Don't call the cops on me. Don't make me do something I'll regret."

Lisa laughed. "You don't regret anything."

And that was when Jackson head butted her.

When Lisa woke up, it was to find herself tied to a chair with a piece of duct tape over her mouth. Her head was pounding and she tried to focus on a way of escape. Jackson stepped into the living room and looked at her.

"I warned you."

Lisa rolled her eyes. She saw him walk over and crouch down in front of her. He reached up and pulled the duct tape slowly off her mouth, his hand brushing the area around her lips and underneath her nose.

"My aunt is going to come looking for me."

Jackson shrugged. "It could take her awhile."

Lisa pursed her lips and Jackson knew she was already trying to find some way of escape. "You're not going anywhere, Leese. I can't trust you not to turn me in."

"Oh God," Lisa spat, once again oddly disappointed. "I won't turn you in. Just let me go."

"Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?"

"Yes," Lisa glared challengingly into Jackson's eyes. They narrowed.

"You do not want to start this again, Leese."

"Don't tell me what I want."

Jackson cocked his head and she could've sworn that he leaned in towards her. And then he got up and went into the kitchen and came back with a small knife. He cut her ties and she rubbed her wrists and stood up gingerly. She stumbled slightly and Jackson caught her, one hand at her waist and the other at her arm. Lisa's eyes widened.

"Promise you won't turn me in?" Jackson asked huskily, quietly, his grip on her tightening slightly. Lisa felt his thumb brush against her arm and jumped away.

She darted out the back sliding door, running all the way back to her aunt's house, the SOLD sticker blowing against her knees and finally becoming stuck to her shoe when she reached the sidewalk.