A Fresh Start
Chapter Thirty Six
A couple of days after the incident at the hospital with RJ and Will, RJ is still resisting the idea that Richard is alive and living with them. Cassie has therefore limited his time at the hospital so that he doesn't upset Will and hinder his recovery. That morning she leaves early for the hospital, leaving RJ with Richard in hopes that if they spent some time alone with each other RJ would realize that Richard really was his father. Richard is sitting in the living room when RJ comes downstairs. "Where's mom?" He asks Richard, his voice cold.
"She went to the hospital to sit with Will." Richard says, getting up and walking over to his son.
"Why didn't you go with her?"
"She wanted us to spend some time together. Are you hungry?"
"No, I'll just go upstairs…."
"How about some pancakes?" Richard says, remembering that was his favorite breakfast.
"No, thanks."
"But you love pancakes."
"No, Tammy loved pancakes." RJ says, walking out of the living room and into the kitchen, with Richard following behind him. "I'll just have some cereal." He says, taking a bowl down and walking over to the refrigerator for the milk.
"Do you want some help?" Richard asks, reaching to take the milk from him.
"No, I got. I'm not two. I can make a bowl of cereal." RJ says, looking at Richard pointedly.
"I'll be in the living room maybe we can watch cartoons, or something."
"I'm not Will. I don't watch cartoons, besides Charlie wants me to come over today."
"Charlie?"
"The Mortimer's son. You do remember the Lord and Lady Mortimer; they were strong supports of…."
"Of mine."
"Of Richard and my mom when they were Prince and Princess." RJ says sitting down at the table he starts to eat his cereal while Richard watches him.
When RJ finishes eating, he gets up and walking around Richard, he puts his bowl in the sink before he leaves the kitchen. "Is there something you want to do today?" Richard asks, following behind him.
"No, not with you." RJ says, walking upstairs.
When he gets upstairs, he goes to his mom's room and picks up the phone.
"Hi Ms. Mortimer. It's RJ Winslow. Is Charlie home?"
"Yes, he's here. RJ." Lady Mortimer replies.
"Can I come over and play then?"
"Is your mom there?"
"No, she's at the hospital with Will, but she won't mind." RJ says. "I'll leave her a note so that she'll know where I'm at."
"I don't mind you coming over." She replies.
"I'll be right there." RJ says, hanging up the phone.
Taking a piece of paper from his desk, he scribbles a note for Cassie and then he sneaks downstairs. Glancing in the living room, he sees Richard sitting there watching TV. He walks quietly to the front door, slowly opening it he looks back over his shoulder to make sure that Richard hasn't heard him, slipping out, he walks down the driveway.
After a few hours, Richard notices that he hasn't heard anything from upstairs since RJ went up there after breakfast. Turning the TV off, he listens, but he still hears anything. Putting the remote down, he walks upstairs, when he reaches the hallway he calls "RJ." But he doesn't get a reply. Walking down the hall, he pushes the door to RJ's room open "RJ, are you…?"
He looks around the room and quickly realizes that he's not in there. Walking over to the bathroom, he looks in there as well as RJ's closet and he's in neither rooms. Walking down the hall, he goes into his and Cassie's room, thinking that he might be in there for some reason, but after checking the bathroom, their suite and closet he soon realizes that he's not in their suite either. Walking out into the hall, he begins to panic a little bit. "He wouldn't just leave." Richard says, walking downstairs.
He checks the living room, his and Will's play room, the kitchen, basement and wine cellar, along with the pool and the beach below the house and he doesn't find him. When he gets back to the house from checking the beach, he checks the house one more time and no RJ.
"Where did he go?" Richard asks an empty house.
Reaching for the phone, he starts to dial the number to the palace but then he hangs up. "Surely he wouldn't go all the way to the palace." At that moment the phone begins to ring, glancing at the caller ID, he takes a deep breath before he answers the call. "Hi." Cassie says
"Hi." Richard replies, trying to sound cheerful, but Cassie sees through it.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, why would you think something is wrong?"
"Because I can hear it in your voice, you're trying to be cheerful. Where's RJ?"
"RJ? He's ah."
"Richard, where's RJ? What's going on?"
"I don't want to upset you…."
"Where is he? He has to be there with you."
"He was, this morning."
"This morning, it's afternoon Richard "
"I know, he came down this morning for breakfast and then he went upstairs afterwards. I was watching TV and then I realized that I hadn't heard anything from upstairs for a while so I went up to his room and he wasn't there."
"He wasn't there! But he has to be there, he's a little boy."
"I know. I've check the house twice, and the beach. He's not there."
"I'm coming home." Cassie says.
She hangs up the phone before Richard can reply. Ten minutes later, she's walking into the house calling "Richard." He meets her in the hallway. "Is he here?"
"No, I check the house again after you hung up. He's not here." Richard says, as Cassie starts upstairs with him following behind her.
Walking into RJ's room, she looks around and sees that he's not there. She walks over to the window and looks out at the pool and the beach, but she doesn't see him.
Leaving his room, she walks downstairs and checks all the places that Richard has already checked. When she doesn't find him, she looks at Richard and says with fear in her voice. "Where is he? He wouldn't just wonder off. He doesn't do that?" She says, with tears in her eyes.
"I don't know, but I'll find him." Richard says, putting his arms around her. He holds her for a few minutes before she takes a step back.
"Call William." She whispers.
"Okay." Richard says, reaching for the phone.
He dials the phone for the palace. After a couple rings the palace operator picks up. "I need to speak with William."
"May I ask who is calling?"
"Richard."
"Yes Sir."
The operator transfers his call to William's private line, after a couple rings Jodi picks up.
"Prince William's office, Jodi speaking."
"Yes Jodi, this is Richard. I need to speak with William."
"He's in a mee…."
"This is an emergency."
"Okay." Jodi says, buzzing William's office.
"Yes." William says
"Sir, your brother is on the line, he says it's an emergency."
"Okay, excuse me gentleman." William says, picking up the phone. "Richard."
"Yes."
"Is it Will?"
"No, Will is fine, it's RJ. He's left the house and we can't find…."
"I'll have the guard start looking for him."
"We don't need a whole squad, but if you could have some start looking for him."
"Yes, I'll get right on it?"
"Thank you."
"What is he wearing?"
"Ah, he has on blue jean shorts and blue t-shirt and probably tennis shoes. I don't know if he has the cubs ball cap on." Richard says
"I'll give the description to the guards and we'll start looking immediately. Have you check with his friends?"
"No, we start on that." Richard says, as he looks at Cassie.
"What is he saying?" Cassie asks, as William says. "…We'll start immediately Richard."
"Thank you." Richard replies, hanging up as Cassie repeats her question.
"What did he say?"
"He's going to have some guards start looking for him. And he asked if we called his friends."
"I didn't even think of that." Cassie says, walking into the living room.
Picking up her purse, she pulls her cell phone out and starts calling all the people that they know, on the fourth call she calls the Mortimer's.
"Hello, Mortimer's residence." Charlie says.
"Charlie, this is Cassie…."
"Oh hi, Mrs. Winslow."
"Hi, Charlie. Is you mom home?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Can I talk to her?"
"Yes ma'am." He replies, taking the phone away from his ear, he yells. "Mom, the phone is for you."
After a few minutes, Lady Mortimer walks into the kitchen. "Thank you dear." She says, ruffling her son's hair as she picks up the phone.
"Hello."
"Linda, it's Cassie Winslow."
"Yes, how are you? I heard about Will is he okay?"
"He's doing much better. I'm not calling about Will, I'm calling about RJ. Have you seen him today?"
"Well, yes of course. He's been over here playing with Charlie since early this morning."
"He's over there." Cassie says in relief.
"Yes, he called this morning and asked if he could come over and play with Charlie. He said he would leave you a note."
"I'll be right there." Cassie says.
"Okay."
Cassie hangs up as she grabs her purse. Walking out of the living room with Richard following behind her. "What did she say?"
"He's at the Mortimer's, playing with Charlie. She said he's been over there since this morning."
"I'll call William and tell him that we've found him." Richard says, pulling his cell phone from his pocket as he follows Cassie down the street.
After a couple rings, Richard repeats the whole previous process with the palace operator and Jodi, but is immediately connected when he reaches her.
"Richard." William says, picking up the call immediately after Jodi buzzes him.
"We found him. He was at one of his friends houses. We're on our way to get him know."
"Oh thank god!" William says with relief.
"Thank you for looking for him?"
"He's my nephew." William says. "Tell Cassie not to worry about Will this evening, I'll go by and see him."
"Thank you, I will." Richard says.
He hangs up as Cassie is ringing the doorbell to the Mortimer's estate. A few seconds later, Linda Mortimer answers the door, holding it open for Cassie and Richard. "He's in the library." Linda says, as they walk in.
"Thank you." Cassie says, walking through the house to the library followed by Richard.
RJ looks up when Cassie walks into the room and then he sees Richard. "What's he doing here?"
"I will speak to you when we get home." Cassie says, pointing towards the door. "Now!"
RJ walks out, whispering a good-bye to Charlie and Mrs. Mortimer. He walks stiffly back to the house, with Richard and Cassie following behind him, all of them silent. When they reach the house, Cassie opens the door. "RJ, I want you to go to your room, now!" She says, as Richard reaches out to stop her from following him.
"Let me talk to him."
"He…."
"You need to calm down Cassie." Richard says. "Let me talk to him. It's me that he's mad at."
"Okay." Cassie says, giving in.
Cassie goes into the living room as Richard walks upstairs. Pushing RJ's door open, he walks into the room.
"Where's mom?" RJ asks
"She's downstairs, I told her that I wanted to talk to you by myself."
"Why?"
"You know that you shouldn't have done what you did today." RJ doesn't answer. "I know that your confused and your upset, but that doesn't excuse scaring your mother that way. RJ, I promise you I'm not going anywhere. I didn't want to leave you or your mother in the first place."
"Then why did you?"
"Things happened that I couldn't control. You, your sister, your brother and your mother mean more to me than I can tell you and I would never knowing leave you or them, but I was hurt. Will's mother tried to kill me."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted to hurt your mother. Son, it was beyond our control."
"Was Edmund, Jeffrey and Uncle Josh, beyond her control?"
"Your mother was hurting. She didn't know what to do, or how to deal with loosing me. She made mistakes, and she's sorry for them." RJ looks at Richard, but he doesn't reply and after a few moments Richard stands up and says. "I'm going to go downstairs and your mother will be up here in a few minutes."
"Okay." RJ replies, watching Richard walk out of his room.
A few minutes later, he walks into the living room. Cassie is sitting on the couch when he walks in. "What did he say?" she asks when he sits down.
"Not a whole lot. I did most of the talking."
"Did he tell you why he left this morning?"
"No, we didn't talk about that. We know why he did it?"
"He's mad at both of us."
"Yes, he's also confused." Richard says, looking at her.
"And I guess some of that is my fault." Cassie says, looking back at him.
"I didn't say that Cassie. But he's had a lot to deal with since I left."
"Yeah, because of me." Cassie says, getting up and walking out of the room.
Cassie goes upstairs to talk to RJ. While she is upstairs, Richard calls the café where they had met Phillip about Edmund's corruption, after a couple rings the maitre'd answers the phone.
"Thank you for calling Manuel's"
"Yes, I need to place an order."
"Yes Sir, will this be take out or delivery?"
"Delivery, please."
"Yes sir, what would you like?"
"Yes, I need smoked salmon in the Asian ginger sauce, steamed vegetables and small dinner salad, and then I need the 10oz sirloin steak, medium rare, also with the steamed vegetables and small dinner salad."
"Yes sir, would you like any dessert?"
"Do you have any of the chocolate Crème Broulé?"
"Yes sir."
"I also have two orders of that."
"Yes sir, that total will be $30 US. Dollars."
"Okay."
"That will be delivered in about thirty minutes."
"Thank you." Richard replies, hanging up
While he is waiting on the food, Richard finds the candles and spreads them through out the living room, turning the lights off as he lights each candle. Instead of lighting a fire in the fireplace he places some pillar candles in the fireplace, lining them up and lighting them. After he finishes that, he brings in a small table, sitting it up for two. He takes the flowers from the coffee table and puts them in the center of the table. When he's finishes with that, he goes down to the wine cellar. Picking out a bottle of white wine, he comes back upstairs as Cassie is coming down from upstairs.
"Hi." She says softly, as she notices the wine.
"Hi." He replies, walking into the kitchen and putting the bottle of wine on the counter.
"What are you doing?" Cassie asks, as he puts the wine on ice and then he takes her hand. "Richard."
"Shhh, you'll see." He says, walking into the living room.
"Richard." She whispers, turning in his arms. "What are you…?"
"I want you to know, that I do not blame you for what happened while I was in the coma. I know how hard it was for you. I won't lie and tell you that I okay with all of it. I don't like that you were with Edmund, but…." He says, laying a finger across her lips. "… I understand why it happened. We will work through this." He says, leaning over and lightly kissing her cheek.
"I'm sorry, I attacked you. I was upset about…."
"I know. Did you talk to him?"
"Yes, I told him he's grounded for two weeks. No TV, computer, phone or video games. He can go to his friend's house to play, but he can't stay over for two weeks."
"Has he eaten?"
"Yes, he ate at the Mortimer's before we came to get him."
"Now I want you to sit down, put your feet up and I'll be right back.
"Okay." She says, sitting down as he goes back into the kitchen.
He returns a few minutes later, with two glasses of wine, the bottle and ice bucket. Putting the wine on the table, he walks over to her and handing her a glass of wine he sits down beside her. "To second chances."
"To second chances." She replies, as they click glasses.
After a few minutes, Richard asks. "What are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking about Edmund and why I married him. Why, with everything that happened down here, everything he did to us, why did I believe he had changed?"
"I don't know. We weren't expecting anything to happen to us when we left San Cristobel." Sitting her up, he takes her glass and puts it on the table and then he turns her around to look at him. "I want you to listen to me and hear me, because I want you to stop blaming yourself for what happened while I was gone. I do not blame you for turning to Edmund. I understand that you were dealing with something you didn't think you were going to have to deal with again."
"What about…?"
"You have nothing to explain to me. I wasn't there and you did what you needed to do. I don't want you worrying about this. I'm not worried about this, because I know you love me and I know that you have always loved me."
"I do love you." Cassie says, leaning over to kiss him.
Putting his arm around her waist, he pulls her to him while deepening the kiss as she tries to move closer to him. The door bell ringing breaks through the desire filling them. "Bloody Hell!" Richard whispers, releasing her as she smiles. Getting up, he goes to answer the door.
"That's $30 US dollars." The delivery man says when Richard opens the door.
"Okay." Richard says, pulling out his wallet and handing him some money as he takes the food. "Keep the change." He says, closing the door. Carrying the food into the kitchen, he puts everything on two plates and then walks back into the living room. "Dinner is served. He says, putting their plates on the table as Cassie gets up and walks over to the table. He helps her sit down and then he walks over to his side and sits down.
"Ooo, the salmon." Cassie says, picking up her fork.
"Yes." Richard says with a smile as he starts to eat the steak.
After they finish eating, they clear off the table; put the dishes in the dishwasher and then taking Richard's hand, she leads him back into the living room, sitting down on the couch. She looks up at him. "One minute." Richard says, walking over to the stereo. He turns it on and then turns the volume down low before he walks over to her. Sitting down, with he back to the arm of the couch, he lets her sit back between his legs, wrapping his arms around her they sit there listening to the music and the silence that fills the house.
After a few minutes, Cassie asks. "Do you think William will help Jon and Sarah?"
"I don't know. I hope he will, but it's a touchy situation with the Spaulding plant down here."
"Jonathan is family." She says, leaning up to look at him
"Yes, but he has more than that to consider."
"I know. But if he doesn't allow them to come to San Cristobel, what are you and Reva going to do?"
"I don't know. I have to talk to William."
"Okay." Cassie replies, lying back against him.
"What do you think about Jeffrey and Sam?" Richard asks, idly running his fingers through her hair.
"What about them?"
"I think she'll be good for him."
"I think so too. I think Jeffrey needs someone to take care of him. And I think Sam will be better for him than Olivia was."
"Olivia, what does Olivia have to do with Jeffrey?"
"They dated for a couple weeks before he found Sam again."
"Jeffrey and Olivia!"
"Yes, they have a daughter together."
"Jeffrey has a daughter!"
"Yes, it's a long story but it goes back to when they were teenagers and Jeffrey was down here working for the American Ambassador. They were at a party together, one thing led to another and they slept together that night. Olivia ended up pregnant. Some other stuff happened…."
"What other stuff?"
"You remember I told that Jeffrey had been through a lot last year, it had to do with Olivia. Apparently, that night they were both drunk. Olivia, later, after she found out that she was pregnant accused Jeffrey of rape. That all came out last year after the election and Jeffrey was persona non-grada for most of last year."
"When was that party?"
"I don't really know. I think Olivia was about sixteen when that happened, why?"
"That was the party for the new American Ambassador."
"You remember that night."
"Yes, father made Edmund and I attend the party. In fact I was surprised that he included Edmund that time. It was one of the few times, but anyway Father made us go. Edmund was really interested in the Ambassadors daughter, but his security detail wouldn't let him get close to her, which really frustrated him. After a while, he moved on and he started working on Olivia, but she wasn't interested either. She had her eye on one of the Ambassador's security men."
"Jeffrey."
"Yes. Anyway, the next morning my father and I were in a meeting together when his advisors approached him with a situation."
"A situation?"
"Yes, they had a videotape of Edmund upstairs at the American Embassy, having sex with an underage girl. With the American Embassy here on the island we've always had US intelligence on the island. After my father viewed the tape and realized that the girl in question was a San Cristobel citizen and that one of the security men for the Ambassador was with her as well he decided to approach the US agents about handling the problem."
"Jeffrey never raped her. It was Edmund?"
"Yes."
"What happened to the video tape?"
"The US intelligence agency has it."
"Why would your father protect him?"
"Oh, he wasn't protecting Edmund. He was protecting the crown from scandal."
"Was Princess Charlotte alive?"
"No, she had died a few years before."
"The US agents just offered up Jeffrey for Edmund!"
"Yes, the US government was highly interested in keeping relations on a favorable basis with my father."
"So Jeffrey was the scapegoat for one of Edmund's crimes."
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
"We have to clear him." Cassie says, sitting up.
"How, that was over twenty five or so years ago."
"Last year, after the mayor's race, during one of the parties one of the agents from the agency that Jeffrey worked for tried to poison him. Obviously he didn't succeed; Blake was the one that was poisoned. But that agent was arrested and he is awaiting trial in Springfield."
"Blake was poisoned?"
"Yes, it was meant for Jeffrey. The point is we have to tell the DA about the video tape."
"Even if we did do that, I doubt that the US government will turn it over to the Springfield DA. Even if we could get them to, that tape doesn't pertain to the DA's case for the poisoning."
"It could go as motive."
"How?"
"If Jeffrey knew the tape existed and that man feared that Jeffrey would some how use that tape to clear his name, he'd have reason for trying to kill Jeffrey. I mean the reason he did try to kill Jeffrey was because of his ties to the agency and Ditkins didn't want that being brought public, but if he thought some one could dig up evidence to clear Jeffrey from Olivia's rape, it could be motive."
"I see your point, but the US government will not sacrifice one of their own agents."
"They already have, not just with Jeffrey but with this other guy. That's why the Springfield DA is prosecuting the case and not the federal government. This guy didn't have approval from his superiors to take Jeffrey out last year. They've turned their back on him, and the town of Springfield needs to know definitively that Jeffrey did not rape Olivia. He is mayor."
"I'll talk to Noah about it."
"Okay." There were several minutes of silence before Cassie says. "I think we need to go on upstairs."
"Okay."
Cassie sits up, as he gets up and starts blowing out the candles. They head upstairs, walking softly past RJ's room.
Sam is in the kitchen the next morning when Jeffrey woke up on the couch. He has no idea how he got back to the loft the night before. The last thing he remembers is being at Jon's Bar and getting very drunk. He also vaguely remembers almost getting into a fight with one of the customers there and that Ava stopped it. Getting up, he closes his eyes when he turns to look outside and the light shining brightly into the room. Stumbling into the kitchen, he finds Sam standing at the counter making coffee. "Hi." She says quietly, pouring him a cup of coffee.
"Hi." He mumbles, taking the coffee and taking a sip.
"Do you want something to eat?" She asks, turning and leaning back against the counter.
"No, not right now." Jeffrey replies, taking another sip of the coffee.
"Okay." She says, walking over to another cabinet she opens the door and takes down a bottle. Taking out a couple pills she hands them to Jeffrey.
"What are these?"
"Vitamin B complex, it'll help with the hang over." Sam replies, leaning back against the counter across from where he is standing.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. When you get a chance today you need to call Ava."
"Okay." Jeffrey says, taking another sip of the coffee.
There are several minutes of silence before Sam says, "I called Stacey for you."
"Why?" Jeffrey asks, looking at the clock and realizing for the first time that it is after nine.
"Because I thought you would want to take sometime this morning and recover from last night."
"I had a big meeting this morning about the budget with the accounting department." Jeffrey says, putting his cup of coffee down and walking out of the kitchen.
"And you would have been in no condition to handle that this morning, not after last night."
"I've had worse nights." Jeffrey says, walking into the bathroom.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to help." Sam replies, watching him begin to shave.
"Well, don't." Jeffrey replies, looking at her in the mirror.
She stares at him for a few seconds before she nods and turns away. He can see the hurt in her eyes when she turns away but he doesn't go after her. A few minutes later, she's standing in the living room when she hears the water start to run in the bathroom.
When he doesn't follow her, she goes upstairs. Lying down on the bed, she feels a huge knot forming in her throat and she fights the tears while she lays there. She has her back to the door when he comes upstairs a few minutes later. She doesn't acknowledge that he is there.
A little bit later, he comes out of the closet with his shoes in his hand, sitting down on the bed he pulls his socks and shoes on before he turns to look at her. "I'm sorry I got mad at you." He says, as she nods. "Are you okay?" He asks, as she nods again. "Do you want to have lunch this afternoon?"
"I don't know, I thought I would look at more office spaces before I go back to DC."
"Will you call me if you decide to…?"
"Yes."
He leans over and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek before he stands up. "I've got to go."
"Okay." She mumbles as he leaves. When she hears the door close she lets the tears fall.
After she's cried all she can cry, Sam lays there, even though she told him that she was going to go look at office spaces she doesn't have the energy. Around lunch time when Jeffrey comes home, Sam is still laying on the bed. Walking upstairs, he's surprised to see her there. "Are you okay? Is something wrong with the baby?"
"No, the baby's fine." Sam says, sitting up as he sits down on the bed beside her.
"Did you eat anything?" Sam shakes her head no. "Come on, we'll go get something to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"You have to eat." She looks over at him for a few seconds before she gets up from the bed and starts to leave the room. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to bathroom, is that okay with you?" She asks sarcastically as she leaves the room.
Jeffrey is waiting in the living room when she comes out of the bathroom. "What's wrong?" He asks, when she walks into the room.
She stops, looking at him before she sits down on the couch. "Nothing, Jeffrey. In your world everything is fine."
"What does that mean?"
"That means that you have no problems." Sam replies, looking at him.
"I'm sorry I got mad this morning. I know you were trying to help."
"Yeah, I was. But what about last night, I tell you I'm pregnant, we make love, and then we have a fight, you walk out and go to a bar, get drunk, almost get in a fight, that your daughter broke up by the way. She brings you home. You crash on the couch, where I spent the night holding you and then this morning when I try to help you out and give you a little time to recover you get mad."
"I was hurt last night, that's why I left. I didn't want to hurt you."
"So, you go get drunk, instead of staying here and working it out."
"You thought I would turn you away because of the baby; that hurt."
"I know it did, and I apologized to you. But you walked out and went to get drunk." For a few minutes, Jeffrey stands there. "You don't have anything to say."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't patronize or try to pacify me."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to tell me why you walked out."
"I did, it hurt to think that you thought I would turn you away because of the baby. I love you, why would I turn you away?" Jeffrey says, sitting down beside her.
Taking a deep breath, turning to face him, "I'm really sorry I didn't trust you. When I found out, I didn't know how you would react."
"Why would think I would react anyway but happy?"
"We just got back together. We haven't even been together a month, and I get pregnant. I wanted to believe that you would be happy about the baby, but I'm a realist you know that. And the realist part of me said, there was a possibility, that you would be upset maybe even think I did this on purpose."
"Yes, I know you. And you should have known I would never think that." Jeffrey says, taking her hand. "You know me better than that."
"I knew the Jeffrey I knew before, people change."
"Yes, people change, but not that extensively. It takes something drastic to make someone change like that."
"And me, leaving isn't something drastic, particularly the reason I gave you for me leaving."
"I didn't believe it. I knew that you didn't leave because you were scared. I'm truly sorry I walked out last night, but I didn't know how to handle that." Jeffrey says, putting his arms around her.
"I'm sorry I didn't trust in you." Sam says, laying her head on his shoulder, sighing softly.
He holds her for several minutes without either one talking. When she leans back, he leans over and kisses her softly for a couple minutes. When he releases her, she looks up and asks. "Why did you come home?"
"Because I couldn't stop thinking about you and the way you were acting when I left this morning."
"Do you have to go back?"
"Yes, I've got a meeting with a Spaulding rep on the redevelopment on 5th and Main Streets."
"Okay." She says sounding a little disappointed
"The meeting isn't till three, so I've got a couple hours."
"Okay." She says, snuggling in closer to him.
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