Thanks for the reviews. Glad to see some new faces, or names, at least.
I haven't received any objections about using Sawyer yet, so he gets his first mention in chapter 3, and he will appear in chapter 4. Don't worry though, this is still a Jate story. Sawyer won't even be the primary source of conflict. That will come from the time and distance between them, and the hurt feelings that still exist after all this time. Oh, and the usual Kate-needing-help-but-being-evasive- about-it and Jack-always-having-to-save-her set-up.
Enjoy, and review. It helps the creative process... just kidding. It does inspire me to write faster though.
Chapter 2. Confused
Jack was laying his notes on the dais when he saw her slip into the back of the church, a long black coat concealing the fact that she wasn't properly attired for a funeral. It had been almost twenty years since he'd seen her, but he would have known her anywhere. She was taller now, five foot seven or eight, and older, but she still had the same unruly dark curls that even a ponytail couldn't keep out of her face, the same high cheekbones and tight lips, the same freckles, though they seemed to have faded with age.
The only difference that struck him was her eyes. Where once Jack could almost read her thoughts by probing into their depths, they were unfathomable to him now, hard and smooth, like tinted glass. He tried to catch them as she took a seat in the last pew, near the door, but she ducked her head, staring intently at her tennis shoes. Either she hadn't seen him, standing there at the front of the church, or she was ignoring him.
Jack couldn't help but be a little confused. While Margo, at least, had been civil to her, despite viewing her as an uncouth farm girl, Christian had always ignored Kate, even when she stayed for dinner. Jack couldn't imagine her caring much about his death, so if she wasn't there to pay her respects, and she wasn't there to see him, why had she come to his father's funeral?
He waited a moment, but her eyes never left the ground, not until he turned back to the crowd of mourners. Once he started speaking, she looked up at him, taking him in, but she didn't smile or wave, or otherwise acknowledge him, listening to his eulogy with a guarded expression.
As he stepped down again, Jack couldn't help noticing that, as he'd expected, his detached goodbye had failed to bring anyone, even his father's current mistress, to tears. That job was reserved for his godfather, Christian's best friend and partner at the practice, who gave his shoulder a half-hearted squeeze as they passed on the stairs.
Ignoring the disappointed murmur that spread through the crowd as he returned to his seat in the front pew, Jack couldn't help peeking furtively over his shoulder, to the back of the church. Kate was still there, but by the time he managed to catch her eye, his godfather had started speaking and he had to turn around.
He looked for her again, after the service, spotting her gathering her purse as she prepared to leave, but before he could approach her, a sea of grieving townspeople amassed on him, and he was forced to listen as they paid their respects.
By the time they'd finished telling him what a wonderful man his father was, and said wonderful man had been carried into the churchyard, she was gone, leaving him even more confused than before.