Chapter 8: Feels like Rain
She could feel the pulse of her blood as it coursed through her veins. She had slowed from a run to a brisk walk as she had gotten further from the house... from his house… from him.
'How could I be so stupid?!' she spoke internally to herself.
The tears that fell from her eyes slipped down her cheeks as she wept, her breathing heavy and not from the running. She thought she had found someone who she could trust, someone she really knew… someone she felt she knew… but it all turned out to be a lie. He had a wife and a son and here he was kissing her and telling her all sorts of things.
'Oh god… what if we were having an affair… what kind of person am I?' She stopped walking and clutched at her stomach. She felt pain deep inside her. She had no idea who she was and the first person she felt a true connection with had lied to her.
She barely registered the rain as it fell from the heavens, hard and heavy, beating against the pavement and within minutes her clothes were soaked through.
His neighbour had been putting the trash out as Jack bounded from his front door.
Jack skidded to a halt in front of him. "Evening Jack, scaring off the ladies are we?!" Ben Richards smiled at him.
"Which way did she go Ben?" Jack spoke quickly.
"Towards town, she was running pretty fast, you'd better hurry." Ben told him.
"Thanks" Jack said as his feet pounded on the pavement towards town.
He didn't know how long he'd been running when the rain started but he didn't care. All he cared about was finding Sam and keeping her safe.
He squinted through the rain ahead of him and he slowed as he tried to get oxygen into his starved lungs, trying to make out the figure ahead of him, the black spots that raced across his vision didn't make it any easier. That and the fact that the figure was bent forward.
The figure slowly stood upright again… there was no mistaking that mass of blonde hair. He ran towards her.
As she stood up and placed one hand over her face, crying silently, someone grabbed her and spun her round. She looked up to see him standing in front of her his face shiny from the rain that covered it, his clothes darkened by the water that had soaked through them.
"NO! LET GO OF ME! YOU LIED TO ME!" Sam cried.
"NO I DIDN'T!" Jack yelled to be heard over the rain. "I KNOW WHY YOU RAN AWAY… YOU SAW THE PICTURE…"
"YEAH, I SAW THE PICTURE! YOU WITH YOUR WIFE AND SON! WHAT WERE WE HAVING AN AFFAIR!? WERE YOU CHEATING ON HER WITH ME?!"
"NO! I HAVEN'T SEEN SARA IN YEARS… WE'RE DIVORCED!"
"what?!" Sam spoke with disbelief.
"We're divorced… have been for years… and my son…" Jack stopped and took a breath. "… he… he's dead."
She stopped and breathed heavily. She wanted to speak but her eyes conveyed it all.
"I never lied to you." Jack told her through the rain. "Everything I told you is true."
Sam was crying again. She was a fool, she'd automatically assumed he was a liar, even though her heart told her he wasn't, but her head had won and she'd left without even trying to talk to him.
Now as the rain beat down on them she felt like such a fool.
"I'm sorry" she whispered.
Even through the rain he heard it.
"You don't have to be. Please, I would never lie to you. I promise."
Suddenly he moved forward and grasped her face in between his hands and captured her lips in a heart searing kiss. Both were oblivious to the rain as she leant into him wrapping her arms around his neck.
He broke the kiss gently and rested his forehead against hers.
"Lets get you inside." He whispered. Her reply was a gentle nod. He had taken off without a jacket so as they walked back to his house he kept her as close to him as possible, her head resting on his shoulder.