Chapter 4

He got halfway across the room, then stopped and approached the bar in the other direction. He chugged the rest of his beer and waited for Hermann to pour him another one. He knew he should just approach her, but he couldn't just yet. He needed another beer first.

Hermann came back from the kitchen with a takeout bag. He approached Taylor and slid the bag across the bar to her. She handed him a twenty. "Thanks," she said as she picked up the bag. She slid off the bar stool and headed for the door.

Joe watched her go, and mentally kicked himself for not talking to her. On the other hand, she didn't talk to him either.

"Taylor?" she heard a voice calling from behind her. She turned.

She saw who had called her. "Joe."

He jogged toward her, and stopped beside her. "I saw you at the scene today. I thought it was you," he said awkwardly.

"I saw you too. But, as you saw, I couldn't say hello."

"Um, no. Everyone was too busy. Can we go back inside and talk?" he asked hopefully.

She wanted to. Lord, she wanted to. What she really wanted was to throw her arms around him and kiss him half to death. She nodded and followed him back inside.

Once inside, Joe approached the bar and ordered a pitcher and dinner for himself while Taylor found a quiet table where they could talk undisturbed.

Joe brought the pitcher and mugs to the table, and poured beer for each of them. She glanced at him awkwardly. He glanced at her like he was trying to find something to say.

"I'm sorry," they said in unison.

"What did I do that was so horrible that you had to run away and join the Navy?" he asked.

"I was young and foolish, Joe. And I was very stupid."

"Young I can understand. Stupid, I can't."

She sucked in a deep breath. "Promise you won't get mad?"

"I promise."

"Remember this goes back to a nineteen year olds mind, not the adults we are today."

"Okay," he agreed, wondering where this was going.

When you didn't get me a ring for Christmas that year, I was upset. I took that as you didn't want to marry me. That I was only good enough to sleep with, but not good enough to marry."

Joe stared at her. His eyes blinked several times, and he felt like he had just been body slammed against the floor. "You really thought that? Really?"

She nodded, totally ashamed. "I was stupid."

"Taylor," he started as he picked up her hand. It was confession time. Twenty years too late, but better late than never. "You didn't get a ring that Christmas because I wasn't done paying on it. I had two more payments. I was going to give it to you for Valentine's Day, but you ran away."

She sighed. "Yes, I did. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do, but in hindsight-" She glanced down at her hand entwined in his. She felt that safeness that she had always felt with him. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"Can you forgive me?" he challenged.

"I did years ago."

He looked down at their hands. As usual, her left was in his right. He noticed her ring finger was empty. "Not married?"

She shook her head.

"Me either."

"Because of me?" she asked, fearing the answer. She wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing he had never married because of her running away.

"Just never met anyone else I wanted to marry."

"Same."

Hermann approached the table with Joe's burger and fries. "Here you go, Cruz. Eat up while it's still hot." He looked over at Taylor and noticed the takeout bag was sitting next to her untouched. "You too before it gets cold."

Taylor watched him walk back to the bar. "Who's the smartass?" she asked as she reached inside the bag.

"That's Chris Hermann. He works Truck with me. He's part owner of this place."

"It's a nice place," she agreed.

"I've never seen you in here before."

"First time in. Got home from work and it was too late to order from Lou's. It's right down the street from my place."

He nodded and took a bite of his burger. She took the lid off of her take out container, and placed some onion rings in it, then pushed it over to his side of the table. He took one and ate it, then picked up some fries and placed them in an empty compartment of her container. She looked down and giggled. They had fallen into their old habit of sharing their sides. Odd that twenty years later, they were still on the same wavelength. Joe looked down and realized what they had done. "Old habits die hard."

Author's Note: I took three days to think this chapter over. I waffled between a big, huge, drama scene or a laid back one, and decided the drama scene was just not Cruz. I figured he had been hurt enough and what they needed was a quiet talk to work things out rationally. My apologies if you were expecting a big drama scene. Taylor is not one to yell and scream (at least not now that she's grown up into an adult) unless it involves saving the lives of her patients.

Thank you all for very kind and generous reviews. You are the reason why I keep writing. *Bows humbly* I hope you liked this chapter.