"How did he carry you from the car with broken vertebrae, and broken ribs?"
"Adrenaline, I guess."
"How long was he in the hospital?"
"Weeks. He was leaned back in his seat, trying to sleep on the way home. It is probably what saved him. He only broke thoracic vertebrae."
"From what I read you're lucky to be alive."
"I wouldn't call it luck."
"Why wouldn't you tell me this?"
"I told you it was complicated."
"The guy you were with, what was his name?"
"Tony."
"You said the two of you weren't serious."
"We weren't."
"How long were you together?"
"We weren't even together when the accident happened. It was never more than a fling. I was young, and stupid."
"What was his excuse?"
"We had been..." she pauses to come up with the proper term.
"Bedfellows?" He offers.
She nods, "For a few weeks. One morning I was in his bed, and I was trying to figure out how to slip out without waking him up. I realized that he was awake. He looked over at me, and he said, "You're the kind of girl that I want to marry,"."
"And you fled because you are, or at least you were totally afraid of commitment."
"After three weeks? I am definitely not the kind of girl who wants to commit after three weeks of... something that I would not even regard as an actual relationship."
"So why were you with him that night?"
"That is a topic for another time," she insists.
"Kate," his blue eyes plead with her.
She wipes the tears from her face, "I can't, not now."
"Okay," he relents, as she vacates her seat on the couch, and retreats to the bedroom.
She sits in her car, with the passenger's side window rolled down. She holds a pair of binoculars and watches a house across the street from her. It's her day off, and she's sitting on a street in Queens. She watches as her target exits the house. He heads down the sidewalk with a pre-schooler on his shoulders. A woman exits the house carrying a diaper bag, and a toddler. She joins him in the driveway. He secures the pre-schooler in a booster seat in the backseat of the white minivan.
The woman proceeds to do the same with the child that she is carrying. When the sliding doors close the woman walks around the front of the van. He opens the passenger's side door for her. She climbs inside. He closes the door for her, and glances in the mirror.
Kate rolls up her window, and puts her binoculars in the passenger's seat. She reaches for her sunglasses which rest on the dash, in front of her. She turns on the ignition for a speedy get away. The sound of someone knocking on her passenger's side window nearly makes her jump out of her skin. She looks out the window at the figure standing next to her car.
A pair of bright green eyes peer in the window at her. The tall, dark, handsome, NYPD officer waits patiently for her to roll down the window. Finally she rolls down the automatic window. He shoots her a questioning look.
"Kate, what are you doing here?"
"I... I shouldn't have come."
"I haven't seen you in..." he tries to recall how long it has been.
"Six years," she supplies.
"I woke up in a hospital six years ago, without you. I never saw you after that night. What are you doing here?"
"I started thinking about you, and I..."
He smiles at her, "You used your detective skills, and ended up here?"
"Yeah, I just needed to know," she nods.
"Why? Why now?"
"Six years and..."
He takes the words right out of her mouth, "And two days."
"Yeah," she nods, "I guess I just wanted to make sure that you were... okay."
"I am fine."
"Married?"
"Five years," he reveals, "I found a girl who didn't scare easily."
"A cop?"
"A nurse."
"Your nurse?"
"No."
"You're happy?"
He smiles, "Yeah. I have what I always wanted. I have an incredible wife, and two amazing little girls."
"I am sorry."
"For what?"
"That I didn't stick around. I am sorry that I didn't stay long enough to see if you were even alive."
"Kate, I understand. You have nothing to be sorry for. I am the one who is sorry."
"I don't want your apology, it doesn't change anything."
"I know, but I am sorry."
"I know," she chokes back tears.
"I should get going," he tells her.
"Of course," she agrees.
He turns to leave. She finds herself staring at his backside. Within an instant she is chiding herself, reminding herself that she is taken. He pivots, and smiles at her. His bright green eyes fall upon her face.
"There is something you should know," he tells her.
"What's that?"
"My four year old, her name is Katherine."
"You named her after me?"
"Yeah," he nods, grinning from ear to ear.
"Why?" she cocks an eyebrow.
"It seemed like the right thing to do."
He walks away from the car. She watches him as he backs out of his driveway on the suburban street. She watches the van as it drives away. She feels her heart skip a beat as she thinks about her past with him. She takes the key from the ignition, and locks the doors. She tries to fight it, but the tears begin to fall. She leans forward, gripping the steering wheel. Her head presses against the steering wheel as she sobs, uncontrollably.
She has spent the past six years trying to forget that night. Six years of hard work, and total denial completely obliterated by a few pieces of paper, and an inquisitive mind. She wonders how long it will be before he forces her to reveal everything.