Quietus
Chapter 7
Seeing her, being this close to her, I can feel a smile forming on my face, the first one I've had in a while. The urge to pull her into my arms and kiss her until both of us are gasping for breath is strong. I just want to hold her and never let her go again.
Yet before I can act on those impulses, I notice something.
Samantha looks different, not in a bad way because I have always found her beautiful, but she doesn't look like she did the last time I saw her.
I don't want to do so, but suddenly I recall her lying on the ground looking up at me with those amazing blue eyes of hers etched with pain and bewilderment over what had just happened. I shut my own eyes momentarily to banish the terrible scene away even if I am afraid if I close my eyes she will be gone once more.
Yet miraculously when I open my eyes there she is right in front of me, those same mesmerizing eyes are wide open, not closing in what I fear is the last time I will see them, but the way she is looking at me so curiously stops me from acting on my initial instant inclination.
She reaches out a tentative hand to place on my arm which immediately makes the urge to bring her closer to me return tenfold at least until she asks me, "EJ, is that you?"
Of course it's me, who else besides my younger brother Chad is even close to me in height?
Somehow I find my voice to answer, "Of course it's me Samantha."
She opens her mouth to say something, then pauses for a few seconds before hesitantly stating, "You just look a tad bit different from the last time I saw you."
"Different how?" I ask since I've noticed a change in her appearance too even though I haven't spoken it out loud.
She doesn't answer me yet, just shifts from one foot to the next all the while trying to keep the bundle of whatever she is holding secure under one arm since she transferred it there when she had placed her other hand on my arm a few moments earlier. Then her balancing act of keeping everything intact fails and the contents she was carrying flutter all around our feet.
Instantly she looks exasperated and goes to the ground to fetch the papers and what looks like samples of various materials.
Usually my manners are much better and I would straight away go to help her, and then it hits me, her hair is lighter and she has the glow of a light tan. Samantha's skin never darkens as much as mine does, but it looks like she has been kissed by the sun.
Then I crouch down to help her retrieve her things and I accidentally touch her hand in the process of picking everything up and she stops what she is doing to look at me closer. Our faces are so close to each other that it is a wonder we didn't bump heads when she turned hers toward me.
From this vantage point, I can even see the faint sprinkling of freckles she has on the bridge of her nose, something you can't really notice unless you get right up next to her, which I am.
Yes, it's something in her eyes, they aren't looking at me with the same intensity that I am sure I have in mine for her.
She has bewilderment in them, but it isn't like the last time I saw her. She quickly turns away from looking at me, returning to the task at hand trying to pick up everything that has fallen to the ground.
It doesn't take long for us to get everything, but whatever she was working on is completely disorganized and I can tell she is aggravated. We both get to our feet and she reaches out to take the papers I have recovered but then I look down at them.
Why does Samantha have pictures of wedding dresses, flower arrangements and various kinds of cake in her possession?
"EJ, if you don't mind I need those," Sami states when she can't get me to let go of the pages.
Why would Samantha need any of these things? We are married and I know with a surety that she isn't helping with the planning of someone else's wedding.
"Why?"
"For my wedding to Austin of course," she answers. "I realize I haven't seen you since the night we all went Chez Rouge, but I thought we talked about my engagement."
What the fuck? Samantha isn't engaged to Austin, she's married to me. I grab her left hand to look at it and sure enough she isn't wearing her wedding ring that I gave her when we renewed our wedding vows.
Not letting go of her hand, I look down to my left hand as well. No ring, nothing at all.
Where in the hell is my wedding ring?