Chapter 13

© Copyright 2006 by Elizabeth Delayne



“So,” Gabriel said as he walked beside Julie down main street. He had met her on his lunch break, but they both were too restless to eat. He was edgy, his mind on Nicole—and Julie was ready to go home.

So they walked together as friends. Good friends, he thought, but nothing more. Maybe he could tell her he hoped, maybe he would miss her when she was gone, but what they had was nothing more, and even less, then it ever was.

“You’re leaving us.”

In New York and New Jersey, on trips to Atlantic City and so many other ventures, they had walked like this before, but their pace was somewhat slower today. The cars that drove past did so at the small town speed and not just because it was the flow of traffic. Most people knew him, recognized him. Someone honked and Gabriel lifted his hand in hello, an easy smile on his face.

It hadn’t been this way in the city. When they’d walked before, the world hadn’t meant anything. A walk meant slipping away ... sometimes into memories. Good and bad.

He’d never paid attention to his surroundings.

But Julie had. She’d loved the speed. She depth. The day to day differences that happened on the same street.

“It’s time,” she said, hands in her back pockets as she stared ahead. “Past time.”

“You could give living down here a try.”

“I’ve tried, as you say, for the first twenty years of my life. And again now, for close to three weeks. It’s time to go home.”

He glanced over at her—the short, styled hair that made her look chic and urban. The restless energy, that wanted to move faster. The long stride—a stride that, though slowed down, was quickly taking them out of town.

He’d found the town perfect for him. There were few people he didn’t know; few faces that were unfamiliar. Issues that came across his desk did little to surprise him.

The biggest problems on a Friday night were from the high school cruising and the few bars on the outside of town. Still, it rarely surprised him.

And when it did, it didn’t exhaust him. Daily. Day after day, so that it followed him home and into his sleep.

He like doing the same things, going to the same places, eating the same foods, and going home at night having been dealt no surprises.

And Julie didn’t belong here any more than he belonged in New Jersey.

“I’m going to miss seeing you around, though.”

She smiled. “Me, too. It was better this time around. Don’t you think?”

“We didn’t get in each other’s way.”

“We do better as friends.”

“I guess we do. I’ll miss the old times though.”

She sighed. “Oh, Gabriel. So will I. We had some good times.”

“But not enough.”

“We’ve been through this before.”

“I guess we have.” He held out his hand and smiled. “Goodbye, Julie.”

She turned toward him and just looked at him. There they stood, at the edge of the small town main street, and just looked at each other. Everything that was between them, the arguments and the friendship, the anger and the deep rooted sadness ... it was all there, flowing freely.

She slid her hand from her back pocket and grasped his.

“You’ll find a girl, one day, that can wrestle your demons with you,” she said at last. “I could never do that.”

The darkness seemed to crowd in, as it had that night on the back porch with Nicole. He felt himself closing down and he pushed the images away. Of people he’d known.

Of those he’d loved.

He shut it down and away as he had always been able to do with Julie. Until the end.

“Why do I have to find one girl?”

She laughed and pulled her hand back as she turned back toward town. “That’s the Gabriel I know and love.”

“You want me to take you to the airport later? I can show you a good time.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” she told him with a grin. “I found my own ride.”

“Not Laeton Lewis.” Gabriel teased. “The preacher’s son with the city girl?”

“The city boy with the city girl ...”

“Finding things in common, I see. That’s a big step for you. Kind of getting serious isn’t it?”

“Ha-ha. Why do I have to find one boy?” she asked, repeating his own statement. “I have a great apartment, wonderful friendships and a job that I love to throw everything I am into. I don’t have time for a serious relationship. Especially a long distance one.”

“Always the same Julie.”

“Why not? I like who I am.”

“You know what?” he asked, slinging his arm around her shoulders as they walked on, “so do I.”

“Its about time.”



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