When You Were Young

A bird burst out of a tree behind her, shaking her back to reality. Her stomach flattened into lean muscle. "I'm losing it," she said to herself again. She needed to keep it together for a few more hours, until she apprehended Veronica. Then if she wanted to spend the rest of her days in a mental asylum thinking she was a chubby little kid she could.

As she swept the area again, she considered that if she hadn't met Veronica that first day in kindergarten, she might have stayed that fat, shy girl. She never would have met Andre, never would have joined the FBI. With the way things turned out, that would have been a good thing, she thought. Better to end up a fat spinster in a quiet library than to have her heart broken and being wanted for murder.

Another two hours dragged by with no sign of Veronica. Samantha's eyelids drooped despite her best efforts to stay awake. He's there with her then, his warm, naked body pressed up against hers. "I love you," he whispers. He kisses her and then runs a hand through her hair, leaving it there in her tangled tresses.

"I love you too," she says. She can't believe after two years she's here, in his bed. Lips she once thought she would feel again only in her dreams touch her cheek.

"Why did you leave?" he asks.

"I didn't want you to get hurt," she says. "Everyone I've ever loved has died. I didn't want the same to happen to you." When she says this aloud it sounds silly, like someone talking about seeing Bigfoot or UFOs. "I missed you."

This she knows is true. Everywhere she went after leaving him-Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Denver, St. Louis, ultimately ending up in Evanston, Illinois to attend Northwestern-she felt the void of his presence. By then it was too late.

"I missed you too. I kept checking the papers in case your name came up." He looks down at their intertwined feet. "After a while I sort of gave up."

"Who was that girl at the club?"

"Someone my roommate fixed me up with. She didn't mean anything to me. Not like you," he says. He looks into her eyes and she knows he's not lying.

"What do we do now?" she asks.

"Stay here, just like this, forever." He flashes his famous grin. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"That's going to be a little awkward in the bathroom, don't you think?" she says with a laugh.

"I'll get you a nice long leash then." He traces the curve of her neck with one finger. "But I couldn't put a collar around this beautiful neck." He reaches back to the nightstand with one hand and with the other takes hers. "I think this would look much better."