The Rain Began to Fall

by A. K. Hartline

  CHAPTER 23

  Friday, the 25th of May, dawned with Leigh awaking from a fitful night of sleep, one filled with alternating dreams of Kyle and Gene; at the altar with the latter and erotic, passionate scenes with the former. Those dreams had been occurring every night since the company party, and it was driving her out of her mind. She had managed, once again, to avoid Kyle all week, in a desperate attempt to get her head back on as straight as possible. He had tried to call her several times on Sunday, and each day thereafter; but she had successfully ignored him, despite the temptation to answer.

  She had gone out to lunch with Gene on Sunday afternoon, and he had excitedly filled her in on the settlement of the Roberson case almost the entire time. Thankfully, he was too engrossed with relating his success to notice her fragile, emotional state, or inquire about what she did the rest of the night after he left the party. When the conversation turned to their quickly approaching wedding day, she made a great effort to concentrate and appear normal while discussing it. But she was anything but normal. The prior night’s episode was still fresh on her mind, and her revitalized feelings for Kyle created a tension that bubbled just under the surface of her calm exterior.

  But she made it through without raising Gene’s suspicion, and when she was home alone again, she had to deal with what had happened to her, why she had been so easily compelled to follow Kyle. Certainly it was the jealousy she had felt, but answering the question as to why she felt such was something she couldn’t face. Instead, in the light of day, she arrived at the old stand - by conclusion, once again, that Kyle was still a fantasy, in spite of it all. She also dismissed a great deal of her behavior to excessive drinking at the party.

  “Okay,” she had muttered, fluffing her pillow in bed on Sunday night. “It’s all good.”

  She went to sleep, determined to forge ahead to her destiny as Mrs. Gene Sykes.

  On Wednesday, Leigh and Mindy had gone out to lunch, and Mindy had noticed her friend’s tired eyes.

  “You don’t look so hot, girl,” she said. “How are you doing?”

  “Okay,” Leigh replied. “Not sleeping very well.”

  “So where did you take off to Saturday night?” Leigh simply stared at her.

  “I think you already know the answer to that, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do,” she replied. “Leigh, I really think you should...”, but Leigh held her hand up to stop her.

  “There’s nothing we need to talk about, remember?” she responded, “no matter what you’ve heard.”

  “Okay,” she replied reluctantly.

  In the next breath, Mindy told Leigh that Rob had proposed and she had accepted.

  “So we’re engaged!”

  “What?” Leigh exclaimed, totally flabbergasted by her announcement.

  “Aren’t you happy for me?” Mindy asked, searching her friend’s shocked face. Leigh’s paralysis finally broke.

  “Good lord yes!” Leigh exclaimed, charging and hugging her friend’s neck fiercely, tears welling in her eyes. After releasing her, they both wiped their eyes. “Girl, details! Tell me all about it!”

  Mindy did, and as Leigh watched her and listened to her story, she reflected on the change that had occurred in her friend, of the difference love had made in her life. She was so happy, so content!

  And isn’t that really all that matters in the end? Leigh thought now, as she brushed her teeth furiously. She spit in the sink and stared in the mirror. “What are you going to do?” she asked her reflection. Although she had ignored his calls, and attempted to dismiss Kyle from her thoughts, she couldn’t program her dreams, and he’d made an appearance every night that week. His parting words had echoed daily through her mind, and when she looked in the mirror this morning, she saw dark circles under her eyes. She had to do something about her turmoil.

  She finished brushing her teeth and dressed, then plopped down on the edge of her bed, thinking hard. After a couple of minutes, she decided her course of action. Her wedding was only three weeks away, and she needed to resolve this once and for all. They had been through something together, something she had her part in encouraging from the start. It wasn’t going to just go away. She would meet with him one more time face to face; over the phone, any other way, was not an option. He deserved more than that - and so did she.

  She left to work, knowing just what she had to do.

  # # #

  Leigh now lay on her bed at 7:00 pm on Friday evening. Gene had just hung up with her, angry and disappointed. He had informed her last week he was taking an early flight on Saturday to visit the New York firm, and she had agreed to accompany him. He had started the conversation in his usual busy manner, talking about the places they would visit on their weekend there. She had finally interrupted him and told him she wouldn’t be going.

  “But why?” he had responded. “Isn’t all of the wedding stuff wrapped up?”

  “Yes, it is,” she replied. “I just need some alone time, okay? It’s no big deal, really.”

  But it was a big deal to him.

  “Leigh, I need you with me on this trip to meet some people! You know this is the future for us!”

  “Please try to understand,” she replied. “There’ll be another opportunity. I’m not going, okay? I’m simply not up to it.”

  He tried a couple of more times to convince her, but ultimately hung up defeated. She hated keeping things secret from him; but then, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it? None of it was right, but with Gene out of town, it would be the perfect opportunity to arrange a meeting with Kyle; get him behind her, end something that should have never started, and move on. It would be best for everyone.

  She had the stereo on, and it was playing low as she sat up and flipped her phone open. She punched Kyle’s number, and on the third ring, he answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Kyle, it’s Leigh,” she said, lying back on her pillow.

  “Well… how are you?” he asked evenly enough, though internally he was thrilled beyond words to hear from her. He had been very confident after the party, sure that she would recoil somewhat from the events of that night, but positive she would come around. Her heart, her feelings for him had come to the fore, and he didn’t believe she could deny it any longer. But with each passing day that she had refused his calls, he had grown doubtful.

  “We have to talk,” she said flatly, drawing in a breath.

  “Okay," he replied carefully. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Kyle, I…I’ve had my part in this,” she stammered, “and I need to explain. I’m sorry that I’ve…”

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry about, Leigh,” he interrupted.

  “I don’t want to do this over the phone!”

  You don’t want to do what, exactly? Give me the “Dear John” treatment? He had expected, perhaps foolishly, that if he ever heard from her again she would be calling to say she loved him and couldn’t live without him. To the contrary, it sounded as though she was intending to drop the curtain and close the show.

  “Alright,” he replied. “What do you propose?”

  “That we… meet somewhere tomorrow,” she said haltingly. Why did this feel so dangerous? “I don’t have anywhere in particular in mind. What do you suggest?”

  “Well. . . I don’t know,” he responded at first. Then a place came to mind. If it was going to be his waterloo, he would at least have it somewhere that was advantageous to him. “Hmm…yeah I do,” he said. “Remember that dirt road I led you to, last Saturday night?”

  “Yes,” she replied hesitantly. “What about it?”

  “Well, a little further down that road ends,” he explained. “I checked it out this past week. There’s a trail there that leads back into the woods. It’s about a hundred yards, and comes out on a big clearing at the top of a hill. You’ve got to see that view, if you never have.”

  “Why not a nice restaurant?” she replied.

  “No, you�
��ve got to see this spot. Really.”

  She thought about it for a moment. The location he was suggesting sounded too secluded. But if she was sure of her feelings, what did it matter? Shouldn’t she be able to handle him anytime, anywhere if her heart and mind were made up, if she was truly committed? No more running from anything. She had to prove herself.

  “Alright,” she responded. “I think I can find that. How about 3:00pm?”

  “You’re on,” he said.

  “Okay, I’ll see you there,” she responded.

  They hung up, and she flopped back on her pillow. Do you really want to put yourself through this, Leigh? she agonized, placing the back of her hand to her forehead. Can you really trust yourself? There was no ready answer to those questions, but she would find out tomorrow. For better or worse, the truth would shine.

  Kyle sat down at his kitchen table after the call, jangling his keys. He was amazed, after not hearing from her in the past week, that she wanted to meet with him alone, and was willing to do it at his place of his choosing. Just to tell him again it was over and they had no chance? It didn’t gel. Why would she subject herself to such temptation? He had no idea, but he knew what she was planning.

  He clenched his teeth and stood. She can plan all she wants, he thought, his eyes steeled and jaw set. She has her plans…and I have mine.

  Leigh, rising from her bed, went over to her closet to change clothes. As she removed her blouse, Bryan Adams sounded out of her stereo. . .Look into my eyes, you will see, what you mean to me. . .

  She went over and turned it off.

  CHAPTER 24

  The cool warm spring breeze, which was steadily becoming a stronger wind with the incoming clouds, played with her long hair, blowing it off her shoulders and across her face. She brushed her hair back with a delicate stroke of her hand as she stood staring, from her vantage point on the hill, across the expansive field before her. Kyle was certainly right about how beautiful the view was here. Leigh had lived here all of her life and had never known about this location.

  As her eyes scanned the scene before her she saw four majestic, old oak trees in various locations, from the foreground into the distance, standing tall and strong amidst the waist high grass. She was at the edge of a clearing that was roughly sixty yards in circumference. At the bottom of the hill where she stood, the field began and stretched out about five hundred yards before descending, and the rolling hills beyond that seemed to go on forever. She had arrived at 3:00 pm, but that had been ten minutes ago. He was running late.

  She watched heavy gray clouds coming in from the west, and felt the wind picking up. No lightning so far, but those clouds looked full of rain to her; spring rain, and to be expected in mid May. The temperature on this fine Saturday was seventy-eight degrees.

  Standing there amid natural surroundings, Leigh Thompson would be beautiful by anyone’s standards. She was wearing blue jeans and a tee shirt, and her clothes were just tight enough to show off her blessed femininity. He’ll like me in these clothes, popped involuntarily into her mind. All right, Leigh, we’ll have none of that today. She had to keep her thoughts in check and both feet on the ground if she was going to have a chance at relaying her message to Kyle; a message that would be hard to deliver, but it had to be done. She had spent a good deal of time last night and this morning pondering the last couple of months; her actions with Kyle and her feelings, real or imagined. In the end, regardless of her attraction to Kyle, she couldn’t begin to entertain the idea that she would abandon her almost lifelong relationship with Gene, and her impending wedding, in favor of a brief, flirtatious fantasy, no matter how hot it was. Who did that? It may play in a Harlequin romance, but not in the real world.

  The wind was blowing stronger, and she saw the leading edge of the clouds beginning to drift overhead. Just a fantasy Leigh? Is that all? Really? She knew that voice. It was the annoying one that had spoke up when she first met Kyle, the one she had spent all this time trying to drown out. She refused to give it credence now. Yes, a fantasy. I‘ve known the Sykes family all my life. What would it do to them? And Gene? How could I tell him it’s over, kaput, no wedding, sorry Charlie! And who needs convincing here anyway? She wrung her hands in frustration. She would say what she must say, because that’s what grown-ups did; they faced the truth, and measured everything by it, lived by it, if they meant to live honest lives.

  The truth, however, somehow got lost every time she was around Kyle. She couldn’t remember to be a responsible adult, couldn’t remember there was a real life beyond her father, one he had blessed before he had left this world. But was it really truth that every emotion she felt regarding Kyle was imaginary? She touched a hand to her forehead. No. No it wasn’t. When she was with him, she felt something she had never known. That was her ultimate confusion. Why wouldn’t she be curious about where it might lead?

  With Kyle there was a wild, spontaneous element, so unlike the structure of Leigh’s life with Gene, so planned and arranged from such an early age. She had grown accustomed to a certain formality in a relationship. Even her first kiss with Gene, while exciting enough as a first, had lacked the fireworks, seeming as though she was just going through the motions. Kyle was a different story altogether; his eyes, his touch, told her without reserve, without a blueprint, how badly he wanted her. Her will to resist in those moments she was around him was practically nonexistent, and she lost touch with everything. Do I really have such deep feelings for him? she wondered, still unsettled in her heart and mind. She shook her head, fighting the renegade emotions.

  Listen to yourself! You don’t even need him here to break your will! You’re doing just fine all by yours….

  “Hello, Leigh,” Kyle spoke behind her, and she whirled around quickly, startled in the midst of her thoughts. As she had spun, he watched her long blonde hair fly out from her shoulders, and her beautiful blue eyes open wide. Her legs had crossed up as she turned, and for a moment, she looked like a graceful ballerina executing a pirouette.

  He had not been late arriving for their appointment. He had walked up to the entrance of the clearing and saw her standing at the edge of the hill. He almost stepped out and greeted her at first; but then he stopped and watched her for awhile, taking in the view of the woman he longed for with all he was; one he might lose today, but would give every effort to have.

  Until Leigh, Kyle had simply not made his heart available to anyone. The sign read “Closed”, and his reluctance to open the store had resulted in several failed relationships. But when he walked into her office for orientation that first day, he had wanted her like no other. It had dawned on him soon after that he was feeling something new, that it was love, and it was Leigh. She was the one he wanted by his side for the rest of his life. He knew today she was planning to end any chance of that once and for all.

  He walked toward her, and she helplessly observed him with an appreciative eye. He wore snug fitting Levi jeans, and a white, button down oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His eyes were as beautiful and intense as ever, and his thick, brown hair blew in the wind. I can’t, she thought resignedly as she looked into his dazzling eyes. I’m not strong enough. What was I thinking?

  He stopped a couple of feet from her and hooked his thumbs into his belt loops. His heart jogged faster as he approached, and his breathing quickened. He looked her up and down slowly, wanting her with everything he was. He would not give up his quest, his need, to win her today, no matter what.

  “Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

  “You never do, right?” she replied, laughing nervously.

  He stepped up beside her and looked out across the field, his hands on his sides. The wind blew stronger now, and the tall grass in the field was whipping back and forth with the intensity of the coming storm. Full-blown spring emitted the smell of life in the air, and the vegetation yawned wide for the spring rains after a long winter of desolation; the clouds, now dark and moving overhead, seemed ready to let go
at any moment.

  “Pretty spot, huh?” he said.

  “Yes!” she agreed enthusiastically, her nerves heightened. “You weren’t kidding! This would be a great place to build a house!” There had been plenty of anxiety about this meeting on Leigh’s part when she planned it. She had gone over it in her mind, mapping it out, how she would act, everything she was going to say. But now that he was really here, and they were alone, her heart was going like a trip hammer.

  “Yeah, it would,” he responded. “I thought the exact same thing.” He sat down on the soft grass, and she followed suit, tucking her knees close and wrapping her arms around them. She looked over at him, then up at the sky.

  “It looks like it’s going to rain,” she opined, her voice quavering with nervousness. He followed her gaze up, and then looked back straight ahead, without responding. He sat with one leg extended and the other up, his arms crossed and resting on his knee. She stole another quick glance at him, but he was silent, giving her all the room she needed to make her speech. Keep it together, girl. She felt the wind on her face, as she touched her forehead with the tips of her fingers.

  “You know,” she said finally, her voice steadier, “this isn’t easy, Kyle.” She paused for a moment, but he didn’t respond, continuing to stare ahead.

  “I have to tell you something. I need to explain myself.” She looked over at him apprehensively; he ran a hand through his hair. He finally looked at her and smiled.

  “Yeah, I suppose you do,” he responded, looking out across the field. He reached down and picked a blade of grass. He studied it a moment, and then flicked it into the air. The winds carried it away, and he sighed.

  “I’ll face the music, Leigh, whatever tune you want to play,” he said, turning and looking at her determinedly. “But don’t expect me to dance to it.” He looked face forward, his jaw muscles flexing. Hearing the resolve and passion in his voice, she faltered a little.