Seasons of the Heart

by Susette Williams

  Well, he wasn’t going to stand for it. They could keep his job, he didn’t need them anyway, but he wasn’t about to let them walk over Sasha and pretend nothing happened.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Sasha glanced at her watch as she pulled the strap of her backpack up higher on her shoulder. “I’m going to be late,” she grumbled as she hurried up the stairs leading to Philmor Hall. Next time she would have to allow herself more time to make it to school.

  She reached for the door handle when someone grabbed her arm, holding her back. “I need to talk to you.”

  Startled, she jumped and spun around to see who was detaining her. “What? You. We don’t have anything to talk about.”

  “Yes, we do. I want to know what happened." Forrest continued to keep a light grip on Sasha’s forearm. "Can we talk now, or can I meet you somewhere later?” He wanted to know the truth before he went around stirring the pot. The last thing he wanted to do was roast an innocent man, but his gut feeling told him Doug wasn’t innocent. The paleness in Sasha’s face convinced him even more.

  “You’re the last person I want to see,” Sasha stormed, making a half-hearted attempt to pull away.

  Forrest raised his eyebrows in question.

  “All right, next to the last person, but I still don’t want to see you. You almost got me kicked out of school.” Sasha glanced at the glass doors, then back at Forrest. “Look, I’ve gotta go.” With that, she jerked her arm free and hurried inside.

  Sasha couldn’t focus on her test. Her thoughts drifted to a mouth that quirked with each expression that the infuriating man wore. If he looked puzzled, it raised on one side. Even upset sent it lopsided. She wondered if he ever smiled. Not that she’d seen any teeth, but she was sure he had them and thankful he chose not to use them.

  Okay, so maybe she had acted like a lunatic every time she’d been around him. It was his fault she bit him anyway. After all, if he hadn’t been holding her down, she wouldn’t have felt the need to get away… and she wouldn’t have bitten his shoulder. No doubt it left a good size bruise.

  As much as she wanted to, it was hard to stay mad at him. A pair of dreamy blue eyes melted her resolve. She couldn’t believe it when she heard that he’d punched Doug. What was it with Forrest, anyway? Any other guy would have hightailed it in another direction.

  Sasha knew she was jumpy. The thought of any man touching her again made her skin crawl. She’d never even gone out with Forrest and he was sticking up for her. But why? What made the man so protective of her? Or was he protective of all women? The man puzzled her more than Physics.

  When class ended, Sasha let out an exasperated sigh. If she was lucky, she’d get a ‘B’ on her Physics test, but she wasn’t holding her breath. It was hard enough to study the night before with her problems weighing heavily on her mind and then running into Forrest hadn’t helped her to concentrate any better.

  If I get a ‘B’ Lord, I’ll be happy. Please don’t let me fail it. Ironically, she knew it was a little late for that request. The damage was done. She laughed as she thought about it, it wasn’t as if God could or would go back and change her answers.

  So caught up in her thoughts, she didn’t notice Doug until he was standing in front of her in the hall. Her arms tightened around the book she was holding to her chest as her eyes widened with fear. “Excuse me,” she said, trying to step around him.

  Doug blocked her path. “If I were you, I’d watch what you go around saying.”

  Catching a glimpse of his sinister sneer, Sasha cringed. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen that foreboding look. She thought Doug was going to say something else. Instead, he turned around. When he did, she saw Forrest standing there. His hands were clenched at his sides. As much as she was afraid he’d hit Doug again, she couldn’t help feeling relieved that he was there. She relaxed her hold on her book and waited to see what would transpire.

  “Can I help you? Or do you have a habit of not knowing which side of the hallway to walk down?” Forrest smiled. His eyebrows arched. He may have looked friendly, but Sasha could tell by the steely gleam in his eyes that he was far from amused.

  Doug laughed. “I know right where I’m headed. And I know where you’re headed if you pull another stunt like you did the other day. What I have to say is between Sasha and me. We’re old friends, aren’t we, honey?” he said, leering at Sasha. He turned back to Forrest. “So why don’t you get lost?”

  Forrest made a clicking sound with his tongue and wagged his finger back and forth. “Now is that any way to talk to a woman’s fiancé?”

  Doug’s eyes lit up and his mouth dropped open. “Fi… fiancé? You’re not her fiancé.” Stepping sideways, Doug turned to see Sasha’s reaction.

  Forrest winked at her. That was all it took for her to regain her composure and play along with his little farce. She smiled at Forrest. The guy could be a pain, but he was adorable and given the alternatives… she didn’t want to think about them. Right now she needed to get Doug off her back. Preferably out of her life.

  She didn’t realize she had been frowning at Doug. When he turned and stormed off, her shoulders relaxed and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I’m not sure if the thought of us engaged got rid of him or the look on your face. Remind me not to make you mad,” Forrest teased.

  His teeth were pearly white. This time, his mouth quirked up on the other side. Sasha smiled at that revelation.

  “It’s good to see you smile.”

  Her smile faded. Funny, she was just thinking the same thing about him. “So, Mr. Bright Ideas, what am I going to do when Doug finds out that we’re not engaged?”

  “Who said he’s going to find out?”

  Sasha frowned.

  “Okay, it may not be fool proof. Why don’t we drive to the diner and we’ll talk about it. For now, it’s a quick fix and it will keep Doug at a distance. Which is what we need to do right now.”

  “We?” Sasha asked faintly. The thought of ‘we’ sounded good. As long as ‘we’ weren’t storming around like a bull in a china cabinet. That was likely to get them both kicked out of school.

  When they exited Philmor Hall, Forrest left her side to open the passenger door of his vehicle. Sasha slipped in and gave him a weak smile. It felt good to have him watching over her. In her heart, she knew God was there, too. More than once she had prayed and asked God to help her make it through her last two years of school. Maybe Forrest was the answer to her prayers. Just maybe… maybe his hair-brained idea might work.

  They arrived at the diner and Forrest was out of the truck and standing at her side of the vehicle before she could even stick a boot clad foot into the slush that covered the parking lot. He closed her door for her and led her into the diner, gently guiding her by her elbow.

  For a brief moment, she fantasized about what it would be like to have a man like Forrest at her side on a regular basis. Sasha had always thought she would get married and have two or three children of her own. Even after… she knew she had to go on if she ever wanted to obtain that goal. That’s why she agreed to go out with Wade. Although that date failed miserably, it didn’t mean she should give up. Time was what she needed. After all, wasn’t that what her grandmother always said? Time heals all wounds. Only time would tell. Somehow, the clichés didn’t soothe her wounded spirit.

  Sasha allowed Forrest to guide her while she followed along numbly. She didn’t want to become bitter and hateful, but sometimes… sometimes she wished God would remove Doug from the face of this Earth. The verse, ‘For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,’ entered her mind. Lord, Sasha prayed silently, he never asked for forgiveness. He never repented. How can I forgive him?

  Sasha sighed as she slumped into her seat. Why did people have to go through such trials and tribulations? What happened to her carefree days? She used to enjoy working out, socializing with all her friends, and primping for a date.

  Until tha
t horrible night… She shivered as a vision of Doug’s glaring eyes flooded her consciousness. Now, the only thing she could tolerate was being left alone. That was one of the reasons she took such solace in hiking. It allowed her to be alone and get the workout her body hungered for since she quit jogging.

  Her wardrobe had come to disgust her. No longer could she stand to wear tight fitting clothing. Instead, she wore sweats or loose fitting jeans, as she had today, with an oversized flannel shirt. Unconsciously, Sasha touched the hair fastened with a clip on the back of head. Forrest wasn’t likely to think her attractive dressed like this. Glancing down at her clothing, her glasses slipped and she pushed them up. Who was she kidding? Forrest would never seriously consider being engaged to someone like her. She was an emotional and physical wreck. They might as well haul her away to the dump now and get it over with.

  “We’ll have two coffees,” Forrest told the waitress and handed her the menus. When she left their table, he reached out and wiped away the tear that rolled down Sasha’s cheek. “It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

  Sasha smiled faintly. It was easy for him to say.

  “How did you do in your class?” Forrest straightened in his chair, folding his hands in front of him.

  “Class? I had a test.” It wasn’t the conversation Sasha thought they’d be having. She was thankful that he was sticking to lighter topics.

  “How did you do on your test?”

  “Hmm. Okay, I guess.”

  The waitress returned with a pot of steaming coffee, turned their cups right side up, and proceeded to fill them. “Anything else I can get for you two?”

  Forrest looked at Sasha and waited for a response. When she nodded, he politely thanked the waitress. When the waitress was out of earshot, he turned his attention back to Sasha. “What happened between you and Doug?”

  “Excuse me?”

  Forrest appeared to become slightly agitated. He frowned before repeating himself, “What happened, before, with Doug and you?”

  Sasha became irritated herself. “I don’t think that’s any of your business. I’m still miffed as to why you would start a fight with him as it is.”

  The knuckles on Forrest’s hands whitened. He unfolded his hands and carefully lifted his cup to his mouth. “Maybe because of what he implied,” Forrest said, then took a sip of the hot liquid. He continued to stare at Sasha over the brim of his cup.

  “He… he admitted it?” Sasha’s face turned pale. “He told me he’d deny it. Then it would be his word against mine and since… since I had gone out with him, they’d believe him.”

  Reaching into his back pocket, Forrest retrieved a handkerchief and handed it to Sasha as a couple of tears trickled down her cheeks.

  She grabbed his handkerchief and wiped her tear stained eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I know, but maybe if I hadn’t gone out with him.” Sasha shook her head. “If only I’d known what he was really like.”

  “But you didn’t know. How could you?” Sasha looked up at sympathetic eyes. “There was no way you could have known. What happened? Did you report it to the Dean? He mentioned he’d talked to you.”

  Sasha laughed. “Oh, yeah, he talked to me all right." Her tone hardened. "It would have been better if you hadn’t interfered. He’s threatening to kick me out of school if I make any more waves.”

  Forrest slammed his cup down on the table and stood abruptly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have butted in. Since we ran into each other, I’ve had nothing but trouble. Are you ready to leave?”

  Without another word, Forrest took a couple dollars out of his wallet and threw them down on the table, then walked away. Sasha grabbed one last sip of her coffee and hurried after him, wadding his handkerchief in her hand. She bumped into an elderly gentleman on the way out. "I’m sorry.”

  Forrest turned. “Are you?”

  Sasha held her hand up and started to point towards the man who had just entered the diner, then thought better of it, closing her mouth and lowering her hand. “Yes.”

  He extended his arm for her to walk in front of him on the narrow sidewalk. “Come on.”

  When they were both seated in the truck and driving back towards the University, Forrest began to question her again, “Why didn’t you at least try to report it the police?”

  “I think Doug knew it would be my first instinct. He had the gall to tell me I wanted it too, like—like anybody…" She dabbed the handkerchief at the tears that ran down her face.

  Forrest reached out and grabbed her free hand. “It’s okay. I’m here now. I won’t let him hurt you again.”

  Sasha felt reassurance in his words. For whatever reason, Doug seemed intimidated by Forrest. When Forrest staked his claim earlier in the hallway, Doug backed down. Maybe letting Doug think they were an item would work.

  She only had one more year after this one, and then she could go back home. Doug would be graduating this year and then surely he’d head home to California. The only reason he attended school here in the first place was because his father was an alumnus. When graduation came, she was sure Doug would be gone. He could go back to the girls he claimed were ‘more accommodating’ back home.

  “If the police looked at things the way the Dean did, they’d make me feel like I was somehow responsible, even if I wasn’t. I didn’t lead him on. I said no. I only planned to give him a brief kiss good night. Then… then he changed. He became more aggressive and wouldn't take ‘no’ for an answer. I kept pushing him away… but he—he wouldn’t stop. When I tried to scream… he covered my mouth….”

  The gut wrenching sobs erupting from Sasha tore Forrest to pieces. Involuntarily, he squeezed her hand tighter. It must have been too tight because Sasha rubbed the back of his hand with her free one, encouraging him to relax.

  He waited for her crying frenzy to slow before he tried to offer words of comfort. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean….” He started to withdraw his hand, but Sasha clutched it tighter.

  “It’s all right. Thank you for caring and for believing me.” Sasha smiled faintly. She doubted anyone would have ever believed her. Everything Doug had said about people would think—that she had changed her mind or become jealous and wanted to get even with Doug—had been echoed by the Dean, almost word-for-word. Forrest believed her, and for now, that was all she needed.

  Forrest sighed. “So, why don’t we go on and let Doug think we’re engaged? That way, he should leave you alone when I’m not around.”

  “You don’t have any girlfriends that might get jealous?”

  Forrest looked at her and smiled, a gleam in his eyes. “Just one.”

  “Oh.”

  “But I promise, I won’t do anything to make you jealous.” He turned back to watch the road while he drove.

  Sasha wasn’t sure she heard him right. He wouldn’t do—do anything to make her jealous? Her eyes widened as a faint smile played upon her lips. The thought of being engaged to Forrest, even if it was pretend, set her heart racing.

  Chapter Four

  Saturday afternoon, Forrest stood outside the address Sasha gave him, and waited for someone to answer the door. He was sure it was one of the houses on this street, but he couldn’t make out the numbers Sasha had scribbled on the piece of paper, protesting as to why he would even want her friend's address. She had written either a seven or a nine. Which one it was, he couldn’t tell for sure. Looking towards the road again, he was filled with doubt as to whether or not he even had the right street. Her car was nowhere in sight.

  When the door opened, he turned back around, then frowned.

  “Can I help you?” asked a tall guy with brown hair and a glistening smile.

  Instinctively, Forrest didn’t like the guy. “I’m looking for someone. I think I may have the wrong address.”

  Forrest held out the crumpled piece of paper in his hands. The slightly taller gentleman opened the screen door an
d leaned out to look at the note.

  “Hmm. It looks like the right address. Who are you looking for?”

  “Sasha Steinfeld. Know where I can find her?” If he answered yes, Forrest had half a mind to hit him. Especially when the guys smile broadened.

  “Yeah, she’s in the bedroom.” The guy motioned inside with his thumb, kind of like a hitchhiker.

  Forrest couldn’t help thinking he wished the guy would hit the road. Who was the guy anyway and what was he doing here?

  “Come on in, I’ll get her.”

  Frowning, Forrest forced himself to relax his hands that had drawn up into two knotted balls. Better, he thought, now I can choke the guy instead. Before he could act on that thought, the guy disappeared down the hallway. He heard rapping on a door, then a muffled, “Sasha, some guy's here to see you.”

  Sasha mentioned she was staying with a friend, but so help her… if this was the friend, he was out of here. No looking back! Sasha could deal with her problems on her own.

  Forrest paced across the small living room. He heard the muffled exchange down the hall, which he assumed was ‘Pearly White’ giving her a description of him, so she would know who was waiting. The guy reminded him of a toothpaste commercial, which was encouraging him to want to change the station more and more.

  When Sasha poked her head in the living room, an electrical current flowed throughout his body. Her hair was bouncy, and long, and she wasn’t wearing her glasses. Sasha’s eyes were a vivid green. She even had a touch of make-up on. His body tensed. Was this makeover for Pearly? This wasn’t the same woman he ran into on the college campus, or the woman he caught climbing into his cabin.

  “Forrest, what are you doing here?” Sasha asked.