A Hunger to Share ( Book One )

chapter 43

Jack     

Germany    

Jack ascended the stairs of the Brooks manor for the second time that day, and rang the bell.   

He had stayed with James for a couple of hours, and only left after he'd fallen asleep.

Grace opened the door, looking surprised. "Jack? Is something wrong?"

"No." Jack gave her a reassuring smile. "just came to see Nora. Is she around?"

"In the backyard." She gave him a confused look but let him in.

"Mrs Brooks...I'm sorry about Ada."

"Me too." She tried to smile, but the sad look in her eyes gave her true emotions away. "And I'm sorry about James. Is he feeling better?"

"Yes." Jack answered politely.

Grace guided him to their backyard which was the size of a small park, and left him alone with a pat on his back.

Jack walked towards Nora who was sitting on a bench, the autumn leaves crunching under his feet. "Do you mind if I join?" Ha pushed his hands in his jacket pockets, breath clouding in front of him.

She looked up, eyes red, and puffy and shrugged. Jack sat down beside her. Nora took a sip of the wine bottle she was holding and handed it to him. Jack withdrew his right hand from his pocket, and took a small sip.

"What are you doing here Jack?" Nora leaned back, and crossed her arms in front of her, still not looking at him.

"Honestly? I don't know. Guess I just wanted to check up on you."

"Well you have." She said flatly. "now you can leave."

"Do you want me to?"

It took her a few minutes to answer. "No."

"You burried him all by yourself?" Jack looked at Ben's fresh grave under a tree nearby. There was a cross on the top of the soil, and a white flower he didn't recognize.

"Yeah I wanted him to be close by." Nora looked at her dirty fingernails, then clenched them into fists.

Jack understood that. "You did a good job. What about his family? Do they know?"

"Ben had no family. He just had us, me..." Her voice shook.

Jack was afraid to touch her, but he did it anyway. "You were the best family he could ask for."

Surprisingly she didn't snap at him or shrug off his hand on her shoulder. "No. I got him killed. If he hadn't come along..."

"Nora this blame game is pointless." Jack said in a gentle voice, half expecting her to bash his skull in.

She just cast him a sidelong glance. "Maybe, but that's what people always do, isn't it?"

"They do it because it's easy."

"And you don't?"

"I try not to."

"Then what do you do?"

"I find the culprite, and make them pay."

"I already killed that man, but I don't feel better."

"I never said you would."

"Now I want to punch you in the face." She said with a little smile.

"I wouldn't object."

"You should stop being so nice to me. It's weird." Nora made a face at him.