Jay Halstead - Back to You

Chapter 3

Pay attention to the note at the end.

Enjoy =)

"Don't be afraid to make mistakes, to trip and fall, because most of the time, the biggest rewards come from doing the things that scare you the most. Maybe you get everything you want. Maybe you get more than you could have ever imagined . Who knows where life will take you. The road is long and, in the end, the journey is the destination."

A minute, that's what it took in silence as they both watched each other.

Four years, four long years, a lot can change in that time. For some it's a short time, for others it's long, well... it depends on the point of view. Things good, bad, incredible, horrible, magical, among other things can happen within that period of time. Maybe if you have discovered a pregnancy, then really 4 years is a lot, you will have lived a magical moment in those years. For someone who comes into the world four years is a lot, you learn how to live in the real world.

Over the years, there is still learning, as human beings are constantly evolving, they learn and discover new things, but at the same time, in their daily lives, things can become monotonous, a routine. Sometimes you see a baby and then four years later he walks, talks, eats by himself and surprises everyone with how smart he is. Sometimes you live with a person every day, every moment you don't notice all the differences. The difference is greater when four years go by without even a single contact, without knowing what the other person did for a living. The change of a child, a teenager is always more visible, but you can still see changes in adults.

That's what Jay Halstead noticed in the woman in front of him. She was there, standing right in front of him wearing gray leggings, a loose pastel lilac shirt that was strapped to her waist. She was barefoot, it makes him smile, in four years that hasn't changed. He keeps watching. She doesn't have nail polish on her feet, if she's still a little the same, he imagines maybe she's been working a lot lately. Does he know that just by looking at his toenails and fingernails? Yes, he knows, or he thinks so. She always loved doing her nails with different colors, she was constantly changing. She painted herself, no salon. So if she was out, it meant she had no time to do it. He watches as she looks thinner since the last time he saw her. Not that she was fat or that it was a problem, just an observation, followed by him noticing that she seems to have gained more muscle mass. Her body was well defined back in the day, but it looks more now. He can tell from the way the leggings curve her thighs. How her arms are stronger. He looks at her face and it looks more alive, it has more color, it makes his chest tighten, but when he looks into her eyes he realizes that that glow, the one he had before he left is not there. He hasn't seen him since the day he told him he was married and it seems he never came back, he blames himself for that. He then notices her hair, one hundred percent natural now and much bigger than he had ever seen in the moments they spent together.

With all this observation, Jay can see that she looks fine, looks healthier, more alive, and he wonders what the reason for this change was. He observes how good the years have been for her, even with some expression lines forming on her forehead and eyes, she is still beautiful, she looks more beautiful since the last time he saw her and looks that he thought she never could stay, but she always surprised him. While he has changes, he has some things he hasn't changed about her, it makes him happy. He shouldn't have, but looking at her he felt stirred, it was like the first time he had seen her. As if nothing else mattered but this moment. She was beautiful and forgive him, sexy too.

Erin Lindsay must forgive, well, actually she can't judge too much, as in this one minute she was doing the same. How four years makes all the difference. She sees how he has aged. He has more expression lines on his forehead, at the corners of his eyes. His look looks sad, it looks the same as the day he left. When she realized that the years had passed, she didn't let him get ugly. In fact, he looked prettier even, he looked... like a dad... a handsome, sexy dad... She shudders at the thought, she doesn't know if he's a dad, he'd be awesome, but her chest hurts when to think he's married and has a family. She curses herself for calling him sexy, he still is, but he shouldn't mess with her like she was a teenager, like when she first saw him. She doesn't know why, but she hopes this tiredness of the years is just work, not why he became a father, it's selfish she knows, but who can control her feelings? She inspects his big body, he looks bigger, stronger, but she can't say for sure since he was wearing a winter coat.