SARAH

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With a deep sigh, she picked up the carton box and started walking out of the cabin defying her heart's urge to take that one last thing that belonged to her. A memory that was too painful to hold up anymore.

"You sure you grabbed everything, Sarah?" Nathan's deep voice resonated from the back, making her halt.

She forcefully shut her eyes. This was the voice she was trying to avoid for today or to say, forever. At least that was her plan.

'One last time', she thought to herself and turned back with her eyes cast down.

"I thought you weren't coming back till Wednesday," she made a desultory attempt at conversation.

"So did I, until I got to know that you were leaving," his voice held an edge.

"I assume you wanted to say goodbye then?"

"I won't fuckin' cut short my honeymoon and come back here just to say goodbye to you and you know that." Her eyes unwillingly lingered on the ring on his finger.

"I don't think I know you anymore", was on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back 'cause she knew. She knew him better than anyone.

"I thought we were good. You said we were good then what fuck is this, huh?" He pointed to the box in her hand.

"I got transferred." Her calm face belied the anxiety bubbling up her chest.

"You asked for a transfer," he deadpanned.

"Well, I got it in the end anyway, so same thing." She shrugged dismissively.

"Why?" The agony in his voice eventually made her look at the prepossessing sight of him.

Brown hair curled at the corners, black eyes glaring at her, thick eyebrows pulled together in a frown, tensed jaw, grown stubble; giving him a rugged masculine impression and thin pink lips. She cringed over the knowledge that he still made her heart skip a beat.

He was wearing navy blue pants and a white shirt, with the first two buttons undone, complimenting his tan skin. He had a watch on his right wrist that he got from his dad before he passed away, and in his left hand was the photograph; the memory she was running from.

They both stared at each other, the silence disseminating the resentment and melancholy between them.

She placed the box over the table and walked toward him still keeping a good distance apart, afraid that the propinquity might let lead her into temptation; the temptation to run her fingers in his hair, to feel his lips on hers.

"Will you judge me if I tell you the truth?"

"Never." Her heart clenched at his sincerity.

Sarah needed to let it out though it was going to tear her asunder. She wiped her hands on the sides of her jeans, suddenly finding them sweaty.

"This is gonna be a long talk. You got the time?"

"Of course I do, anyway, I'm not the one who asked for a transfer and remained confidential about it; especially, from my best friend," he snapped.

Okay, ouch.

She ran a hand in her hair. "Be patient and hear me out." He slightly nodded.

"I grew up with you. I saw you, as a boy with dreams gleaming in your eyes to becoming a man you always dreamt of." For a moment, the clouds of sorrow in her eyes subsided with a glint of pride.

Nathan Eric Forbes; is one of the best homicide detective lieutenants the department could ever ask for.

"I saw your vulnerability when your father passed away when you were only fourteen. I saw your strength when you took responsibility for your family at that young age. I saw you brushing your mother's tears; to hiding your own from her. I saw you smile even when you were tearing apart from inside." She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat when she saw the unshed tears in his eyes.