After the dark of sadness comes the glory of happiness!

A bump and an agreement!

Taylor sat on her patio relaxing and listening to music. Her thoughts returned to the brief encounter with Ridge. Now with a little distance, she wondered if she had overreacted a little bit and had been too harsh with him, but the situation completely overwhelmed her and actually, it had been a great feeling to finally give him a piece of her mind. She had called Thomas and Steffy and they had confirmed, her father had had no clue about her whereabouts. They had also told her the idea with the store had come from Eric and Ridge had accepted the offer to get some distance after the separation from Brooke. The two of them had explained to her, they hadn't told either of them that the other lived in town, because they had decided to stay out of it for good and just let things take their course. Taylor could understand her children's point of view, but a little warning would have been fine, even if it wouldn't have changed the current situation. She tried to come to terms with the idea of living in the same town as Ridge for the next few months. No matter what his ideas were, she was not going to be his shoulder to cry on. Those days were over once and for all.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. Taylor was surprised at first, because she wasn't expecting any visitors, but since it was the front door, it must have been someone she knew. Probably it was just Susan who wanted to drop by for a cozy chat. Elated, Taylor opened the door, but when she saw who was standing there, she froze again.

"Ridge?! I can't believe it! Are you starting to turn into a stalker now and how did you even get in here? The building is under surveillance at night."
Furious, Taylor glared at him. Immediately she wanted to slam the door, but Ridge, who had expected this reaction, held the door with his foot.
"Well let's just say I told the security guy a heartwarming story and pretended to be your husband. I showed him an old wedding picture of us, I still had in my wallet."
"WHAT and he fell for that??? Oh that guy is going to be in big trouble!"
Taylor wanted to pick up the house phone to complain, but Ridge stopped her.
"Give the poor man a break, put your anger on me if you must let it out, but you also could be happy to see me and do me the favor of listening to me for five minutes."
"Why should I grant you that wish? Are you respecting my wishes?! I asked you to leave me alone and what do you do?! Again you were following me."

She made a new attempt to slam the door, but Ridge intervened again. By now his temper was gone. Emotionally he let out all his frustration.
"Now listen to me! You just disappeared overnight without talking to anyone. I don't know if you can even imagine what a shock that was for Thomas and Steffy or for me and the rest of the family. You just decided for yourself to start a new life and we all had to deal with it, whether we wanted to or not! You just decided to reject any contact, you didn't even want anyone to know where you even live. And although it was damn hard and really not easy for me, I respected your decision. Even when you didn't find it a necessity to spend Christmas with your own children for whatever reason. The fact is, for more than half a year now we've all been playing by your rules until today. I think enough time has passed, for you to come around and I don't mean it's too much to ask that we turn the tables now."

Taylor was touched by his violent outburst, she had to admit, he had a point with what he said, but she didn't want to give in that easily.
"I don't owe you anything, we're not married. I'm warning you, I'm going to count to three and then you're out of here!"
Ridge glared at her firmly and didn't move an inch.
"One!" Ridge continued to grin at her impassively.
"Two!" Ridge takes a small step forward.
"Three!"

Taylor was about to close the door, at the same moment Ridge was about to push past her, but she was a tiny moment faster so Ridge got the door with full force against his head. He cried out in pain and staggered back. Taylor could hear him cursing through the closed door. A little worried, she looked through the peephole. She saw Ridge holding his forehead with both hands and moaning. A little sympathy stirred in her, she had wanted to get rid of him but not to hurt him. Sheepish, she opened the door and rushed to him.