what happened in a small town

part four

She knows why she’s here, but she doesn’t know what to do at this strange moment.
She knew he was not going away, so she did without saying anything, without notice or one last chance after fifty-five last chances, so the last thing she could do for him was not show up in front of him from no were and throw all the pain and confusion and failure in his face and expects that he will open his arms to hug her as if it were just a normal altercation between two lovers.
Her feet were nailed to the ground, and she could not move even with the gaze of the passers-by around her, she looked like a surplus Mannequin from a large store, they threw it outside and no one bothered to find a place for it, so they left it to the eyes of the passers-by.

She felt the sweat gathering over the pores of her skin, the sun-centered over her head as a star of a dramatic scene on a stage of half-talented people for clichés plays full of scenes of screaming, crying, and confessions of betrayal.  She thought she was still sleeping in her aunt’s house, perhaps if she closed her eyes and opened them she would find the walls of her room pale in color, but with the twinkling of a foolish eye she saw him closer, she could not see his eyes because his black sunglasses blocked her and a deaf face seemed unmoved!

Behind him comes a young woman close to his age, wearing a narrow white skirt and blue silk shirt not suits a place, carrying a tablet and a few files, ending side conversations with some people  and raising her face to stand near him.
Her eyes met her and she focused for a second and she knew her, “Rita”, Harry's colleague mate and the girlfriend of his close friend, a double-dating companion that can't even be counted, She caught a glimpse of her awareness in a sidelong glance toward the impassive face, a tense hint of stillness amid the excessive movement of a farmers market in the corner of a small town resembling the suburb of a drama series from the beginning of the millennium. this scene that is about to occur is the main event at the end of an episode that is suitable for the beginning of the next, and its vulgarity is enough to leave the audience in a state of waiting.

But she did not do anything, she did not move towards her, cut her smile before it was completed, she remained beside him as if Like she was waiting for his reaction to determine hers, her movements beside him were official, not social, and he is solid like a mountain in the middle of place did not belong in, and she is a  small weak berry that will be mashed by the feet and not pay attention.
With a slow shot she saw him moving and behind him Rita in a mechanism that sent cold chills in her body despite the heat of August, he moved by her side and overtook it as if it didn't exist, or worse, her existence did not mean anything.
“Harry." She mumbled his name and was finally freed from freezing, the noise and movement and the beginning of The heat broke into her, turning her head toward him with a look hanging among many emotions.
Half a sigh ran away from him, but he stopped. "Marla."

She saw herself in the reflection of his glasses and she wanted to escape from seeing herself, her reflection looked distorted in her eyes, and she used ridicule as a weapon. "Good, you still remember me."
“Four years is not that long time."
Her eyebrows rose ridiculously to herself, feeling like a decade passed, shaking her shoulders. "If you say so."
In the early days of love, the hour was a year, and the day was twenty years, but now doesn't matter, the time become Just a clock scorpions spin and spin endlessly.
“I can't believe you're here, welcome back." Rita intervenes with a completely plastic smile, trying to do anything normal in a completely unnatural conversation.
“Thanks, Rita, it's nice to see you after all this time." She smiled and raised her eyes toward her. "How are you, and Jimmy?"
“I'm fine, me and Jimmy got married, and then divorced me and left town with some girl who came with her family on vacation and they hooked up together." Her widening smile seemed scary, a high probability that she lost her mind.
“Oh, I wasn’t... I'm sorry."  She was confused and stuttered and the conversation turned into something more bizarre and awkward.
“You can come back with Rofs to the office and I will come later."
She nodded and then gave Marla another crazy smile and left, her gaze followed her for a second, and then looked at him. "So Jimmy divorced her and left, and now she's working with you?"
“She's my assistant."
“You are always good to your friends but she looks like she needs therapy, not a job."
She regretted saying that, she didn’t know what she was cheering about, she glimpsed a sarcastic curvature over his mouth before falling into his ordinary cold words. “Sois this visit to the small city long or short?"
She blinked her eyes with tension and shook her head with turmoil, but her attitude was frank. "At this point, I don’t know anything, but I don’t plan to go somewhere soon."
He lifted his glasses over his hair and his eyes blinded her, the bright, laughing honey color was darkened by a manly maturity that shook her, an earthquake by attraction that grew with anger, roughness, and pain.  He took a step back and failed the in stare test, and his tone did not give up on ridicule but was riddled with anger. “You plan to stay here for a long time in this small city, dream killer, devoid of opportunities and life."
She is not stupid and did not think that he would meet her with cuddling and leniency as if she had not left and cut all avenues, but that did not prepare her to face him.

“Well, I am... Only..." What would she say?  Is this a good place to tell the story of her failure, insult, and humiliation, and how she succeeded in being a sex doll of an animal in human form, shook her head, and received a nicer answer? "I think I missed things here."
“How easy to say this." He crowed and raised his eyebrow in unbelief.
The people who were passing around seemed curious to reveal what was happening, suddenly he turned around and walked, she not believing what he had done ran after him with agitation and did not call him until he came out of the market from another side than the one she came from.  Stopping in front of a dazzling black car, Harry comes from a very wealthy family, one of the city's founders but never used to not being impressed.
“what's your problem?”
Turned violently toward her. "My problem?  Me?"
“Yes, you." She said like she was crying like a child. "You walked beside me as if you didn’t know me,  mocking and shouting, and you didn’t even say hello to me."
“Really! Is that all your problem now?" She was the only one who could light him with just words.
She was confused for a second before exclaiming stubbornly. "Yes, that's my problem."
Cut the centimeters between them obstinate and saying In a low whisper. "Hi, Marla."
“, Hi Harry." She repeated and her eyes tangled with his, she felt dehydrated, weak, stressed, sad, and longed.
“Can I back now to rage and shout because you left without saying anything, disappeared for four years, and then decided to appear as if nothing had happened?”
They both seemed to be trying to resist stress, she shouldn’t have come, she shouldn’t have let her mind manipulate her, this moment is a mistake.
Harry was always clear and simple, he had no psychological issues or a black past, he was loved and raised in an ordinary rich family whose members did not seek any disgraceful acts or were very good at hiding it, nothing to repair or build it, so he is really angry. the surprise bothered him because it confused him.
"Give me a break today, please." Her eyes are running away from his, she has nothing to say at the moment.
He looked like he was going to overthrow her, but his shoulders were relaxed, and a quiet smile appeared amid the rage. "You are right." Her eyes narrowed with a Confusion look, and he gave her an explanation. "It’s been four years without knowing anything about you, and the truth is I’m glad you showed up and you’re okay."
“I wish I was okay." She approaches again whispering with a sarcastic smile, turning to a gentler smile with her head leaning up to look at his face. "Now you look like the same Harry, oh my God I was so scared because I started to feel like I didn't know you."
"I wish it was real." He nodded like her.
The encounter was more jarring than she could bear, she did not think about how it affected him because if she was terrified she would not leave, the only way she put everything behind and left was simply not to think about the impact of what she had done, the butterfly effect is not seen when it would happen.
"Sorry for the interrupt." They both paid attention to the sound coming from behind, a man in his fifth decade, his eyes uncomfortable to her, his body thin, wearing pale jeans and a shirt that leaves his three buttons open. "We are about to pick up the first sample of the glass farm, are you free to join us, Mr. Edward?"
Harry gave him a gesture that could hardly be seen and then looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "Would you like to join?" The words came out without him thinking, he was not ready to leave her yet.
She got nervous but knew the answer, shook her head as she turned between him and the uncomfortable man behind her, pointed to him, and then moved to the door next to the driver to open it, pointing to her with a look, she exhaled in turmoil and moved into the car, and she had no idea what she was doing.
**

The trip was short and silent, devoid of speech, music, and even breathing, both of them regretted the idea After pronouncing it and the more minutes passed, both felt more remorse.
He stopped the car and came out and she followed him up to a huge rectangular building with a medium roof, barely seeing the end of it, a few workers and farmers moving around, Harry joined them and Engaged in serious business talk, so she felt free to look at him.
He changed no matter how hard to admit this, a small stupid part of her wished everything remained the same, but it was a desperate and stupid wish, his body stronger, his sharp muscles bulging through his blue shirt, The gym was the perfect place for good men to vent their anger, despair and time, His eyes heated up and kindness hid in the corners. he has become a serious businessman, every word of which is non-negotiable, a man who has someone to fear as he had someone to love and appreciate.
He turned toward her suddenly, his eyes caught her staring and she quickly lowered them. "Are you bored?"

“No, at all, just the heat." She said with a tense smile.
“I know a nicer place to stay away from the sun." He pointed his head to follow him with a fading smile.
He turned around the front of the glass farm, behind it there are wooden stalls overlooking an empty stretch of land, came into one and she followed him, the inside was small and contained only boxes bearing the company's logo, but the ventilation was cold and good to protect from the heat.
She sat on a pile of empty wooden boxes, and motioned her feet over the air silently, sighing as she watched him pick up a cold water bottle to open and look at her.
“This is a comfortable vacuum for nerves." She points to the empty ground outside.
“I love this land." He Follows her gaze and look outside. "I actually own it, but I haven't decided yet what to do with it."
He passed her the open water bottle, and she picked her up drinking cold water to clear her dry throat, murmuring with a question. "Do you own this farm too?"

"One of many." He answered and left his eyes free to look at her too. "I don’t go to the farms anymore and all these things."
“I know, you are running an empire now." She interrupted him.
“Yes, I do." He didn’t fall for her jokes But he prevented his smile from slipping . "But this is special because I try to grow things out of season and out of place." Click one of the filled and covered boxes. "And I succeeded."

“You succeeded in everything." She acknowledged in a muted tone.
Yeah I did, I kept the business and grew it up, I merged companies for the family foundation." Exhale and leaned on several boxes next to her looking for the vast emptiness outside. "I have entered several different areas of work besides agriculture, manufacturing and export, technology and communications, real estate, cars, strocks, and factories to manufacture different things, and now I am thinking about publishing and media."
He recounted his forays in the labor market as if he were telling her that he did not retreat under the umbrella of his family’s work alone. He admits that he did not lay the starting stone, but every subsequent stone belonged to him and he built it of his diligence and intelligence.
"That's impressive and terrifying." She looked away after she drank half a bottle of water.
“Yes, after all, this is not a small town that kills ambition and success." He mocked her words, her excuse for impatience.
“Not for you." She accepted his sarcasm, part of her deserved it, she confirmed his victory in a war that has become a pale old history that no one is tempted to look into.
“And what did you do?" He asked her politely, but he was putting what he had achieved before what she had achieved, she is the one chose to leave and sacrifice.
“I became a big and miserable failure." She gave him what he wanted, seeing her body parts after a battle in which she entered and lost, a terrible loss she will never forget. "I have lost."
She breathed sharply, turned her eyes with a sideways look at him, gathered her broken courage, and walked over the broken pieces of glass with bleeding wounds because he deserved an apology. "I'm sorry." Her words and her eyes were dead in pain, she shook her head mocking herself. "I know that this is not enough, it doesn’t make sense, that I did something bad without thinking about its impact on anyone, and you were right that I was immersed in an idea of myself and saw nothing else." She swallowed her saliva and felt tears burning her eyes, but she was not liberated, she was the harshest and most bad critic of herself. "I made the wrong and stupid choice, and I took it to the end because I deserved it."
He looked at her and then looked back at the void, his heart beating madly in his chest, he didn’t know what he was thinking, he wanted to put her in his arms, and at the same time he wanted to hurt her to feel what he felt, she made him mad, the effect of her being here alone made him go mad.
He moved from his stand, walked toward the door, gave her his back, and heard her silent sharp breath, her next weak words. "Do you want to know what happened?"
His shoulders tighten, his eyes close, and exhales, shaking his head refusing. "It’s not fair Marla, you leave without a word and disappear without explanation, then when you want to come back you're ready to talk."

He turned around looking at her, her nose red after a muffled cry, her head shaken her lips formed meaningless letters, her eyes tied to him but he could not do anything, he shook his head by refusing to. "But I'm not ready to talk to Marla." He stretches his lips, moves his shoulders, and goes to the pain hidden behind the anger. "And I'm not sure if I want to."
She shook her head, claiming to understand, she came down from the boxes and put a runaway strand behind her ear. "Yes, I understand, you are right, this is a stupid question from me, I'm sorry."
She moved outside when he decided to leave the narrow place as if he was cutting off a real moment because he didn’t know how to deal with it.
The things in his mind are superimposed, first: He did not bring them here because of what was between them; secondly, he cares about her; third, he is incapable of not caring about her.
Every muscle and vein in his body cares, wishes he didn’t, it would have been easy to give a passing greeting and leave, but he could not, when he turned around and his eyes fell over her like a rock on a stove, all its elements caught, a rock that she is the only one capable of turning it into a liquid state.

"I have to go." Her words were ascribed with a choking voice, feelings running to escape the void he had. "It was a stupid thing to come near here knowing there was a chance to see you."
"Did you come to see me?" The question escaped from him without control in a situation out of control.
"I shouldn't have said that." Barely hearing the choking words, she looked left to a point that did not exist and tried to keep whatever was left in between. "My aunt, as usual, has given me a hard time, I am not ready for Joan yet, there is not really anything or person in my life right now, and all I was thinking on the train was that I wanted to see you and talk to you." Her eyes flashed with tears, and the embarrassment ate her until she gnawed at her bones. "I swear I just wanted to talk, and I know it’s no longer my right, it’s stupid and unfair to you, but I couldn’t stop myself and I’m sorry."
He is maybe a rock, but it is about to be completely smashed by the shock of her weakness and pain, blowing the air sharply and his chest rises and falls as it comes back from a long run, and in a flash move he pulls it towards his arms.

She left herself in need and wrapped his shirt with salty and sharp tears without a sound, She listened to the sound of his breathing, and his words soothed her
"I'm sorry."
"You are not the one who is supposed to be sorry." She murmured in his chest, holding on to his shirt as a child who fears losing her father at a frightening festival.
"But I'm sorry." He buried his nose in her hair, the smell of a nice peach that filled his nose, the smell of which was always fragrant and intoxicating, between a flower and a grain of fruit since she was a child, murmur in her hair strands. "Seeing you in this situation is painful." She raised her head toward him, her brown eyes glowed with tears, and the sun and the sky helped him look charming. "You are the only one who can hurt me like that."
Her mind didn’t give her a response, she didn’t have a response every time he said that, but at this moment she didn’t know if it was good or bad.
He moved away from her when he felt a move coming toward them, the uncomfortable man appeared and did not know why, began talking to him, throwing glances that did not comfort her.
She looked at the time on an old watch in her hand, three hours passed and she felt completely depleted, she waited until the uncomfortable man finished and left.

Minutes later he came back with another bottle of water and wet paper towels in his hand, and she shook her head as she let her face and drink and her temper tantrum.
"I'm late and I have to go."
She uttered slowly looked and walked toward the car; if she had the energy, she would have walked to her aunt’s house but she had none.
The return trip was alarmingly quiet, both avoided looking at each other, and the narrow space did not allow them to escape, so when he stopped in front of her aunt’s house, she quickly reloaded with a silly thanks and quickly disappeared behind the Pale Yellow Wall.
She is The love that made him lose himself who knows, and has gained another that he cannot recognize.
**