The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else

PART 4. Fantasia - Chapter 22. Four Days Alone Together

“Terry where are we going?” Candy asks. Terry is driving along north. He smiles, but remains tightlipped.

Candy is worried. They’ve been driving for an hour and she has no idea where he is taking her.

“We’re going too far now. I never said I’m leaving South Haven.”

“But I thought you want to elope with me,” Terry said, laughing.

“I never said that!” Candy exclaims. “Terry I think we’re going too far. Let’s go back.”

“Go back? No way!” Terry refuses. “You said What’s-His-Name is out of town. So.” Terry slows down the car and looks at her. “I’m going to have you spend every minute with me until he returns. You’re only giving me four days until he gets back. I don’t want to share you with anyone else the next four days.”

“But I’m the only one left at the Clinic!” Candy cries out loud. “What if someone is sick and needs help?”

“I said I’m not sharing.” Terry says. His voice determined. “There’s a hospital in South Haven. Relax!

It’ll be fine!”

Candy looks at the road in front of her. She feels awful about what she’s doing. She is already being reckless coming to see Terry instead of minding the Happy Clinic while Aaron’s gone. And now, Terry is taking her to some place unknown, and God only knows how far.

Not to mention the guilt she feels about being with Terry. And Aaron not knowing what’s going on.

Terry glances over at Candy. He does not want her to be upset.

“I just want to be alone with you Candy,” he says. “Go someplace where we can just be alone, without having to think about any other people.”

Candy sighs.

Yesterday, she had tried to tell Terry that she decided to stay with Aaron. But she did not and instead she is now having a full fledge affair with him. She and Terry both lost so much for what they gave up. She wants to take it all back. Just for a little while.

Just for a few days, till Aaron returns. She told Terry. I will come every day to see you. We will give each other what we couldn’t ten years ago.

Even if for just a few days, Candy wants to have what she went to New York for but never got – to be with Terry, without any obstacles of school Sisters or hospital administrators and duties getting into their way. Maybe it’s a betrayal to Aaron. But not exactly. She just wants to go back in time and find what she lost a long time ago. Like a piece of lost belonging, to pick it up so she can keep it safe in her chest of memories, before she takes her final vows with him.

And what happens after that? Terry had asked her.

Candy didn’t answer.

She tells herself that she wants just the next four days with him. No one needs to know. Aaron and Mrs. Haley will never need to know. And she will still be keeping her promise to Cecilia.

Just four more days.