Chapter 5

It’s been two weeks since that crazy day. Candice has been keeping off her leg so I have been taking care of her. It’s seriously so surprising to me how we have come into each other’s lives, caring for one another in a way that would usually happen over time. I feel like once you have witnessed this side of a person, it’s generally hard to leave them or let them go.

We will set off for Russia in the morning. I would have gone to Russia in any case, but only later as per my original plan. I have always wanted to go, and it seems like now is a perfect time. I just need a bucket load of good right now to balance out the bad. Candice was a little skeptical about the decision because according to her, it’s just not a place you would go to for a vacation. I strongly disagree, everything about it is spectacular and wonderful. I had to buy a new phone, for obvious reasons, and upon setting it up, received a phone call from an unknown caller again. This time I made sure to not put it against my ear, and that was a good choice because even from the table I heard the screeching noise. I ended the call immediately and put it away, not knowing how they (whoever they are) could be calling me again since I had a different number now.

It's movie night with Candice, yes we already have a movie night together. She wants to watch a horror, but after everything that I have been through, I would much rather watch a comedy or a rom-com. Knowing her, she will get what she wants because that is just something that happens. It’s not that she’s demanding or anything, she just has a way of getting me to buckle, and I love it.

Lying in bed with her feels like heaven, I haven’t pursued her yet because I am letting her heal and want her to be 100% when I make her mine. This attraction is way different from the one I had for Mrs. Jones, and yet somewhat similar to a degree. With Candice, it’s less intense and feels right, whereas with Mrs. Jones it felt forced and nowhere near to feeling right.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know is that it’s morning and that we need to get a move on so that we don’t miss our flight. Candice was in the shower. I didn’t want her to do a lot, so I packed both our bags and made her some coffee. I jumped into the shower once she was done and after we finished all the pre-flight preparations, we raced like a jet to the airport.

We made it to the airport just in time to be called onto the plane, luckily we woke up when we did. On the plane, Candice and I decided to get to know one another a bit more seeing as we had all this time to kill and no TV screen. I have no problem with this, of course, I really want to know every single thing about this divine woman. She started out by asking, “What are your parents like?”, this was a rather difficult question to answer but I answered anyway, “My mother died when I was just a baby due to complications after giving birth to me, and my father died in a mysterious car accident shortly after. So I am not completely sure what they are like.” Earlier I said that my mother would know how to handle situations. I know this not because I went through it but because I have a bunch of letters from her that she wrote while pregnant with me, almost as though she knew she wouldn’t be able to tell me personally.

Candice has this look on her face that I had seen on many other people after they had heard my story. I didn’t like it, and I thought I couldn’t dislike anything about her. “I am so sorry”, she said. To shift the focus off of me and that, I asked, “What about your parents?”, she looked out of the window woefully and said, “My parents are alive, but they didn’t want me. They gave me up when I was 5 years old because I didn’t fit their idea of what a child should be like.” Her voice sounds so blue and lonely. I reached for her hand to comfort her but she pulled away and explained, “If you comfort me like that I will just burst into tears and I really don’t want that”, I nodded to say I understand and thought of a new question.

All I could come up with was, “Have you ever loved another person so much that it consumed you?” The question startled her but she solemnly looked down at her lap and replied with a single word, “Yes”, so quiet I almost missed it. I had a feeling that I shouldn’t press the matter but I did anyway because it’s the only way that we could truly get to know one another, right?

“Would you care to elaborate on that, or is it too sensitive a topic?”, I asked. She looked up at me and said, “It is a sensitive matter, but I feel like I can talk to you about anything. He was a soldier and we got along so well, maybe too well, because we never fought about anything. I think that was probably because of the fact that he fought so much in the war, he didn’t want to come home and fight some more. My heart, at the time, only beat for him. So when some people showed up at my door one day and told me the news that shattered my whole world, I almost died myself. Loving him consumed me, and I have only just gotten back to myself again.”

What do you even say to that? I felt an overwhelming urge to just hold her and never let go. We were both damaged goods and yet we are both still standing.  “You amaze me, Candice. Everything about you is beautiful to me and I would like to be your person if you would let me. No obligation is necessary. I just want us to be there for each other whenever we need it.” I said this with a shaking voice because of my inability to really say what I want to say without messing it up. She smiled and said, “Jebidiah I would like that very much”

Then the plane fell…

To be continued.