Anna stopped outside the door and pulled John to a stop. She took his face gently in her hands and kissed him. Her mouth moved over his and she deepened the kiss running her hands through his hair not caring who saw. She pulled back breaking the kiss. John leaned in trying to follow her departing lips and she smiled as he opened his eyes and stared at her curiously."What was that for?" "Trying to be my knight in shining armor." "Well if I knew that was going to be my payment I would do more of it." He said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hey are you okay?" she asked smoothing her hands over his shoulders. "You look like somethings bothering you." "Nope, just some things I have to take care of.""Can I help?" "I love that you asked that," John said with a nip to her lower lip. "You constantly amaze me.""Are you sure?" "Positive, now I think there was some mention about lunch? How about the Biltmore estate?" Anna smiled and nodded as they walked away and slid ins
John kissed Anna goodbye as she dropped him back off at his car in downtown Asheville. She was preparing to leave when the phone rang. Anna couldn't help but smile as she answered the call."Well hello again, long time no speak." "What's wrong with me calling my wife?""Nothing," Anna laughed as she sat back and watched the people walk by on the sidewalk. "Couldn't wait to hear my voice huh?""Actually I wanted to thank you for lunch and tell you how happy I am that you are coming to work at my office. ""I thought you were mad about it?" Anna admitted as she played with the zipper on her purse." You were acting weird about it at lunch."John sighed into the phone and Anna could picture him leaning back in the seat as he drove. "I didn't mean to, I just have gotten so used to being the one to rescue you that I felt funny when you wanted to work away from me." "I am a big girl John." "I know, it just goes against everything in me to not help you." "I know," Anna said with a smile "A
Anna chocked on the coffee and cookie in her mouth and stared at him amazed. She had known him since high school and even though he had liked her it had never happened. Now here they sat as adults, one of them married and one about to be and he was bringing up the possibilities now?"Can't say I ever did." She said quietly as she met his gaze. "Not even once?" "Well there were times in high school that I might have wondered, but like I said things work out for a reason."Anthony reached over and put his hand on hers and squeezed her fingers. "I think that running into you today was a sign, we don't see each other in years and now we run into each other out of the blue just when I'm doubting everything with Seline, It seems like fate." "I think you are putting too much into this, it was nice to see you again, and it's always nice to catch up with an old friend.""An old friend? don't you remember when I kissed you senior year? I definitely felt something." Anna smiled as she remembe
"Anthony, what are you talking about, you sound crazy." She pushed him back and slid around to the other side of the table. "Listen, I know this is out of the blue but I've heard things, mostly from Seline. She said that some pretty ugly stuff went down at your anniversary party. Something about a huge fight." Anna's head swum as the memory of the night replayed in her mind. She'd been so hurt and so upset and she had left john initially. Then she'd lived through the worst five years of her life without him and had been murdered in her apartment. She knew what it was like to lose everything and she did not want to repeat that mistake."It was a bad fight," Anna Acknowledged as she considered all she had been through and continued to go through with Melissa, May, and Isabel. It was not going to be an easy road. "Then leave it all, I promise we can be happy if you just give us a chance." "Anthony, I want my marriage to work.""I'm not sure it can work when your husband is having an
"What if?"The thought swirled around in her head and as he walked out the door of the coffee shop. Anna hated to leave things this way but there was no other way to leave it. Yes, things had been hard with Melissa, May, and Isabel but she loved John too much to back down and walk away, no matter how many alternatives she might have."What was he thinking?" she thought to herself as threw out her coffee. "I couldn't have made myself clearer."Anna walked out of the shop and slid inside her car with her emotions swirling. She watched the people walk by on the street, enjoying the autumn air, and wondered what it would be like to have an uncomplicated normal life for once. She glanced back in her mirror and noticed a man from the coffee shop slide into the car behind her. He seemed to be looking at his phone but Anna remembered that he'd been at a table not too far away in the coffee shop. She wouldn't have noticed him except the fact that he seemed to be closely following the conversat
Anna cringed at the look in John's eyes. His eyes burned with anger as he pushed the phone toward her. "Explain this!"Anna took the phone and stared in horror at the picture on the screen. She wanted to close her eyes but couldn't look away. She saw that it was the coffee shop from today. Sickness curled around her stomach more as each second went by. "Explain this!" john yelled again and Anna jumped. "I went to get coffee at Izzy's and Anthony was there." "No, explain why you're kissing him!" John said grabbing the phone from her hand and stalking across the living room. "He kissed me!""It doesn't look like you were fighting him off Anna." "Are you kidding me? If I wanted Anthony I could have been with him years ago. Good lord, I could have him now if I wanted. The minute after this was taken I pushed him off and reminded him I was married."John paced in front of the fireplace and raked his hands through his hair. He turned to her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "I
Anna woke the next morning and stretched. The muscles in her arms and legs were sore and her body felt the lovemaking from last night. She smiled trying to push away her worries about their future. She chose to believe john when he said he would try hard to keep his emotions in check and trust her. She worried that his emotional nature would come between them if he didn't learn to control it. "Good morning Princess," John said softly, his voice sexy and gravely in the early morning light. "First day at the office.""Good morning." She replied softly as she snuggled against where he was spooned against her. John growled and rolled her over so he could kiss her. His lips caressed hers and his hands wandered to her breasts that lay bare under the sheets. Anna moaned and pulled him down on top of her so that their naked bodies were against each other. Even now she wondered at the perfect way they fit."Wow, good morning to me." John said against the shell of her ear "what an awesome way
"Wait, what?" Anna said suddenly confused but not surprised. Erin had always been sensible before and even if she did sometimes look a little too long at John, Anna had never thought she was stupid enough to believe he would want to have an affair with her. Isabel on the other hand she completely believed could convince someone of that. "Apparently Isabel told her that I was attracted to her but didn't know how to tell her." "That's bull crap! Do you think Erin is lying?"John rubbed his eyes and Anna could see the tension and exhaustion hanging around his eyes. He shrugged and put his hand on her leg. "It's possible, although Erin has been pretty straightforward before. Isabel on the other hand can be shady." Anna growled and stood beginning to pace. Isabel seemed to be at the bottom of a lot of her life problems, first, the possibility that she was behind her murder and now setting Erin up, Isabel needed to be gone. Unfortunately, Anna couldn't tell John about her time travel or h
Six months later Anna still woke up screaming. The counselor said that as time went by and with therapy that the trauma would fade. Anna stared into the mirror and could almost see the bruises that had encircled her neck for two weeks after the accident. She ran her hands over her neck and shivered as the memory of that rainy night came back to her. The times when she woke up screaming were awful but thinking about them while awake was worse. Tears began to fall slowly and she tried to shake them off. Isabel had been damaged in many ways but she was the last member of her family she had and now she was gone. Anna knew she shouldn't cry for her but found herself doing it anyway."Princess, please don't cry," John begged as he slid the door open and wrapped his arms around her. He sat behind her on the bench in front of the mirror encasing her with his body and she leaned back with a sigh."I know I shouldn't but I just can't help it when I think about it.""I'm so sorry, I wish I could
Their screams echoed on the buildings around them as they began to go over the edge. Anna mourned the loss of the life she'd wanted, the one she'd wanted so badly that she'd traveled back in time. Darkness began to swallow them as they started over the edge, but suddenly Anna was jerked back. Isabel's eyes went wide as Anna was jerked away and she lost her grip on Anna. The hand grabbing Anna's shirt was a solid link to safety and Isabel realized this as her hands slid free and she fell into darkness. Anna was pulled back and she saw John's strong hand had been the one holding her. Anna collapsed into John's arms as Isabel's screams died away into the darkness. The thud of her hitting the ground was loud despite the thunder and lightning and in that moment Anna curled into John as the horror seeped into her bones."Anna are you alright?" John panted as his arms wrapped around her as they both slid down the wall to sit in the rain. "It's you I'm worried about, seeing you laying there
"I don't have anything else to say to you, John already said it all." Isabel laughed, "Wow you are better at pretending than even I thought, how is it not killing you that John and I were in your bed together?""You weren't "Together" John explained it all and Melissa admitted it. ""Amateurs," Isabel said with a grimace as she looked at Anna and shrugged. "I should have done it myself but I needed a little help. The biggest mistake I ever made." Anna found the pulse at John's throat and breathed a sigh of relief. He still didn't stir but she'd been feeling around his head while Isabel was gloating and the large bump behind his left ear was scary beyond belief. She had to do something."No the biggest mistake you ever made was trying to come between us. John loves me and I love him. Nothing is going to change that." Isabel laughed and stood snuffing out the lighted tip of the cigarette she was smoking. "I think I can change his mind. He is so accommodating, isn't he? Allowing me t
Anna pulled away from John and stretched. She walked toward the desk and picked up the papers staring at them. "you know you don't have to do this?" She said as she turned to face him. "I know I don't, but you deserve it and I want to share everything with you, the good and the bad. I want to share all parts of our lives. I've felt like that for a while and having you come work at the company helped but I still didn't feel right.""Why didn't you tell me?""Have you seen our lives in the last few months?""I know right?" Anna laughed as she put the paper down. "It was like the universe was against us."John came and put his arms back around her and pulled her to his chest tucking her under his chin. "We have too much going for us to waste time worrying about the universe. ""How do you do that?" "What?""Make it all sound so logical.""I have to because how else am I going to convince you to stay with me." "I already said I would stay." "But what if you change your mind? All I can
Anna turned the corner and bumped into John. She'd agreed to come to the office to talk but she hadn't expected him to come out of nowhere. It had been two days since the airport and she wasn't any closer to deciding what to do. She'd had nightmares about it the last two nights and couldn't focus on anything. John had called and asked her to meet him at work and she'd agreed because she needed to move forward somehow. "Anna it's so good to see you." His hand reached out for hers but she pulled back. John flinched, never realizing how much a simple gesture could hurt. He wanted to hold her, to make her believe in him and his love with nothing more than the strength of his love but he knew she wasn't ready for that. "Is it?" She asked looking anywhere but at him. "Anna if you will just listen I know we can make it through this. Look at all the crazy we have dealt with so far." Anna nodded knowing that he was right, but she just couldn't shut up that nasty little voice inside her own
John walked slowly inside, trying to keep himself from hitting them. He wanted more than anything to hit them all. All three of them had worked hard to ruin his life and he was holding onto his temper by a thread. He sat down and leaned forward putting his hands on his knees. He rubbed his eyes with his hands hoping that he had the strength not to act on the anger burning inside him "Why are you here? Was I not clear when I told you to stay away from me and Anna?"Melissa sniffed, "I knew you were not serious. So I let myself in." "Mother, you are not listening! Get it through your privileged head, I want you to stay out of my life. You have probably ruined any chance I have with Anna."Melissa looked at him in shock. "You were serious? I thought you were just angry, I know how you get.""Let me set you straight once and for all. I love Anna, I would give up anything and anyone for her. You three harpies are like a plague on my life. I want you out of it.""John, why are you being s
John's face fell as she spoke. Anna wanted to reassure him it would all be alright but she wasn't sure it would be. She was so tired of fighting what now felt like fate. She just couldn't figure out why she'd been given another chance if this is how it was going to end. "Please stay a few days, at least let's talk it through." He begged, unashamed."Will it make a difference John?" Anna asked as she wiped tears from her eyes. "It's as if the universe is conspiring against us." " I never took you for the type to give up so easily.""Easy? Do you think this is easy? I feel like my insides are being torn out.""I know," he said softly putting calming hands toward her "I just want you to fight for us.""I've been fighting for us since the day we met and I'm tired, John.""So you're just going to get on a plane and disappear?" "Are you going to grab me again if I try?"If I have to."Anna smiled at that but sighed and turned fully toward him. "I guess I could give it a few days, but I ca
Melissa paced, her heels clicking on the neutral linoleum on the floor. She viciously rubbed her arms wrinkling the expensive fabric of her shirt but she didn't seem to notice. "I'm not sure what you want me to say.""How about the truth?" I know it is a foreign concept to you but I really need you to tell her.""John is there any need? Why don't you let her go, you have Isabel now.""Mother! " John screamed "stop it, I don't "Have" Isabel, tell her the truth!" His hand slammed his hand down on the small table and it jumped and almost toppled. Melissa turned and looked at John in shock. "How dare you talk to me like that?""Easy!" John shouted, "I refuse to let your lies end the most important thing in my life."Melissa gasped as the anger in John's voice vibrated around the room. "Fine," She said in a huff as she turned to face Anna. "John doesn't "Have" Isabel." "What does that mean exactly?" Anna said as she stood and stepped toward Melissa. "Well, It means that John and Isabel
Anna sat nervously at the gate, she'd told Bess she didn't want anyone to wait with her but now she was regretting that decision. She stood and walked over to the window watching the plains taking off and landing and felt more hopeless than ever. She had grown to love Asheville in the time she'd lived here. Even before the original timeline, she grew to love it. Now watching the skyline from the wall of windows at the airport it was as if the skyline of the city was waving goodbye. Her heart ached but she turned away. They called boarding and Anna grabbed her bag and went to wait in line. She kept her head down wanting to shut the world out. She kept to herself and didn't' talk to anyone because right now she didn't want to interact with anyone. Anna felt like she was stuck in her own world and she liked it. Heartbreak was a good companion when your world was falling apart. Anna was about to hand her ticket in when she heard her name being called."Anna!" "Anna wait!" the voice screa