Skipping Stones - COMPLETE

Chapter 20

SCURRYING THROUGH THE back door, my body freezes in its tracks the moment our eyes meet. He's sitting on the couch facing the door. He jumps up, but then hesitates. Probably after he saw the look on my face. My eyes blink. Is this real, or is this my mind playing tricks on me? Am I dreaming on the plane or am I really here? "What are you doing here?" Wasting no time before drilling into him.

He swallows. "I came back for you."

My eyes bulge. "For me?" I ask incredulously.

He nods. "Thank God you're okay. You are okay, aren't you?" he asks.

Those eyes. Those beautiful chocolate eyes. All of these years later, it's like I can see my own soul looking into them. There is no mistaking them. Taking a deep breath, realizing that I could never forget them. It makes me angry. So angry. Unless he's just a figment of my imagination. "You're really here?" I question him as he starts to make his way closer to me, smiling that dazzling smile that has never changed. He looks exactly like he did before, he's just finally grown into a man. "It was you, wasn't it...in Afghanistan?"

His head bobs up and down. "Yeah, it was me."

Reaching my hand out in protest because this is all too much, I warn him, "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't do this right now." Dropping my bag, I continue. "I can't do this with you right now." I'm trying to be strong, but it's so hard. I don't want my chin to quiver. I don't want my eyes to pool with tears, but my body is betraying me.

He doesn't move, he's frozen in place in my living room. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've prayed for this scenario. Here he is, in my house, but today of all days? He hangs his head a little low and gives me a look that nearly makes me melt. "Please let me explain," he pleads.

I throw my hands up in frustration. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever. Start here. How come no one knew who you were? You were with T737. You were there when we got hit, yet when I woke up no one knew a Drew Foster?"

He closes his eyes for a moment, and I see his fists clench by his sides. When he opens them, the look on his face is intense. It's a look that I've never seen before. He's different. He should be, though. I barely knew him all those years ago. I can't possibly know him now. He calmly speaks, "That's because my name is Stone Wilder."

Just when I didn't think my life could get any worse, he tells me I didn't even know his name! My first love, all of this Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD crap is just what I thought it was. He was real, and I did see him. I lost my job for nothing, have spent weeks in rehab for a condition I was adamant I didn't have. He's made me question my own sanity, my ability to do my job. I can feel my face reddening; my blood starting to boil as it gushes through my veins. I narrow my eyes. "Your name is what?"

"Stone Wilder is my legal name," he nods.

"Get out," I shout as I point to the door. He stares me down. I think I know his looks, but in this moment it occurs to me that I know nothing, and I mean zero about this stranger standing in my living room. "I. Said. Get. Out."

His eyelids droop, and I can see the disappointment. For a moment I feel terrible, but I can't. How dare he do this to me right now? He knows how much Papa meant to me. How could he come back now and spring this information on me now of all times?

He runs his hands through his hair. "Okay." When he gets to my side to leave, he hesitates before he leans in and kisses my forehead. "I'm sorry for your loss, but you aren't getting rid of me that easily or quickly this time."

"I didn't get rid of you either of the two times before. You seem to be really great at skipping out, Stone," I growl. My body is telling me one thing, and my mind is telling me another. It would be so easy to fall into his arms. He helped me through the most difficult time in my life, and it'd be easy to think he could support me through the second most difficult. Yeah, if only he had not lied to me and been my third and fourth most difficult losses.