A Piece Of Me

Chapter 50 "The Kiss : Part One"

Long chapter ahead... :)

Luke

  "I'm so sorry baby." 

"I love you!''

"You made me the happiest woman Luke!" 

"I, Rhel Cassandra Forbes, give you Luke Lacela this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love. 

"I'm afraid I...I c-can't keep my promise...'' 

"I'll always l-love you, L-Luke...''    

My eyes snapped open and found myself breathing heavily like I ran a marathon. My shirt was soaked with sweat and I could hear my heart beating wildly against my chest. Shutting my eyes tightly, I took deep long breaths to calm myself down. Glancing at the clock on my bedside table, I lifted myself out of the bed and headed towards the bathroom to wash my face. It was still 05:00 am, too early to get up but thinking about that dream or nightmare, I didn't think I could get back to sleep. A morning run was a good idea to clear my head, I thought.

Blowing a puff of air, I started my morning run without a specific destination in mind. I just wanted to calm my nerves and a change of scenery would be helpful. The morning was cold as usual but I didn't mind it as I was used to it by now. Dry leaves crunched against my shoes as I ran further deep into the forest. 

Everytime I dreamed about Rhel, it always weighed me down as her death has become part of those dreams. It was unbearable at first. I often woke up in the middle of the night, dreaming about her, our happy memories together but the dreams always ended up with her death. With that, I often found myself screaming, smashing things up while crying. It was so hard and I thought that I would be feeling it until I couldn't take it anymore. 

I still couldn't fully accept that she was gone. But thinking about what Tom said, I tried hard everyday to move on and live the life she possibly wanted me to. I still felt the pain and loneliness but everything has become bearable as time passed.

Dragging my feet for several big steps, I slowed my pace and leaned on the big trunk of a tree. I looked around and realized I hadn't gotten that far from the cabin. Looking at my watch, I took deep breaths before running back to where I came from. On the way, I felt more relaxed and calmer as expected. 

Ten minutes after, I reached the lake near my cabin. I let myself calmed down before taking off my clothes and jumped onto the water. I shivered as soon as the water hit my body. It was cold but that just what I needed after my morning run. I stayed on the water for a couple of minutes, until the sun had risen before heading back to the cabin.

The day was dull as usual. I made few calls to certain people and checked everything for dinner later. Frankly, I was getting nervous just thinking about dinner. I knew it wasn't something romantic, but the thought of seeing Claire was enough to get my heart palpitate. It wasn't just she was a perfect semblance of my wife, but I had no idea what was she like. I hadn't met a woman who was like me before I met Rhel, a player.  

Sparing one last glance at the mirror, I nodded in contentment before going out of the cabin and got inside my car. It took me an hour to reach Lure which I was grateful since I wanted to sort out my thoughts before seeing Claire. It was still 05:30 in the afternoon, I could use some drinking to calm my nerves as I was nervous as hell. 

Why would I be nervous in the first place? I asked myself that question for several times but I didn't really know why. It wasn't like this was my first time having dinner with a woman but then why?