Be With Me

Chapter 48

"I would do anything for you." He replied.

Soon they left in James's car. The radio wasn't playing, and they didn't talk to each other either. There was complete silence inside the car. James was concentrated on the road. It was the first time in two weeks that he was out of the house, so everything was very strange to him as if he didn't even recognize the streets and Rafaela kept looking outside absent. Her chest came up and down heavily as it was hard for her to breathe. She wasn't even noticing the landscape passing right before her eyes, while she looked out at the window, it was just a blur as she wasn't really seeing.

"Have you thought of an area?" James asked suddenly and her head turned to look at him.

"Not really, have you got anything in mind?" She asked back.

"Novato, I don't know..." He said rather absently.

"Novato?" She said in a questioning tone.

"Why not... seems like a cool place and I don't know... it was the first thing that crossed my mind. It isn't really important right? As long as we're moving..."

"You really don't want to move, do you?" She asked then as she sensed his resignation.

James shrugged, and then, as he stopped on a red light, he looked at her. "I do." He affirmed.

"It doesn't really seem like you do, you said Novato as if it really didn't matter."

"It's a place Rafi. What does it matter? It's a different place."

"But it's a place where we're going to live, so we must like it." She said.

"I like Novato." James answered and Rafaela eyed him for a few seconds. It was so obvious he was just doing that because she wanted to, but she had to be thankful for that. He was trying for her.

"Ok. Novato." She said also not wanting to spend much time discussing that matter. On one point he was right, Novato was a different place, so it was alright.

"But if you want somewhere else..." James began.

"No..." She said shaking her head. "It's ok... I wasn't thinking of anywhere special. So, it's ok." Truth was, she never thought of a specific place. She just wanted to get out of their current place, so it didn't matter where they were going to live. It could be anywhere, anywhere but where they were that moment.

As James entered Novato, Rafaela began to pay attention to the streets and the whole environment. It didn't seem too bad, and then he stopped the car and she looked at him. James pointed out at the street.

"There's a real estate here." He said.

"It seems like a good area to live." Rafaela told him.

"Yeah..." He said shrugging.

"No... I mean it, seems really nice." She insisted.

He took his hand to open the door, but she grabbed him. "James... if we're doing this you must want it too."

"It's ok Rafi. I like it here too." He shut her up like that.

A woman in her forties and looking rather informal for a real estate manager came to receive them. Introductions made; she took them to her desk.

"So, what type of a house do you guys want?"

"An apartment." James said, and at the same time. "A small house." Rafaela said and the woman eyed them a bit confused. James sighed.

"A small house." He corrected.

"No... James... if you want an apartment, it's ok." Rafaela said looking in his eyes. Truth was they hadn't discussed anything. They didn't even know what they wanted.