Preview
It had been a long day. Her and Ellison had not seen eye to eye about anything the whole day. They even argued about which bagels were better for no reason at all. Maybe she was just tired and it added to her general agitation. Or maybe her anger was making her tired. She had anger to spare and lacked sleep either way.
She didn’t have much to look forward to these days other than going home to her couch and maybe a beer or two. Or maybe a whole case. That was another thing, she had been drinking more. It was the only thing that helped with all the anger she had been feeling. Other than finding Matt and giving him a piece of her mind. But she wouldn’t do that, she told herself. He hurt her but she made her peace with it. Despite how much it still hurt and made her angry.
Her walks home always felt eternal. Wanting nothing more than to burn the heels she normally liked wearing. No one had any space awareness, she had to maneuver her tall build around other bodies. It only added to her already agitated state. Her mind had been too preoccupied with a number of things to even pay attention to the voice that called out to her.
“Say lady, I'm real hungry. You got any change? Please?” said a gruff voice from the wall as she walked down the street back home. She barely spared the homeless man a glance before reaching into her purse. The voice sounded familiar to Karen, but she knew that was just wishful thinking. His voice reminded her of someone else she rather not think about. Still not looking up, she pulled out a few bills from her wallet and handed them to the man.
As she turned to leave, his voice stopped her yet again. “Thanks, Karen.”
She did know that voice. Her stupid heart knew that voice.
She turned back towards the man crouching down against the wall, covered by a blanket. He pushed it to the side, only showing a sliver of his face but she knew him. The beard was new but she knew him.
She almost sighed in relief looking at this supposed dead man. She didn’t know how long they stared at each other. Could have been a few seconds or minutes for all she knew. She just needed to make sure it wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her, again. She had tried not to think about how long it had been since she’d seen him but her heart knew. With a quick glance around she took a step closer towards him.
“You're still all heart, huh?” he asked softly, still looking up at her. Looking at her with a small smirk, as if he had already known she would have stopped, regardless of if it was him or not.
“Things got this bad, Frank?” She asked, not quite meeting his eye as she looked out into the street. Karen couldn’t help but look back at him after a moment, making sure it really was him. She had often thought about where we could be and if he was safe. It would have been nice to know that he was at least safe.
“Wanted to say hello. I thought I'd try my luck out here and not get my head blown off,” he said and it was his turn to not meet her eyes, a small smirk on his face but was met with a scoff. He looked back up at her, “You still got that hand cannon?”
“You better believe it,” she said, patting her purse.
Frank’s eyes followed down her body, to her hand. “Attagirl,” he said softly, his gaze lingering on her hand.
“What the hell are you doing here?” She asked just as softly, shaking her head slightly in disbelief.
He hesitated this time, he just looked at her. Like there was part of him that thought she would turn him away after their last encounter. “Can we-Can we talk?” he asked softly, looking down before meeting her eyes again. Those dark eyes Karen could almost see in her dreams, meeting her own blue ones that had haunted him for almost a year.
“If you do this, you’re dead to me.”
Those last words seemed to have haunted them both for almost a year.
She sighed as she thought about those words again. Wanting nothing more than to take them back after seeing him after so long. He almost looked nervous as he waited for her response, still looking up at her from his crouched position against the wall. She barely nodded and thought he hadn’t noticed it until she saw the relief in those dark eyes. She had to turn away from him or else her heart might explode.
She didn’t need to turn around to know that Frank was following after her as she headed home. She could practically feel his heat behind her, even if he was a few feet away. Trying not to draw attention to either of them.