The Rain Began to Fall (19 page)

“This is serious,
you bozo!” she admonished.

“Alright,
alright!” he replied, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Take it easy! I’m
going.”

“Just give me few,
okay?” But he was already walking, giving her the thumbs up sign as he went.

She drifted around
to where Kyle was propped up.

“
Haay
,” he slurred slightly, smiling at her. “Where’s Rob?
You’re
gonna
get my butt kicked!” He laughed and took
a swig, half of the amber spirit spilling off his chin and onto his shirt.

“Don’t you think
you should take it a little easy on that stuff?” she advised, pointing at the
bottle he held tightly.

“I’m
allll
right.” He turned the bottle up again.

“Listen Kyle, I
don’t know you very well,” she said carefully, “but I’ve talked with Rob, and
he’s told me about you and Leigh. I know there’s something there between you
two.”

“Oh yeah?” he
responded, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” she
replied. “She had her arms around your neck the last time you were together?”
Kyle shot her a glance. “Yeah, Rob told me. Come on, Kyle.”

That was a painful
memory, and he smiled ruefully at her.

“It was all
fantasy,” he replied, twirling his hand in the air.

“I don’t think
so,” she contradicted. “I suspected it before last Saturday. But when I saw the
way she looked at you that day at the mall, I knew. And after Rob told me
everything that’s happened between you two, well, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

“Yeah?” he said,
pushing off the car and wobbling a bit. “Sounds like Rob filled you in pretty
good.”

“Don’t be mad at
him,” she said. “He thought I could help, you know, talk to Leigh.”

“I’m not mad at
Rob. He’s got my back. But there’s nothing you or anyone else can do.”

“Kyle, I’m certain
she’s…”

He wheeled around
suddenly, facing her.

“The only thing
that’s
certain
is she’s an engaged woman, Mindy. She’s engaged to a
wealthy, pasteurized, homogenized, pressed, chopped and cooked man! She’s
spoken for in volumes!” His voice had risen to a crescendo as he said this, and
she was taken back for a second by his verbal roll.

“Okay. You’re
right.  She’s engaged,” Mindy responded in a measured tone, treading
softly. “But that doesn’t mean she’s
happily
engaged!” She paused for a
moment, but he didn’t respond, so she continued. “Now don’t get me wrong here.
Whatever makes her happy, I’m all for it! She’s been a great friend to me, the
best I’ve ever had. I thought she was happy with Gene, but I don’t think so
now, and I don’t want to see her mess up!”  She looked at him earnestly.

She paused,
allowing her words to sink in. He turned up the bottle again, an expression of
sincere pain on his face. He remained silent, looking away toward the lake.

“I believe she has
really strong feelings for you,” she said confidently. “If she does, and you do
for her, don’t give up! That’s all I’m saying!” He glanced at her, and then
turned away again, shaking his head.

“She made her
choice last Saturday,” he said, capping the bottle. “She picked out her wedding
dress. You were there. She’s happy and full steam ahead. And she let me know
where I stood. You didn’t hear that, but
I
did.
Loud
and clear.”

“Maybe she’s doing
or saying what she feels she’s
supposed
to, Kyle, not what she
wants
to!” Mindy argued. “That’s going to get old pretty quick after they’re married,
if that’s the case. I don’t want to see her make that mistake!” He looked at
her with bloodshot eyes.

“Has she talked to
you at all about me?” he asked. “Huh?”

She frowned. “No,
but.....”

“Ah,” Kyle said,
smirking. “You’re her best friend, right?  And she’s so in love with me
that she hasn’t said a word to you! Imagine!”

“Actions speak
louder than words!” she responded. He turned away, but she moved around in
front of him, attempting to look into his eyes. But he looked off, unwilling to
face her.

“Don’t give up!”
she insisted. “She does feel something for you, and she needs to find out why,
now
,
before she makes a lifelong mistake.” She didn’t know if she was getting
through to him, but she plowed on. “I mean, Gene is the only guy she’s ever
dated, as far as I know!” He still refused to look at her. “We only live life
once, Kyle, and I think I’m right about this! And you owe it to yourself,
right?” She paused, and then asked: “Do you love her?”

He looked at her then,
in his eyes a mixture of heavy sadness, pain and rage. He walked away, bouncing
the whiskey bottle in his hand. Suddenly, with a shout, he threw it at a nearby
light pole, and it shattered loudly on impact. Mindy shook her head, and then
Kyle turned around and looked sharply into her eyes.

“Doesn’t matter
how I feel, Mindy,” he said, with finality. “It just... doesn’t ...matter.”
Having heard the commotion, Rob came walking up.

“Everything all
right?” he asked.

“Yeah, man,” Kyle
said. “It’s paradise. I’m ready to go, if you are.”

Mindy hoped she
had done some good, hoped that something got through to him. She believed all
she had said. No matter who her friend was with, she just wanted it to be the
right one.

Kyle awoke at 10:00
am on Saturday morning with a mild hangover. The light shining through the
window made his head hurt, and when he climbed out of bed, he staggered to the
kitchen, where he found his dark sunglasses on the table. After putting them on
to shield his sensitive eyes, he grabbed a carton of “some pulp” orange juice
out of the fridge and drained half of the contents. It had been a long time
since he’d spent an evening with Jack, and now he was painfully reminded why.
After popping a couple of aspirin and taking a shower he felt somewhat better.
He threw on a pair of comfortable jeans and a tee shirt, then drove to a local
bakery, where he ordered an “everything” bagel with lox and a large coffee. The
weather was nice, so he took his order to a table outdoors. He picked up a USA
Today someone had left behind, and scanned the headlines as he ate.

With a little more
pep in his step he drove to a book store, where he ordered another coffee and
sipped it as he perused his various literary favorites. Rob was spending the
day with Mindy - as he was every waking chance he had - and Kyle didn’t blame
him. He was truly happy for his friend.

As he flipped
through a novel, his thoughts drifted to Mindy and her advice last night. Her
encouragement made him re-think things this morning, and he tossed around the
idea now of whether or not he still had a chance with Leigh. But it was a short
lived study. He would love to believe it was possible, but no matter how he
turned it around in his mind, he just couldn’t bring himself to believe it was
true, despite all Mindy had said. And he realized her bias toward him now was a
product of her relationship with his friend. As much as she hoped it was true
that Leigh loved him, and no one more than he, it was not. He had simply been a
fool to think he could overcome the obstacle of their social differences; that
he would somehow fit in her world, or she in his. Better to cut his losses and
move on; his heart had been damaged enough already to subject it to further
abuse.

After a couple of
hours in the bookstore, he decided to leave and head home. He was taking Lisa
out tonight, as promised, and he swore to himself he would try to have fun,
give her a chance. He would never love any woman the way he loved Leigh, but he
couldn’t quit living. The best way to get over someone, he knew, was to get
into someone else.

# # #

The next month
went by with no communication between Kyle and Leigh. Unless they purposefully
sought each other out, their paths had no reason to cross in the course of a work
day at
Falstead
. Kyle even stopped going to the break
room, on the off chance she may inadvertently come down at that time for a
soda. He had no desire to lay eyes on the woman he would always love, but never
have.

He had kept to his
promise and given Lisa a chance, and although she was a lot of fun, he found
her as shallow as he had imagined her to be. Still, she helped get Leigh off
his mind, and that was the point. He went to work each day, and what evenings
he didn’t enjoy a rare visit with Rob, minus Mindy, he filled with reading and
writing. His agent had called and gushed over
The Fishing Trip
, talking
excitedly about the novel’s prospects. That had cheered him some in what was,
these days, a cheerless world.

With some time now
having passed since that heartbreaking day at the mall, and Rob spending most
of his time with Mindy, Kyle took a hard look at his future in Charlotte, and
decided there was no reason to stay. He began planning his move to another
place. The other side of the earth sounded good.

Leigh, in the
meantime, continued with her wedding plans, a ceremony now less than a month
away, and settled into her future with Gene. And although she still had
fleeting thoughts of Kyle, they were occurring less frequently these days. The
close romantic encounters, the risky venture out to the races, all, with the
passage of time, began to feel like a dream. A few nights ago, at dinner in a
restaurant, she saw a handsome man across the way that faintly resembled him.
Of course it wasn’t, but the episode caused her to hold her breath for a
moment. She looked back at Gene, who was ceaselessly talking about his career,
and felt a peripheral gnawing at her heart. Regret? Longing? She gulped
Chardonnay, and moved on quickly in her mind. The bridesmaids, the bridegrooms,
the songs, the reception, the honeymoon, all were ready. It was all over but
the crying.

Mindy had tried
several times to call Leigh on that Saturday following her conversation with
Kyle the night before, but to no avail. It was voice mail every time. She had
awoken with a strong desire to force the conversation with her about Kyle. She
had planned to tell her what she knew about them, and if she could, get Leigh
to talk and explain her feelings. But unbeknownst to Mindy, Gene had whisked
Leigh out of town to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for the weekend, her cell
phone turned off.

While there, Gene
and Leigh took in the sights, walking through the village in Gatlinburg, and
Leigh, of course, did a little shopping. On Saturday evening, after a nice
dinner, they had returned to the cabin and sat on the top steps of the porch,
as the fading sun sank behind the mountains. The air was cool, jacket weather;
spring had not yet made it to this altitude.  As they sat side by side,
sipping glasses of Pinot Noir, Leigh admired the view of the surrounding
mountains.

“Breathtaking,”
she exclaimed.

“Yes, it is,” Gene
agreed. He looked over at his lovely bride-to-be. “Are you having fun?”

“Yes,” she
replied. “I’m enjoying myself.
How about you?”

“It’s always fun
when I’m with you, Leigh.”

She looked at him
and smiled.

“I have a
question,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“Alright.
Fire.”

“Where do you see
us in five years?”

“Oh, that one,
huh?” he replied, chuckling. “Well, let’s see. Back here, of course, after Dad
retires and we’ve had a few years of fun and quality time in New York.” She
smiled wryly, and he shook his head. “I told you we’ll come back and I mean
it!”

“Time will tell,”
she responded, then patted his leg. “Go on.”

“And then, we buy
a house here in Charlotte. Soon after, I hear the pitter patter of little feet
running around our home.” He put an arm around her and squeezed gently. “How
does that sound?”

“Sounds good to
me,” she responded, laying her head on his shoulder. And it honestly did. The
emotional battles recently waged in her heart, as well as coming to terms with
life beyond her father’s passing over the past few years, had left her drained
and tired. She welcomed the solid, tried and true foundation that Gene represented,
and the prospect of settled, married life.

They sat on the
porch until they were enveloped in darkness; some time spent talking, some in
silence. As she laid her head on his shoulder Gene stroked her hair, relieved
that Leigh was her old self again. Whatever had gotten in to her was seemingly
gone, and the road to their wedding day again looked clear of any obstacles.

# # #

At work the
following Monday, Mindy had lunch with Leigh and broached the subject of Kyle. She
told Leigh about the race, the fight, and her conversation with him.

“. .
.and
it’s obvious he loves you, Leigh,” she said. “And I
think according to what all I’ve been told about you guys, you have strong
feelings for him.” Leigh had protested a little as soon as she had mentioned
his name, but she sat through it, and let her have her say. At mention of the
fight, she had been concerned, but she didn’t let it show on her face.

“Why can’t you
talk to me about this?” Mindy asked with desperation. “I know everything except
your side of the story, you know, how
you
feel about Kyle!”

“There’s no story
to tell, Mindy,” she responded flatly. “It was just . . . a fling, you know?”

“No, not really,”
she replied, shaking her head, unconvinced. “Since when are you involved in
flings
?
Especially just before you’re going to be married to a guy you’ve known all
your life!”

“Precisely,” Leigh
responded. “I’m getting married. I don’t know what got into me, but
everything’s straight now.” She looked down. Mindy stared at her bowed head.
She didn’t buy it.