Till I come back to you!

Andrew held Frankie while she sobbed uncontrollably for twenty minutes, he loved the feeling of her in his arms again but the reason was not what he had planned. He had hoped she would accept him when he returned with open arms and her loving embrace, not the news of her pending marriage. He just held her, not saying any words just gently brushing her hair behind her ears trying to calm her down. Finally she somewhat composed herself and slightly pulled away, “Why didn’t you tell me?” again she repeated her question.

Andrew rose to his feet lending a hand to her to help her up, “I didn’t find it appropriate at the time,” he pulled the towel around her shoulders tighter and began to rub her arms to warm her up.

“But..” Frankie tried to make an argument against him but he was stopped before she could start. Andrew headed towards his closet and grabbed a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants.

“Listen,… here,” he handed her the clothing, “Why don’t you go take a shower and relax and warm up, you can put these on. After you’re done we will talk about everything.”
Obviously too tired to fight she agreed, “Alright.”

As Frankie entered the bathroom Andrew got two plates out and set them on the table next to the balcony doors along with the pizza, he returned and retrieved two beers out of the fridge and set them on the counter. ‘This is going to be one long night,’ was all that was going through his mind. He grabbed one of the beers, opened it, and headed over to the balcony doors staring out at the rain slowly coming to a halt. ‘Why did it always rain in this damn city!’

Slowly Frankie emerged from the bathroom dressed in the oversized sweat outfit with her hair wrapped in a towel, all of the make-up she once had on was completely washed off. She was so beautiful; yes true, she was in the plainest form he’d only seen when she was recovering, but that was when she was most beautiful. “Want something to drink?” he questioned motioning towards the beer on the counter.

“Yeah, thanks,” she accepted the beer he handed her then walked away from him trying to keep her distance. She began surveying the room, taking in her surroundings, that’s when Andrew noticed the discoloration on her face.

Quickly he moved towards her placing his hand on her face, “What the hell happened to you? Did he do this to you?”

Shrugging him off and turning her cheek she sulked away from him, “I thought I was asking the questions here. Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t you tell me you weren’t a priest anymore. Why did you decide to keep it a secret from me?” She again turned towards him to see the look on his face for his answer.

Andrew was getting angry now, ‘do I really have to explain to her why I didn’t tell her’, “I didn’t find it an appropriate time.”

“Why wasn’t it an appropriate time, how hard would it have been to say ‘Hey by the way I’m not a priest anymore?” she was mocking him now and it really irritated him.

‘It’s not that simple’, “It’s not that simple,” he took a drink and headed towards the balcony rail since the rain had finally subsided, “you don’t understand.”

“What is there to understand, you came back for a visit decided to visit me let me know about the ‘no priest’ thing and leave? That’s all you came for right?” She went towards him but he didn’t acknowledge her assumption, figuring her previous statement to be wrong, “If that’s not why you came back, then why?” she pleaded with him. Now she was curious, there was something he wasn’t telling her, “Why did you come back?”

He couldn’t resist her anymore; he wanted her to know the truth. Very quietly he whispered while looking off in the distance, “I came back for you.” He took another drink of his beer then put his head down knowing that she hadn’t heard him, hoping she’d let it go.

She had barely heard him but knew he had answered her, “What did you say,” she gently placed her hand on his shoulder trying to coax him into repeating his statement but louder this time.

Andrew’s emotions were getting the best of him and he had no control over himself, using a voice that was just below a shout he told her his reasoning again, “I came back for you.” After the recognition of the statement he had just made he pushed past her and headed back into the room, hoping that this awkwardness would subside. Yet, she wasn’t about to let him off that easy, she followed after him and grabbed him by the arm spinning him around to face her.

“What do you mean came, ‘back for me’,” she was still a bit lost but was relentless in her advances.

“God Frankie, do I have to spell it out for you,” he knew there was no turning back now everything was coming out in the open and he couldn’t stop it. “I love you, Frankie, I’ve loved you since the moment I met you, and with every letter I fell even more in love with you.” He turned away from her afraid of her reaction to his confession.

Frankie didn’t know what to say, she had always dreamed of this for the past five years she wanted to be with him but now for some reason she was confused and scared. All of a sudden without a word she started to back up towards the door.

“Frankie,” ‘Oh God, I’ve scared her away,’ “Frankie, what are you doing?”

Frankie turned and bolted for the door, she didn’t know where she was going to go or what she was going to do. She had to get out of there, it was too much for her, and she sprinted down the hallway and out the door.

“Frankie, wait come back,” Andrew yelled as he raced towards the door, but all that was left in the hallway was the echo of the slamming door.