“The sun,” I looked out the window surprised to see the sun. “I thought it’d be stormy all day.”

         “Nah,” Justin said as he stood up and headed to the sliding glass doors, “It can’t stay gray forever, there’s gotta be sun sometime.”

         He walked out to the yard and I followed him, basically because I don’t want to be alone. “Where are you going?”

         “JJ said there was some tapping on his window. I figure a branch,” he stood under JJ’s bedroom window and looked up, “Yeah, that branch.” Justin climbed up the tree and pulled the branch down as if it were a toothpick. He smiled as he jumped down and tossed the branch in the woodpile. “He’ll be fine now. Shouldn’t be running to our room at night… your room.”

         Before I could stop myself I ran into his arms and hugged him tighter than I ever have before. I didn’t let go, I doubt I could if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to.

         “Whoa,” he chuckled, “It’s not that big of a deal Ken. It took a second.”

         “I couldn’t do it though. He kept telling me and I said I’d fix it but I didn’t know how.”

         “Well, you gotta call me for that stuff, Ken. I’ll come buy and do it, it only takes a second.” He paused for a second but I still didn’t let go, “Are you alright?”

         “No. I couldn’t do it without you. There’s so many things I can’t do without you,” he didn’t say anything, I’m sure he’s in some kind of shock. I’m not exactly the kind of girl that likes to show weakness. I mean, I’d never admit this under normal situations but it’s almost like I can’t even control myself. “I’m sorry Justin. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing, I wasn’t thinking straight, and I really fucked it up.”

         Justin placed a hand on either of my shoulders and moved me away from him so he could look in my eyes, “What are you talking about?”

         “Everything. You were dealing with the same stuff I was dealing with, but you did it the right way. I should have listened to you. I should have let you help me but I was too busy thinking everyone was out to get me and no one understood me to listen. But you, of all people, were trying to help me and I just didn’t listen. I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean, obviously getting divorced wasn’t going to solve anything. I just wish I would have… I mean… we’ve never had problems. We never fought, and it was like such a huge fight. We were both like, completely evil. You did everything right though. I couldn’t have asked you to do anything differently but at the time it was like no matter what you could do it wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t your fault though, they were my issues. My inability to deal with everything. And I took it all out on you, like you didn’t care, like didn’t lose your little girl too.”

         Justin licked his lips and wiped the tears off my face before kissing my forehead and bringing me into a tight hug. “Let’s go inside, it looks like the rain’s coming back.”

         “OK,” I answered softly but held on to him tighter. I really don’t want to let go. I don’t want to ever let go of him, I don’t know why I ever let him go in the first place but it’s like it all just hit me. A loud crack of thunder made me jump and hold onto him even tighter as the rain started to pour down.

         “Ken, come on.”

         “I don’t want to let go of you.”

         “You don’t have to let go of me but we’re standing under the biggest tree in the yard in the middle of a lightning storm. I’m thinking this isn’t the best idea.”

         “I shouldn’t have let you go.”

         “OK, but there’s still the whole issue of the lightning so maybe we should resume this in the house.”

         “I’m sorry I made you go.”

         “Alright, it’s ok. Fuck Ken, come on.” He said before lifting me up and running in the house.  I laughed as he placed me on the floor and headed to the bathroom to get a towel with him following closely behind me before speaking, “It’s not funny.”

         “Yes, it is. You’ve always been so scared of lightning,” I said as I grabbed a towel from the shelf.

         “I am not scared of lightning.”

         “Yes you are,” I laughed and wrapped a towel around his shoulders, “It’s cute.”

         “In that case, I’m so fucking scared of lightning.”

         “And you’re sure you know your way around here?”

         “Ken I grew up here.”

         “Alright, I’m just checking,” she giggled, “Because it would be ok for you admit you don’t know where you are.  I wouldn’t think of you as any less of a man.”

         “You’re a comedian huh?” I laughed as I grabbed onto her hand. We had only been together a couple months but were home for the holidays.  “You wanted to go on a hike, we’re going on a hike country girl.”

         “I know, it’s just when I go on a hike near my house there’s like a path of some sort. We usually don’t have to like climb through the woods.”

         I put my arm over her shoulder, “We’re off roading it.”

         “You really have no idea where we are, do you?”

         I laughed; I couldn’t do much else but laugh. It’s true; I had no idea where the hell we were.  This was still at the beginning of the relationship where I was trying to impress her in every way possible. Kendall laughed and shook her head.

         “You’re insane, should we send up a flare or something? Do you have any idea?”

         “I know where we are Kendall. We’re in the woods behind my house, I know this place like the back of my hand.”

         “OK, it’s just that I’m pretty sure we’ve passed that tree like ten times.”

         I chuckled as I tried to figure out how the hell to get us out of here. “Alright then, Miss Smarty Pants. How do we get out of here then? Miss I used to play in the woods all the time?”

         She laughed and rolled her eyes; “I played in the woods behind my house, not your house. If we were behind my house I would have had us home by now.”

         “We’re fine. Is it really all that bad if we’re lost in the woods? No one’s around…” I began as I kissed her hand.

         “Except for squirrels and coyotes,” she laughed, “This is all a cheap attempt to get in my pants?”

         “I don’t need a cheap plan to get in your pants.”

         “Yeah I know, they just fall down when you come close,” she answered sarcastically.

         “Don’t try and fight it, you know you want it”

         Kendall laughed out loud at that one, “You have me figured out. We need to get out of here, it looks like it’s going to storm.”

         I looked up for the first time and saw the darkness above the trees. Fuck. “Alright, yeah let’s go.”

         Ken giggled and followed behind me, “You completely just dropped my hand and started to run.”

         “I’m not running anywhere.”

         “Well you definitely let go of my hand and are walking faster.”

         “I just don’t want to be stuck out here in a thunder storm.”

         “OK, so you’ll just leave me?”

         “I’m not leaving you, but you gotta walk babe. Come on.” I hate thunder, not even thunder, the lightning. It’s so fucking loud and scary; yes I understand I sound like a five year old. But shit, I’ve seen those shows on the Discovery Channel. I don’t want to get struck by that shit.

         “Are you scared of thunder storms?”

         “No,” I lied. I never really straight up lied to her before but that day I did twice. I told her I knew where we were when I clearly had no idea, and then I told her I’m not afraid of thunderstorms. It’s not that bad though, I did it so I wouldn’t look like such a wuss.

         “Alright,” she giggled and grabbed onto my hand before leading the way, “It’s this way.”

         “How do you know?”

         “See the moss? Moss grows on the north side of trees. We need to go south.”

         “How do you know?”

         “Because of where you live. Main Street runs East to West, your street is off that, we went to the north end… just trust me, come on.”

         It could have possibly been at that moment that I fell in love with her. How the hell she knew that stuff was beyond me, but it worked. We made it back to my parents’ house in ten minutes, more importantly fifteen seconds before the lightning and downpour started.

         “I’m going to change,” Kendall said as she walked into the bathroom of our bedroom… her bedroom. “I’m pretty sure you still have a pair of sweats and a t-shirt in your drawer if you want to change.”

         “Yeah, thanks” I said as I stood in front of my dresser. It feels weird to be back in this room, especially with her in the bathroom. I’ve walked by this room so many times since I’ve moved out to get to JJ’s room but I haven’t been inside. I was surprised when I opened the drawers that used to be mine to find that they were completely empty, except for the one shirt and pair of sweats.

         “Thanks for coming today. I’m glad you’re here. “

         “Yeah, of course.” She came out of the bathroom as I was pulling off my wet shirt, wearing a pair of sweats and a tank top herself. I always thought she looked so damn hot in a pair of sweats. She’s beautiful no matter what she wears but there’s something about a girl in sweats.

         “Really though, you’re making this day a lot more bearable.”

         “Really Ken, it’s no big deal. I wanted to come, it helps me too, ya’know?”

         “I know,” she walked close to me like she was going to hold onto me but never did, “I’m just really sorry about how everything turned out and I… just thanks, for everything.”

         “Don’t worry about it.” I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her around, “Want to watch a movie? Order a pizza? Relax.”

         “Yeah. When is your mother bringing JJ back?”

         “Not until tomorrow, I told her I’d call her.”

         Ken nodded her head as I followed her downstairs. “I miss him already,” she giggled, “You should have heard him yesterday, he was so cute. I couldn’t find his little scissors and we were doing a project so I let him use these new ones I just bought. They’re still kids scissors but they’re metal, not like just the plastic ones. So I told him the rules before I gave them to him, you know like he can’t run with them and he can’t cut anything other than the paper. And then he goes, Mommy, Scott said one time he was running with scissors and he tripped and poked his eye out and his doggie grabbed it and his daddy hadda go chase him and get it out of his mouth so then he popped it back in his eye.” I laughed as she mimicked our son, “So I’m like, um… ok I think that was a bit of an exaggeration but you still have to be careful with scissors, that’s why only use them when you’re sitting down. And then I’m like are you ready? Do you think you’re ready for the big boy scissors? And he goes…. No Mommy! I’m not!” she laughed, “Like I’m making him use a chainsaw or something.”

         “He’s funny.”

         “He’s like, the cutest kid in the whole world.”

         “You don’t have to tell me,” I agreed with a smile, “Are you hungry now?”

         “Not really. Let’s watch a movie first, then we can eat later on.”

         “Sounds good,” I said as I sat on the couch, “Pick a movie.”

         “Oh, you’re letting me pick?” she asked with a giggle, “I feel special.”

         “You are. Let’s go, hurry up before I change my mind.”

         Ken laughed and put an unknown DVD in the player. “It’s crazy out there,” she headed to sliding glass door and looked outside, “What’s up with today and the storms? It’s like a yearly occurrence.”

         “Yeah, it was worse last year though.” Why did I just say that? I bet I just ruined any chance at normalcy we could have had today. She’s going to put the wall right back up and we’re going to be right back where we started.

         After a few seconds she came back to the couch, “Yeah, it was way worse last year but I think all the events of the day made it that way. She turned off the lights and then lay down on the couch, with her head right next to my lap.

         “What movie did you put in?”

         “Patience Justin, it’s going to start in a second.”

         There was a large crack of thunder and a bright crack of lightning at the same time the power went off. I jumped a foot in the air and Kendall giggled, “Damn, that hit something.”

         “Yeah, are you alright? You jumped a foot in the air.”

         “I did not, so did you.”

         “No I didn’t,” she laughed while moving closer to me and rested her head on my lap. “Did you do this on purpose?”

         It was only a month after we met and I was at Justin’s house for the first time. The plan was to watch a movie and relax but ten minutes into the movie the power went out, due to a crazy thunderstorm.

         “Did you do this on purpose?” I asked with a chuckle.

         “Did I make a thunderstorm cut off the power on purpose? Is that what you’re asking?” he laughed.

         “Yes. This all seems like quite the sneaky scheme.”

         “Yeah, you caught me. I made a couple calls.”

         “I wouldn’t be surprised. You are abnormally anxious to be alone with me in the dark.”

         Justin laughed and pulled me to his lap, “I don’t need the power to go out to get you alone in the dark.”

         “Yeah, I made a couple calls,” I answered, just like I did that day so many years ago.

         “It wouldn’t surprise me,” she giggled and placed her hand on the side of my face. It’s a pain in the ass not being able to see anything, but I felt her crawl on my lap, and then felt her warm breath on my ear. “I really miss you. Like… a lot.”

         “You don’t have to miss me. I’m here.”

         “I know. I’m sorry,” she answered before I felt her soft lips on mine. It’s been so long since we’ve been this close. I knew I missed it, but there’s no realizing how much until I’m close again. The lights stayed off making me think it wasn’t real, that this was all just a dream but I knew it wasn’t. I really hope this is her way of telling me she wants to get back to the way things were before this day last year, but I have a feeling it’s just her way of dealing with today. Whatever it is I can’t stop her, so I’m going to enjoy it while I can.

         Sadly, the lights turned back on. Sure, it probably was awhile later but it felt like only a few seconds. The second the lights went off was the second she pulled away. She stood up quickly, as if she was embarrassed, “I’m sorry.”

         “No, no it’s…”

         “No, I shouldn’t have.”

         “It’s ok, it’s fine, it’s not…” I trailed off, not exactly sure what else to say. “Do you want me to head out?”

         “No,” she answered quickly, she didn’t even skip a beat. That surprised me more than anything else that’s happened today. “I really want you to stay.”

         “Good, because I want to stay.”

         “Good,” Ken answered with a smile, “I’m hungry though, let’s get that pizza.”