About a half an hour after Natasha had arrived home, the rainstorm started to dwindle to no more than a drizzle. The skies were clearing…but the sun was also setting.

Natasha blew outward in exasperation and pulled the curtains close. She dabbed at her wet hair with a towel and walked back over to her vanity to grab some hair supplies. It would take at least another hour for Natasha to blow dry and straighten her hair. By that time, there’d be no more daylight hours left. The storm had completely derailed her plans of riding out to the countryside in search of Jacques. What should have been a quick trip home to change into some dry clothes turned into a complete 360 after she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She looked like a redheaded hag who hadn’t gotten any sleep in about two days. And it was the truth…

She plopped down on her bed with her hair supplies and a laptop. She opened up a browser and typed ‘Aspen Valley underground fighting arena’ into the search bar. After inputting different variations of local fighting rings into the search field, she drilled down to find exactly what she was looking for. Nearly an hour and a half later, she still hadn’t finished drying her hair. And at nine at night, she just didn’t want to risk getting lost out in the middle of nowhere even though the rainstorm had already passed.

Just as Natasha was getting ready to plug her hair dryer into the outlet on the wall, she heard the sound of a motorcycle rumbling down the street. Nothing but intuition set in and she rushed to her bedroom window to peek outside. Of course, there was nothing and nobody pulling up in the driveway. The streets were clear. The sound of the motorcycle engine must have been a figment of her imagination because now all she heard was water draining from the roof and through the gutters in the aftermath of the storm.

Who was she kidding? She was a mess. Was this what being worried about someone you really cared about felt like? She’d never been this jumpy and worried with her ex and she’d almost married the man.

“Natasha,” her mom called from the other side of her bedroom door. There was a soft knock on the door. “Are you in there?”

“Yes, I’m here. Come on in.”

Mom pushed through with a package wrapped in red paper. “Sorry to bother you so late. It looks like the courier guy left a package for you on the step.”

“What is it?”

“Well, didn’t you order it?” Mom pointed to the label. “Your name and address are right here on the package. Odd…there’s not a return label.”

“I could have, but maybe I just forgot. There’s been so much to do lately,” she said.

“I know. If you need help with anything, let me know. I’m only part-time at the real estate office, so I can run a few errands here and there for you during the day when you need me to.”

“Thanks Mom. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Alrighty,” she said. “Looks like you’ve been working hard, so I’ll leave you to it. Don’t stay up too late and get some sleep, okay?”

“I will.”

Natasha couldn’t wait to get into the package. She hastily tore the red paper off and cut through the tape to open the flaps of the cardboard box. Inside the box, there was no indication at all of who the package was from. Something small and narrow had been wrapped in tissue paper. She unfolded the wrappings to reveal an elegant, gold-plated bookmark with a string of glass beads and a single gold wolf charm hanging from it. The gift was beautiful.

Her breath caught in her throat with the sudden realization of who could have sent her something like this. Even before she picked up the lone white postcard sitting at the bottom of the box…she knew.

“Jacques…” she whispered.

The note on the card was handwritten: I thought you’d like this…it’s so you’d never lose your place in a good story again. - - By this time, you already have the news. Your life should be perfect. I’m not perfect. Not now. You have something I never had. Both parents. Don’t ever risk that. Not for me.

“No.” Natasha shook her head and dropped the postcard back in the box.

There was absolutely no way that Jacques was telling her that he was going to accept that her dad was indifferent to seeing them together. He didn’t know Jacques and didn’t even want to try. This was ludicrous! Jacques shouldn’t have even been let go in the first place. He never committed any crimes. If this were the way Reverie treated their employees, she wouldn’t continue working there.

She didn’t care that he wasn’t perfect. Not by a long shot. Something else set him apart from the rest. She’d already figured that much out. But how was she going to convince him that she truly enjoyed spending time with him and needed his company and not have it sound like she was some desperate chick looking for comfort after a nasty breakup?