2 Chapter 2: A Love Like This

———————Samantha’s Car

After a half-hour of driving around, Samantha stopped the car at a park leagues away from where they had come from and turned to Holly with an outstretched hand.

“I…” Holly began to speak, then fell silent. Finally, she murmured, “Thank you for saving my life.”

“This isn’t your fault,” Samantha said. “None of it is your fault.”

Samantha saw Holly shake her head, disbelieving of the words she spoke despite how adamantly she believed in them. The young woman’s reply came out in a broken whisper.

“You don’t know that,” Holly disagreed. “I made him angry and I was going to leave. If I had just…”

“I want to take you somewhere Holly—is it alright if I call you Holly?” At the nod of her head, Samantha continued, “It’s a woman’s shelter at the Church—no, listen—my friend, Tobias is the priest there and he can take care of you.”

“How did you…” Holly cleared her throat once to try and rid it of its shakiness. “How do you know me? Or even…” She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question in full but hoped the other woman knew what she meant.

“Well,” Samantha began as she played with the phone in her hands, “When you’ve been at this for as long as I have, you learn to notice a few things a lot earlier than others do. As for how I knew your name, your neighbors seemed awfully curious about what was happening for people who had no intention of getting involved.”

Samantha’s eyebrows furrowed together in anger as she thought about the neighbors’ nonchalant voices discussing what regularly happened to Holly. She turned from the hazel-eyed woman to make her phone call.

“This is all so crazy, I mean, I don’t even know you,” Holly said. Samantha slowly assessed the woman before her, taking note of the way her eyes darted back and forth and the way her breathing became hard and staggered.

“Listen,” Samantha said. Holly’s eyes shot to her, “I’m going to make a call.”

———————Tobias’ Cathedral Office

“How is she?” the man murmured.

Tobias sighed as he addressed his brooding guest. “She got another job, some local shop down the street from here. She complains about it a lot, though.”

They were both quiet for a long time again before Tobias regarded his friend and said, “I've known you for so many years, Richard, and I understand you well. What you're doing right now will only hurt the both of you. It's not the solution.”

The ringing of his phone saved Richard from responding to the comment.

“Samantha dearest!” Tobias cocked his eyebrow at the sharp look his friend gave him when he realized who was on the other phone, sending a mocking smile to him as he placed the call on speaker. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your disturbance?”

“Ha, ha,” Her sweet voice rang out into the air and Richard couldn’t control the chills it had sent down his spine at hearing her again.

“Ever the gentleman, Tobias! It isn’t like God was going anywhere. You could always pick up your conversation later.”

The priest hid his smile beneath closed fingers as he leaned over the armrest, “Ah,” he hummed as he pretended to think for a moment, “Now that you mentioned it, He did leave a message for you.”

“Yeah?” Samantha asked, intrigued.

“He said to stop wasting his precious subordinates’ time with requests for three cups of sugar at 3 AM in the morning,” the priest deadpanned, never truly forgiving his neighbor for barging into his apartment at such an ungodly hour.

“Okay, it was one time. But wait, shush, that’s not why I’m calling.” Tobias didn’t miss the way Richard gave a small smile at the woman shushing him.

Samantha continued, “I have a friend with me.”

Richard watched as Tobias’ demeanor changed from a playful, jesting tone to a forlorn one. The laugh lines around his mouth disappeared as wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he furrowed his brows.

Very rarely were the two of them not laughing with one another—the sort of thing Richard had adored once in the past, but had now slowly become jealous of—so he knew exactly what it was when she mentioned she had a friend with her.

“A friend?” Tobias asked, knowing just as well. “And might this friend need of a place to stay for a while, away from prying eyes?”

“She might.”

“I’ll have to move some things around here for a bit, it’s been very busy here lately due to current situations in the community… but bring her.” Tobias lifted his gaze from the phone that sat on the armrest to his best friend, who he saw was staring at the phone with equal focus. “There’s always room for those who need help here.”

Richard lifted his gaze at that statement and met the cool gaze of the man he had called a friend for the greater part of his life. Tobias watched as half-lidded eyes stared back at him, emotionless and un-telling.

Like a siren’s call, like a sailor lost at sea. Tobias wondered if his friend saw the change he had inflicted upon himself.

“Okie dokie,” Samantha’s cheerful reply came clearly through his phone, as she was totally unaware of the staring contest or the words their eyes spoke to each other.

‘You’re not okay,’ Tobias’ eyes seemed to tell his friend, ‘despite what you may think.’

Richard wanted to see her again. He wanted to be the person who made her laugh the way Tobias did; he wanted to be the person she shot snarky remarks and joked about with.

But he couldn’t be that person, not anymore. He refused to be.

When the call line shut off, Tobias spoke to him again. “There goes your Cinderella, desperate to become every woman's fairy godmother.”

Tobias lets out a small chuckle, shaking his head.

However, the smile on his face didn't last very long. It soon melted down into a look of pity, eyebrows furrowed and eyes glazed with regret.

“Do you really want to be like this with her forever?” he said.

Richard looked at him for a long moment before he responded, “You know why I can’t go back to her, Tobias.”

The priest shook his head in disagreement. “I’m sure, if you explain things to her, she’d understand. She’s more capable of handling the truth than you might think, Richard.”

“I have no doubt in her capabilities, in fact.” Richard gave a deep chuckle as he thought about the situation at hand. “I have every reason to believe that she’d even solve the problem herself if I told her.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

“Me,” came Richard’s simple reply and Tobias tilted his head questioningly.

“I have no right to ask anything from her, Tobias—not after what I did,” Richard elaborated. “And especially not this. I can’t ask her to leave everything she loves behind just to be with me. It isn’t worth it.”

Tobias was taken aback by his friend’s brutal honesty. But something in him wanted to yell at Richard. He wanted to tell him that the reason why Samantha was so hurt over their parting was because she loved him so much. And, because she loved him so much, it wasn’t his betrayal that broke her—but their parting itself.

But he said nothing like this. That was something his friend had to find out for himself, something he had to learn and accept on his own. Richard had to understand that Samantha would love him despite everything he had done and that he would love her in the same way—despite anything either of them may do.