An unlikely romance sprouts from a chance encounter between Cliff and Hannah after she spurns his good deed. ----------
Cliff tries doing a good deed for financially distressed Hannah by paying for her expensive car repairs. He expects nothing in...
It took a moment for Hannah to process seeing him. She felt surprised, shocked even, also curious, but her core emotion was one of fear. James wouldn't hurt her, would he? He had always been so passive and gentle. He hated arguments. He was non-violent, yet he had been acting out of character.
Fear bubbled up, threatening to overwhelm her. "There is no way I'm getting in your Jeep."
James shrugged. "Have it your way." He climbed out, leaving his Jeep idling. He approached, standing so close that Hannah backpedaled until her backside squeezed tight against the chain link fence. He had effectively cut off her escape route.
She couldn't slow her breathing. "James, this behavior is so unlike you. Why do you persist in stalking me? What do you want?"
"You know what I want. I want you back."
"How...how did you even find me here?"
"I waited for you all week in the parking lot of the sports bar. When you never showed up, I chatted up a waitress, one of your former coworkers."
Not a waitress, a server, Hannah thought, but she wasn't about to correct him.
"She was reluctant at first, but after I slipped her a fifty, she opened up and told me about your new job."
Hannah extended both arms and gave him a gentle push. "You're in my space. I can't breathe."
When he stepped back willingly, Hannah recovered some of her courage. "James, do you remember what I told you would happen if you ever tried contacting me again?" She pulled her phone from her bag intending to dial 9-1-1.
James reached out and snatched the phone away from her.
"Hey!" she shouted.
"You aren't calling anyone until you listen to me."
Hannah held out a hand. "Give it back, James. Give it back right now and drive away. I won't report you if you do that."
"I know how the two of us can patch our relationship and go back to the way we were. I realize now the obstacles that have stood in our way."
Was there any way she could get through to him? "James, stop talking, please."
He leaned forward, lacing the fingers of his right hand through the mesh of the fence just above her shoulder. So close, she could smell the whisky on his breath.
"It's this place," he said. "It's too familiar. There are too many people we know. Too many reminders and old memories."
"James, take a step back."
"I just quit my job, Hannah. I'm taking you away from here, someplace far where we can start over and make new memories. Away from toxic influences. It'll be as if nothing happened. Trust me. You'll see."
He was not the same man whom she had once loved. Trying to remain calm, she spoke. "James, what happened to you? You're like a completely different person. You're an accountant, rooted in the logic of numbers and not someone prone to engage in fantasy."
"You happened to me," he said. "After breaking up with you I realized how empty my life had become. It was like you made me see the real me and what it would take to make me whole."
He had to be suffering some sort of mental breakdown. Gently resting a hand against his chest in a reassuring gesture, she said, "I understand, but what you are doing to me right now, trying to coerce me, can you see how this is not right?"
He took hold of her wrist. "I anticipated your reluctance. I get it. In time you'll see things my way." He pulled her toward the Jeep.
Hannah's heart pounded. Her breath became labored. "No, James, let me go." With her other hand she grasped the mesh in the fence. James yanked her, trying to dislodge her grip.
She wanted to scream, but terror paralyzed her voice.
"Let her go!" Someone shouted.
James stopped pulling, but he didn't let go of her wrist.
Hannah focused her attention on two people on the other side of the fence. Aaron had his hands clenched into fists, and Izzy was holding up her phone videoing them.
"Buzz off," James shouted. "This is none of your concern and is between me and her."
"An attempted kidnapping is most certainly my concern," Aaron said. "I'm a lawyer, so let me advise you, sir, you are in deep trouble. We witnessed you holding this woman against her will. That's assault and attempted kidnapping. We also saw you confiscate her cellphone. By the way, I already dialed 9-1-1. The police are on the way. Let her go and return her phone."
The two men glared at each other for some moments before James released Hannah's wrist. She pulled her hand to her chest and rubbed the spot where he had gripped her, knowing she would suffer bruises from the assault.
"And her phone," Aaron reminded him.
James dropped it to the ground. He pointed at Aaron. "The police will have to find me first." To Hannah, he said, "A restraining order will do you no good. A piece of paper isn't going to stop me." He climbed into his Jeep. "Think about what I said, Hannah. You'll see how it all makes sense."
"You just added the making of a terroristic threat to the list of charges," Aaron said.
James tore away in his Jeep.
Hannah squeezed shut her eyes and lowered herself to the ground. She sat with her back to the fence trying to calm herself. She felt gratitude toward Aaron and Izzy for chasing James away, but she remained terrified in the knowledge that it wasn't the last she'd see of him.
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It's fortunate for Hannah that Izzy and Aaron were right there. What should she do now?
