Falling Slowly

Pt.3|Ch.11

•••••Benjamin's Perspective

The car was quiet.

Too quiet.

She was never this quiet.

I dared a glance at her, taking my eyes off the road as I pulled the car to a stop at a red light.

Her breathing was hushed—almost like she wasn't breathing at all—her body barely rising and falling with each respiration.

She'd washed the purple color off her lips, making her look more like herself, but her eyes weren't dancing like they normally were.

Instead, they seemed to be worn out and exhausted as they stared down at her hands in her lap.

The silence was absolutely deafening, so I took a deep breath and shattered it. "Hey,"

She didn't stir.

"Songbird?"

Still no sign of movement.

Exhaling slowly, I pulled into the nearest parking lot and shut the car off.

When the keys were out of the ignition and my attention was able to be undivided, I tapped her arm. "Austyn,"

She looked up. "Were you talking to me?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry," she sighed, "I didn't mean to ignore you,"

I shook my head. "It's fine. I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm okay, I guess." She closed her eyes briefly, sitting back against the seat. "I don't know how to react to it."

"You'll have time to sort it out." I said, rubbing her shoulder. "You got his phone number, didn't you?"

"Yeah, he wants to see if we could get coffee or something before the tour leaves." She shook her head. "I can't understand why he came back. He left us. I never even knew his name, and he forgot mine."

I tried to be optimistic. "No, he couldn't have forgotten you that easily."

"He did, Ben. That's how it goes with people like him."

"But, he called you by name tonight."

"I reckon he saw an advertisement for the tour, recognized my name, did a little research, and then found me here." Her usually vibrant green eyes were dull and filled with heartbreak. "He would never have remembered me otherwise."

"Well, maybe he's trying to say he's sorry." I suggested. "Come back into your life?"

"I'm not sure I want him in my life." She again stared down at her hands, fiddling absentmindedly with her fingers. "I don't feel like a 'Rae'. Figuratively or literally."

Landon Rae. Her father had introduced himself as Landon Rae. It had hit Austyn like a punch to the gut, hearing her real last name from her father's lips for the first time in her life.