Chapter 41: Warmth

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What's funny is the most dangerous things give the most warmth. A fireplace, for example, is more dangerous than you will ever know. It emits a deadly gas and the fire could potentially burn the house down. But we still keep them around- why? Because they provide warmth.

That text Adam sent had opened doors for the girl with the blonde hair. She, with her blonde hair, grinned warmly after her breath taking gaze into his eyes. Nodding her gaze at his touch, leaning into his palm. He was not Adam, but he felt so much like Adam.

She had done this too often now. Sent a risky text, then went out to pretend another man was the man she could not get over, or under to say the least.

It came down to it. And now her messages had drawn her to the wilderness. Unable to withstand the tightening in her chest each time she thought of him and wondered why he waited so long to reply with every message. Every light stroke of the keypad of his cell phone was indicated by three little gray dots which would disappear as instantly as her happiness. Everything felt bland and she couldn't shake that feeling.

Adam
Who is this?

Eleanor
Eleanor. If this is Adam, I forgive you and I hope you can find it in your heart to do the same.

She was going to add, "I love you," but thought against it. This was he most unstable communication she'd ever dealt with, she felt like she was dealing with a reactive solution that would explode if it encountered a breath of air. A feather would be a blow to the stability of their current relationship.

It took him nearly a month before the thoughts of replying to her drowned out his proper judgment and he decided to reply. He grew anxious and once it was done, he blew out air that he hadn't felt.

He had nothing going on in his life anymore. No Laci, no Magdalene, nothing interesting at work. His mother rarely spoke to him and his sister was off doing boring things in her life. After Eleanor there was no beginning or end for him, she'd ruined him and he wasn't prepared for the destruction and the scars she'd imprinted on his soul.

Everything felt gray and boring like there was nothing never an end or a beginning to a thing in the world. It became hard waking up each morning and even harder staying awake. It was as though an avalanche had drowned him out and he wasn't having any of this.

He forced himself to wake up- to go to work. He forced himself to work hard and talk to his employees. And yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake that burning feeling that he should reply, that he should try harder to cement things. There was nothing to stop them anymore. No evil forced working against them but their minds.

And they'd been through a ton. More than a ton had happened, an earthquake couldn't shake as much trauma even if it split the world in half. It seemed unfixable, like global warming and the dying polar bears. She didn't know what to do anymore.

He was unreachable, and if he was reachable, he was ungraspable. It was as though reaching for him pushed him further and as soon as she laid a claim on a single thread of his shirt, she would be tossed back into a horizon that could only swing her into a wilderness.

Adam was patient. Adam was kind. Adam deserved to be treated like a damn king. Yet day in and day out, he could feel like nothing more than a pauper.

And Eleanor's nerves were on edge. She struggled to cope with the lack of Adam.

***
Hi everyone.

I decided to post early! I feel like this story has gone on a weird tangent. I feel like there's quite a few more chapters to be written and I don't want to burden myself with ending it to soon like I did with GREED.

Anyway, this chapter was a filler chapter! The action comes in the next chapter so everything you read in the previous "short" chapter that everyone was curious about.

Really quickly, what's your opinion of Eleanor? Do you think her character has all all developed since Pure Bliss or Business Contract?

Please leave a comment and don't forget to vote, share, and follow @veronicasoli

Love you!

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