The following morning was slow to say the least. Terry and Jana had to work for a few hours, Uncle Rickey had a doctor appointment, and Ruth was completely antsy being back and spending her time indoors. She wanted to go out and do something rather than wallow in pain and missing her girlfriend, so she decided to go out and explore downtown. She didn't go very often before, seeing as how there wasn't much to their town, but she had nothing else to do.

So, as a free agent, Ruth popped in her headphones, grabbed her purse, and walked down the street with Emily talking in her ear. Jana had allowed her to use her extra car for the next few weeks, and the drive to downtown wasn't too bad, so she started off her day really great.

"Your outfit looks cute today," Emily had commented, checking out the snap she saved that Ruth had sent her thirty minutes before.

Ruth smiled and ran her fingers over her flaming red skirt that ruffled around her thighs. She put on her favorite white tank top to go with it and a pair of peyote stitched red earrings that were long enough to brush the bottom of her neck. Her wild curls settled around her shoulders and curled around her naturally blushed brown cheeks. If she was going to go out and get away from the anguish of everything, she wanted to at least feel good about herself.

"It's one of your favorites," Ruth recalled.

Em laughed, the sound airy and beautiful to Ruth's ears. Gosh, did she miss that laugh. "Well, when your amazing girlfriend's got the assets to go with the outfits, you love just about anything on her."

"Just about?"

"Sorry, babe, but those Crocs you wear to work? Nothing about that is acceptable."

It was Ruth's turn to laugh that time. "You're just cruel. Crocs are the most comfy shoes in the world!"

Emily gagged. "How did I get a girl with absolutely no sense of style?"

"Hmm, you must have been distracted by the assets."

"Hmm, maybe. Wait no, definitely."

A spark of warmth spread across Ruth's chest as she passed by a small bead shop. She glanced inside the window briefly, but then decided she would go in on the walk back instead.

"How's the new position? You liking it so far?" Ruth asked, fixing her phone.

"I love it," Emily gushed, and continued to voice all the reasons she loved working in Dr. Peters' old position. Ruth listened on, adding in a sentence here and there, and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. She loved when people were happy, especially when it came to Emily. Ruth could see it then, with Em's eyes wide and animated as she spoke, a big smile stretching across lip gloss coated lips. Sometimes Em would even fiddle with her fingers or hair, or rub the back of Ruth's hand absentmindedly.

"Oh! And you know those twins that I absolutely loathe?" Em dragged. Ruth giggled and said yes. "Well, guess what they told me about Mark and his wife?"

While Emily talked about the recent floor scandal, Ruth was coming up to an intown car mechanic shop. It looked rather busy for an early afternoon with there only being two garage doors opened for maintenance, but she supposed they worked fast on their cars. There was only three maybe four men inside that she noticed as she walked on by. She fiddled with the string of her headphones as she smiled at the mindless joke Emily offered her.

Then she heard it.

It was faint at first, perhaps because of the headphones, but it was enough to make her frown, wondering what was so familiar about it. It tugged at something in her memory, something that she probably shouldn't have tugged on, but she tugged on it anyway.

She used her thumb to lower the volume of her phone and swiveled her head towards the garage curiously, scrutinizing the area to search for whatever the sound was. Emily, completely oblivious, continued to talk in her ear. Good, it would give her a chance to pinpoint the familiarity of the sound.

Then she heard the voice again, and it took her eyes only a second to find the source of it. It took no time at all, not when the memory finally caught up with the familiarity of such a sound. Her vision swirled and the urge to throw up came to her in full force, her body freezing. Ruth was almost sure the person didn't notice her at first, as she only caught onto the hair that brushed his broad shoulders while he spoke to an older olive toned man, but since she was halfway across the entrance of the gargage at only fifteen feet away, it was only a matter of time for the man to turn his head. And the time had come.

It only took two seconds of recognition for the man to freeze, all color suddenly drained from his face. His brown eyes were zeroed in on Ruth like she was an aparation, here to haunt him and drag his soul to hell. To his damnation for murdering an unsuspecting woman from the ghost of his past with his mere absence.

Ruth's heart was pounding harder than it had ever pounded before. In fact, she swore she was seeing it in front of her now, bleeding out for the entire world to see and judge the very memory of it. Her muscles ached to drop to the floor and give into the urge to scream and cry.

But she couldn't.

Though her knees quaked, and the earth ached, she stood standing still, disbelief clawing at her chest like a caged animal. It was a strange concept. To feel like everything was in turmoil inside of oneself, but unable to act on that emotion as one was too busy standing there on the outside. That familiar shade of chestnut from the ghost of her past stared right at her, frozen and nearly engulfed by the white surrounding it. Those sinfully lovely cupid's bow lips were parted, fixed in a chilling recognition.

No . . . fuck, no. She worked so hard. So fucking hard. How could she—how could her body—how could her body still be reacting this way? To his voice? To the beautiful shape of his lips, to the vibrancy of his eyes that still drew her in after all those years?

Strong hands gripped the metal bar between his fingers softly, familiarly. He even had the audacity to take a hesitant step forward, and she hated the tug of her heart that ached to run to him.

Ruth swallowed thickly, remembering he held her with those hands once. Years ago.

Before he ruined the old Ruth Semple.

The one before the woman she was now; before the Ruth whom Emily collected piece by piece to make her "whole" again. But she'd never been completely whole after something like that. Not really.

No, not until, Emily helped bring her into a newer version of herself. A stronger one who took no bullshit, and would never let another person mess with her heart again.

So, while she was feeling many feelings in that moment, she squeezed her fist over her phone, and focused on the one emotion rising to the surface from a familiar place in the pit of her stomach. The blinding emotion of something hot and powerful lashed out from deep within her constricting chest.

Rage.

*****