Part 23
She turned her head to look at him, and straightened up.
“What?” she said accusingly. “How…?”
“I can’t say anymore here…not now. But you have to listen to me, Lola. Byron is not who you think he is.”
***
Part 24
Rain began to fall on them as Lola gaped, staring at Mark
“You’ve been spying on me? Lurking behind my bushes? You watched me deteriorate to the point I almost lost my baby, and now you’re trying to protect me?” she spat at him.
Mark shook his head. “You don’t understand, you don’t have the full picture, but how could you?” he mumbled more to himself than to her.
She wanted to leave and never see him again, but something held her back. She searched his face for the answer.
Mark began to pace back and forth, running his hands through his auburn hair mumbling more to himself. Then suddenly, as if he had come to a conclusion stopped with his eyebrows lifted and smiled.
“He left something for you, didn’t he?” he asked excitement in his voice.
“Kyle? No. Why would he leave me anything? How would he know to?” Lola asked baffled by his question.
Mark stopped pacing and grabbed Lola above both of her elbows.
“In the last couple months, have you received an envelope…plain, maybe with your name on it?”
Recognition beamed inside Lola’s mind. She had never thought it would have been from Kyle, because of him, sure, but not from him.
“I did…Bryon brought me something like that this morning. My name was on the outside, but I didn’t recognize the handwriting. Do you think it was from Kyle?” she asked panic raising in her voice.
“I do.”
She wondered how Mark would even had thought to ask. Why would Kyle leave something for her, and not say anything? Her brain staggered as more questions filled her mind.
“But…how - how would you know?” she asked.
“Because he sent me one too. I found it the day before…the day before the accident. I had been alone at my office late one night, writing another article, everything was normal. Then Barb, came in, I don’t think you ever met her, it doesn’t matter,” he said shaking his head. “But she brought it in, and of course I opened it up, and it was from Kyle. It was a strange sort of letter that didn’t make any sense, and at the end it said just in case, keep an eye on her.
“Well, then you know what happened next, and I knew then that the ’her’ in his letter had to be you. I kept a close eye on you because he asked me too.”
Lola crossed her arms over her chest, and looked around the alley. Finally she turned back to him.
“You think Kyle sent me a cryptic letter?” she asked irritated. She wasn’t sure what was making her so infuriated. Maybe it was because he stood there pretentiously expecting some great revelation to come, or because he gotten to hide out playing good cop, while her whole world had fallen apart.
“Lola, I get it, you’re mad at me. I’m okay with that.” he said lowering his gaze to meet hers. “But this is our situation right now. I have something in my possession that Kyle trusted me with, and he may have left you something as well, don’t you want to know?”
She huffed then nodded, her irritation passing as the passion in his voice consumed her. She couldn’t deny the curiosity that filled her bones, the ache in her chest she felt whenever she heard his name. If there was a chance that she could see a bit of him again, even if it was just in his writing, she would do it.
The gentle raindrops began to grow more steadily, as Lola considered what to do next. A large peel of thunder cracked above them, and the clouds opened up to unleash a fury.
“My car is right around the corner!” Mark yelled over the storm. Lola nodded obediently, and took the hand he held out for her. It was warm, a familiarity in his grasp. They jogged down the street, eyes squinted in the rain, and quickly got into his black coupe.
Mark reached behind Lola, and pulled an old t-shirt from the backseat then handed it to her so she could dry off. Lola reluctantly took it, and pressed it against her face. It smelled of a faint cologne, she had almost forgotten.
“Thank you,” she said handing it back to him. He took it, and swiped his own face then tossed it onto the backseat again.
They rode in awkward silence for a moment, watching the rain pelt down while the windshield wipers kept their steady beat.
“I’m sorry.” he said taking a deep breath. “I didn’t think you needed me to…” he stumbled looking for the right words. “I had no idea you needed me.”
“But I called.” she said.
“You called me once, Lola. Not a hundred times. You called once, but you didn’t even leave a message. I realize now I should have called you back, and I’m sorry.” he glanced over to her, regret filling his eyes.
She considered this for a moment, then her composure softened.
“I’m sorry too,” she said.
“For what?”
“For…not leaving a message.”
They pulled into her parent’s driveway, and braced themselves for the onslaught of rain, and ran to the front door bursting inside. They slipped off their sodden shoes, and walked back to Lola’s bedroom. She closed the door gently behind her, and reached for the manila envelope that still lay on her dresser untouched.
She took a deep breath, and broke the seal. Inside lay a single white sheet of paper with a small paragraph in a script she certainly would die before she ever forgot.
My dearest Lola,
Remember that time, when we sipped pink candy under the sunset. Before the tides had changed, and the music had set. We walked hand in hand to a land faraway, where treasures were found and where a hobbit might stay.
Lola read the poem three times, before she shook her head in frustration.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
“May I?” Mark asked reaching for the paper. He studied it for a moment then agreed. “It’s just like mine. A poorly written poem that's incoherent."
Lola sat on down on her bed and rubbed her forehead. It was true, she thought. She knew Kyle was trying to tell her something, and she was going to find out what it was.
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