Brandon drove slowly, rounding the steep curves lined with sporadic
homes and foliage which held the two lane road in its' embrace.
The view through the windshield of the vehicle sparked memories for Brandon.
"It's never looked this beautiful up here before," Brandon said as he
found an open area to park in.
"What do you mean? As much as we used to come up here and make
love. The view hasn't changed a bit. Speaking of making love, I hope
that isn't the reason that you brought me up here?"
"I told you that I have changed. Would it be nice to make love to you?
Yes, it would be wonderful. Unfortunately, under the circumstances,
I don't think that would be in your best interest."
"I'll say."
"You'll say what?"
"I'll say that you have changed for the good."
"Well thank you for noticing the new me."
Brandon faced Gwen and told her that if she needed to talk about
anything his ears and eyes were hers. She declined for a moment then
she opened up to him.
"You know Brandon, this is going to sound strange, but I have tried to
see the good in what Jes has done. For her, the good is that she is at
rest and not running from herself. The bad is that the issues that were
pressing her, she could have done something about.
It seems that people think the best way out of a problem that looks unsolvable is to
remove themselves from it completely. I don't think Jes ever saw a
solution to her problem because all she was ever focused on was the
problem."
Gwen turned her head away from Brandon to hide tears that were
swelling in her eyes.
"It's OK to cry baby," Brandon said as he placed his hand on top of
hers.
"You know, crying is the good thing. The bad thing is that after the
tears are all dried, the problem still exists."
"True."
"She could have come to me with anything Brandon. What made her
call deaths name before she called my name? She has called on me so
many times before, what was so different about this time?"
"Maybe that is why she didn't call on you this time."
"Why?" Gwen said drying her face.
"Because she had called on you so many times before. Maybe this
time she felt the need to take care of things herself, for herself, and this
was the way that she dealt with it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to us,
but to her it was the only way to handle the problem."
"You're right it doesn't make a lot of sense to me and I can't say that it
ever will."