#69

Looking back over his shoulder at the sun, the sun is just starting to set against the still-blue sky.

“Are you coming?” He turns around and sees Jessy half-turned and looking at him impatiently with a slight smile playing across her lips. He smiles back and jogs up next to her. “What were you looking at?”

“I don’t know. Something in the sky I guess.” He shrugs as they continue walking down the railroad tracks. “Nothing really.

Jessica steps up on a rail and spreads her arms apart to keep balance. She wobbles some and he quickly steps close and catches her with an arm around her waist. She flicks a smile at him. He returns. Sliding his hand away, he reaches up and takes her hand to help balance and the keep walking, a little slower than before. Every so often she wobbles and puts her weight on him and he stiffens his arm to give her support. ‘It’s very important to always be there when needed, no matter how small’ he thinks to himself. She needs someone. So even now, Angel gives it as much of his strength as he can. Is there any other way to be? Just giving some or doing only what you want to do leads to trouble. Best to give everything you have.

“Want to go to the park?” She asks.

“What’s at the park?”

“I don’t know. I’m bored. We could ride on the swings or something.”

“Alright.”

The two kept walking, hand in hand, one raised up on the rail and the other below. Then Jessica stepped on an abnormally slippery part of the rail and started to fall. Angel reacted quickly as if he had been waiting for the moment (and in some ways he had). He shifted his weight and stepped quickly and caught her around the stomach before she struck the ground. They stood there for a moment, with her back a foot from the ground with him standing over her, holding her up. They looked at each other silently until she breathed “Thanks.” And then he pulled her back up to her feet.

Jessica tilted her head slightly and stepped close to him. “Are you always going to catch me like that?” Then she wrapped her arms around his neck as he was replying “Yes.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too Jessica.”

And then the leaned close. Their lips met and gently came away. Standing there so close, they looked into each other’s eyes. Angel noticed something he hadn’t ever noticed before. In the glint and sparkle that so-often shone in Jessica’s eyes, he saw something new. There, deep within her blue eyes, he could see the world. Absolutely everything in the world was right there, right there in her sparkling blue eyes.