Enkindling by Summer Rose

It can’t be. It’s impossible.

I can’t believe that the man I thought I’d never see again is standing right before me… and saved my life, for that matter.
I remembered it all as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
The heady smell of youth filled me with such hope for the future. I was young, full of potential, and in love.
In love with the specter in front of me. William Carter, my current knight in shining armor, was the storm that threw me asunder all those years ago.
The pain and devastation he left in his wake was hard to forget… even decades later.
I didn’t plan it this way.
I was meant to keep an eye on her from a distance and then disappear into the crowd. But fate finally caught up to me, I guess.
I knew the universe was just itching for this reunion. Poetic justice came in the form of being face to face with the woman who believed me dead.
A part of me was ready for this, but I can’t say the same for Kathleen Cruz.
She did well for herself after all these years. An esteemed young professor at a revered university and well on her way toward the Dean position, no less.
I can tell this unexpected meeting has knocked the wind out of her, as evidenced by the look in her eyes. Her mouth tried to come up with the words, but no sounds come.
And then, like a candlelight fighting for its life against strong winds, her consciousness flickers and then goes out as she falls to the pavement.