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by Grace Singer
From Part Two: Chapter Six
Evangeline was having a very long day.
She looked back on the past month like a fairy tale. It was some grand story. She was a town hero, unlikely but a hero nonetheless.
The Savior Jogger they called her in all the headlines.
After a rush of adrenaline she picked up Vivienne Bradley, a woman she didn't know and carried her out of the park. She was so pumped she actually managed to run with the slight woman slung over her shoulder. She'd never known that kind of strength on her own, had only ever known that kind of strength used against her.
Flagging down a mid-morning motorist this wintry Sunday who just happened to be driving a police cruiser, she climbed into the back with her charge. The color drained from Sheriff McGinley's face. He floored the pedal and raced around the lake as fast as he dare go. He radioed it into the station which called over to the hospital. Vivienne Bradley was out cold, still breathing, but obviously worse for the wear.
James was there five seconds after the sheriff, having received a courtesy call from the station. He drove like a man possessed, risking everything to be at his wife's side.
The whole day played out in her memory like a dream. It didn't seem possible that she had really saved Vivienne's life. She didn't think it was any brave or great thing. She'd only just passed out. If Evangeline had walked away she was sure someone else would have found her before long.
That was the difference she didn't quite understand. She didn't wait for someone else to help her. She made a split second decision and followed through with it, for better or worse, so much the better in this case. Her efforts had earned James' eternal debt and Vivienne's quiet thanks.
That was last month. This month Evangeline could barely keep her head up in chemistry. She had to pass this class to get into her college of choice. She had no idea what she wanted to study, but she knew she had to have good grades across the board. Science was never a strong suit, but she struggled through it with the best intentions.
She felt like eyes were glued to the back of her head. Someone had been staring at her all day. She would be glad when the bell rang and class ended. She could go home and hide in her room. Maybe Emma would bother her, though with the thick covering of snow and the freezing cold she didn't think she'd climb a tree to pop through her window.
She didn't realize that Cody Martin had been the one gazing at her all morning and afternoon.
Cody had an open heart and a thing for chicks who walked to a different beat. He'd always had a tiny, little thing for Persephone, but she was a distant constellation he could never reach. He knew that. He contented himself with friendship and that was more than good enough. Staring at Evangeline he thought perhaps she was a star, out in the cold, dusty sky. She was sitting up so high and sparkling so brightly he thought his eyes might burn out of his head before he could memorize the line of her mouth, the curve of her eye and the arresting blue shade of iris. It wasn't blue like Persephone's blue. This shade was pale as ice.
Chemistry was one of the things they had in common. Cody was equally dismal at the equations and experiments. He'd offer her help just as an excuse to be near, but he couldn't do any better than she. He was trying to think of a reason to talk to her that didn't have to do with Dougray Kirkland.
Doug wasn't exactly in the picture anymore. Evangeline didn't know why, but she was grateful and never pretended not to be. Her rescue mission and the following media had spooked Doug away. Maybe she was stronger and smarter. Maybe she was just waiting for the right moment to strike. He figured he should get out now before someone noticed that their local hero had bruises from fighting off her boyfriend and his twisted buddies.
The best part was that even though she didn't notice it yet, something had dislodged in Evangeline. Something that was lost and broken had been found. Still in pieces and far under her radar it started to re-forge itself. She was doing little things that she didn't even notice. She was on the verge of standing up for herself.
Vivienne certainly owed her, as did James, but years later Evangeline would consider the debt repaid for the single act that returned her self-confidence.
Chewing on the end of her pen she tried to remember what the teacher had said. When it wasn't in her mouth her pen was scribbling in the margins. It was mostly nonsensical ramblings that had nothing to do with anything, but one little scribble made her heart leap. She'd drawn a juvenile looking heart, the type goofy girls in love scribble on every cover. Hers didn't have the standard I before or the [insert boys name here] after, but it was still there. In pen. A single, perfect heart, the best she'd ever drawn.
She frowned and closed her notebook rather loudly. Even if in her misguided hearts she had feelings for Doug, the heart was not drawn for him. She was smart enough to figure that out. The time they'd spent together ate away at her feelings for him until alas, they were almost gone.
This heart was for someone else and she had no idea who. She would tell people years later at anniversary parties, or whenever it happened to come up in conversation that she never would have guessed about that silly little heart. Not in a million years. It felt important enough to keep so she carefully tore that little section of lined paper from her notebook when she returned home and found a safe place to tuck it away. The day they were married he had it framed for her and it still hangs in their living room.
Right now Cody wasn't really thinking about the future. He was just thinking about Evangeline. He kept circling her in a bouquet of flowers in his head adding perfectly drawn hearts as the fantasy seemed to grow.
Light and sound seemed to dim as he thought of the bright turn of her smile. He couldn't concentrate any more than she as he gazed at the texture and shade of her hair.
The bell rang and two students sat dazed at their desks. On the way out she smiled at him. It was encouraging enough that he just blurted out a hello, even as she passed him on her way out the door. She stopped and turned to listen. This was one of the kids Doug had beaten up. She didn't know his name, had never considered him considering he was even quiet than herself.
"I'm Cody," he said as if every hope he carried counted on this one simple introduction.
"Hi Cody," she said with a polite smile. "I'm Evangeline."
"Yeah, town hero," he said with a tug at the back of his neck, a shy gesture. He felt a little bashful and wasn't sure what to say now.
"Would you like to walk me home?" she asked, willing to take a chance on meeting someone new.
He nodded with a big grin and a little blush. She didn't think anything of it at the time but in the years to come she would look back on that moment and think how wonderful it is to meet someone who will change your life.
The walk home was nothing special. They were mostly quiet, observing the steady drip of icicles and the chilly wind bearing down from the north. She was in completely the opposite direction, but Cody never minded. He'd be walking her home for the rest of the year, rain or shine, cold or warm with a smile on his face.