Perfect Strangers

"I'm sorry about that. I haven't been in a fight in years. It's good to know I can still hold my own, I guess."

"Greg … and I, we're … getting a divorce." Veronica said. "We had a talk this morning and he told me … he told me some things that really explained a lot. So we've decided to end our marriage, which I think is for the best."

She looked up and saw Jason watching her.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's for the best," she repeated. "It wasn't a good marriage. Besides ... my heart is with someone else."

She reached across the table and held onto Jason's hand, squeezing it. He kept looking at her, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Veronica," he said finally, "I feel like I need to tell you about what happened to me in the past, and how I got these scars. I think you should know, so that you know what you'd be getting yourself into if we stayed together."

He dropped his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I came from a pretty bad home growing up," he began. "I was born in a small town and didn't have many friends when I was a kid. It was just me and Alexis. Sometimes I would skip school to go fuck around, you know, breaking windows and stuff. Whenever my Dad caught me he would ... hurt me pretty badly. At first he used to just hit me, but soon he realized that hitting wasn't doing the trick, so he started using a kitchen knife."

"Oh, my God," Veronica said, bringing a hand up to her mouth. She squeezed Jason again and he waited a few seconds before talking again.

"That's where a lot of these scars came from. When I was 16 I ran away from home, and Alexis came with me. She was 17, and we were both in high school. We managed to get to the next town and stay with a guy we met at a bar. He and Alexis were ... sleeping together, and that's how she convinced him to let us stay. We were only there for a few months when he threw us out one night, after he got drunk and got into a fight with Alexis.

"I was working at a garage full-time, so I knew a lot about cars. We hot-wired the guy's Buick and drove to a new home, a couple towns over. We had to ditch the car because he reported it stolen. Since then we've been moving around a lot, never really staying in one place for more than a year.

"Every time we move it's the same story, too. Find a new place to live, get a new job, try to scrape by. Alexis usually gets into trouble with the cops because of her work, and I'm usually the one bailing her out. If things get too heated with her pimp, or something goes wrong with a client, I have to either get her out of the jam or we bail and move to a new town.

"But now we're here. And like I said, when I first moved here I didn't really think I was going to stay that long. But I signed up for that walking group and ... and I met you. And then everything changed. You aren't like any other woman I've been with, Veronica. You make me feel so ... alive. Like everything I've gone through, everything in my past, it was all worth it just so I could meet you."

He looked up into Veronica's eyes and found her crying. She sniffed as two fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. Jason smiled and she smiled back. She saw his eyes shimmer as well. Letting out a small laugh, Jason leaned forward, kissing her.

The two held together in sweet embrace. Their chairs scraped on the floor as they moved closer together, breaking off the kiss and pulling each other in for a hug. Veronica smelled his scent through his t-shirt, felt the rising and falling of his chest as tears dripped down off her nose.

"I love you, Veronica," she heard next to her ear. She squeezed Jason tighter.

"I love you too," she whispered. A shuddering breath, and she let it out. "I love you too."

Epilogue

"This one has kitchen stuff in it, right?"

Veronica struggled to keep a hold of the heavy box as Jason looked up from the trunk of his car.

"Yeah, kitchen stuff," he called back.

"Okay, I'll just put it inside and we can unpack it when we get everything else in."

She carried t

he box into the house and through into the kitchen. The place was looking significantly more sparse than before, half of its contents having been taken by Greg.

Veronica and Greg ended up getting the divorce. Considering all that they'd been through, the two were surprisingly civilized toward one another during the proceedings. Greg said that she could keep the house, and that he would find an apartment somewhere in town. They divided their belongings and when all was said and done, they gave each other one last hug before Greg left the house for good.

A few weeks later, Veronica had asked Jason to move in with her. There was more than enough space, and besides, the house felt lonely whenever he wasn't around. She had gotten herself a full-time job at the museum, at the ecology department. She loved sharing knowledge with school groups especially; seeing all the curious little kids always made her day.

Jason was still fixing up cars, and had begun teaching Veronica a thing or two as well. He'd developed a good reputation, and always charged a fair price for the work that he did. He had also helped to check Alexis in to a health awareness clinic. She was getting away from her previous life, and used painting as a way to deal with her emotions. Veronica's house had several of her pieces up on the walls already.

Veronica and Jason talked to Nancy at the next group meeting. Nancy confessed, tearfully, to tipping Greg off and Veronica forgave her, knowing that if that had never happened she wouldn't be in the place she was now. The two decided to stay friends and got together outside of the walks.

As Jason brought in the last of the boxes, Veronica looked around the house.