“Hey fella, you want to go outside?”

The pug immediately started jumping up and down and spinning in circles.

“Okay... okay, god you act like you’ve been trapped inside the house for days,” I stated as I opened one of the French doors that led to the fenced back yard.

Raking a hand through my hair as I walked back into the living room, I stopped and picked the phone off the floor and clicked the on button to see if I broke another phone. The humming noise indicated it was still useable.

Setting the cordless phone onto the glass coffee table, I decided I should take my daily walk to the mail box. This had been my only source of fresh air and exercise the past several weeks. Deep in my heart, I was always hoping there would be some letter or card from Lizz and every day I would walk back to the house with a heaviness laying in my chest.

Opening the front door, my heart skipped a beat. “Lizz?”

There she stood on my front doorstep, a look of uncertainty etched on her face.

My first impulse was to grab her and squeeze her but I kept my emotions in check, waiting for her to tell me what the surprise visit was for.

It was only a matter of seconds before my body was pulled into the tightest squeeze Lizz could muster, nearly knocking me off my feet. I hugged her back as hard as I dared without cutting off her oxygen.

She pulled me out of her embrace and looked up at me, her eyes teared up. “Nick, we need to talk.”

“Okay,” I agreed and followed her into the house.

She quickly sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to her, inviting me to sit beside her. Obediently, I sat down.

Before she spoke, she started rubbing her hands back and forth on the top of her blue jeans. She drew in a breath before she spoke, I was scared to think of what she needed to say to me.

“Nick, I need you to just sit and hear me out before you say anything, okay?”

I nodded in agreement.

Sighing, she quietly started. “First, I want to tell you that I’m sorry for the way I acted back at the hospital when you last came to see me. There was so many things going on in my brain and I was running from everything. You scared me, Brian scared me, I was ashamed of myself and the things that had happened to me in that building.”

As I opened my mouth to speak, she quickly placed a finger to my lips.

“You wanted to be closer to me and I pushed you away, I just didn’t want you to get involved with someone like me. I felt dirty and unworthy of anyone’s love. After I checked out of the hospital, I spent probably a good week thinking about everything and feeling sorry for myself. It was after I nearly took some desperate measures and started thinking stupid, suicidal thoughts, I got help and I went to counseling.”

“Oh Lizz,” I murmured.

“Nick, I came to one conclusion and I can’t run from it anymore. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I just wanted to tell you that.”

I took her hands in mine. “I’ve never stopped loving you Lizz.”

She smiled and sighed. “I guess what we need to do now is start over again, and really try out what we know we both want. We need to figure out where we stand and the best way to do that is to, as Brian says, take it one day at a time. We need to prove to ourselves that no obstical can keep us from one another. No Terri, no Agnes, no Vinnie can take what we’ve felt in our hearts and deny our happiness. We need to believe in ourselves.” She reached up and captured my face in her hands. “We need to believe again.”

And then it happened for the first time in our friendship, I leaned down and caught her mouth in a passionate kiss.

Life was looking up for us. I didn’t hear the phone ring but the answering machine barked with Kevin’s voice.

”Nick? are you there? It’s me Kevin...pick up....”

Not breaking my attention from Lizz, my hand slapped around behind the couch until it made contact with the answering machine, sending it crashing to the floor, stopping the intrusive voice.

Lizz giggled when I quickly scooped her up and carried her up the stairs.

Today was the day we were going to start over.

Today was the day we were going to believe again.