“Shit,” he muttered.

“What?” Chelsea asked, annoyed at the fact that Alexander had interrupted her story about some bridal boutique she had visited earlier in the day.

“It’s snowing and Olivia doesn’t have her jacket.”

Chelsea exhaled loudly. “Who cares? She’s a big girl. She’ll be okay. I mean, you don’t really need a jacket in a car anyway.”

“She wouldn’t have driven over here,” Alexander said, realizing how much he really did know about Olivia and how little he knew about Chelsea. He knew Olivia was probably walking around the city at that moment. How could he just let her leave? He should have at least made sure she got home okay. He hadn’t been thinking clearly and now he feared for her safety.

He looked over at Chelsea as she filed her nails. “I have to go.” He ran out the door, leaving her.

“Alex, wait!” Chelsea said loudly.

Alexander ignored her cries and ran down the hallway, thinking how it was the second time in so many days that he walked out on Chelsea. He called Martin quickly, telling him to meet him outside with the SUV immediately. Within a few minutes, he jumped into the car.

“Martin, she’s walking around out here without a jacket. I need to find her. Just drive to her house. Maybe we can catch her on the way.”

Martin didn’t even need to ask who. He knew there was only one person that could cause Alexander to look so rattled. At that moment, he knew that Olivia was back.

~~~~~~~~~~

As she walked through the Boston streets after leaving Alexander’s office, snow falling at a steady clip, Olivia didn’t know what to do. She needed something to dull the pain. Her mind went to the first thing she could think of…alcohol. She spotted a liquor store and ran into it, grabbing several bottles and paying. Back outside, she continued down Boylston Street, clutching her bag of alcohol as if her life depended on it.

Out of nowhere, a broad-shouldered man stepped in front of her, glaring. “Olivia,” he sneered. “I knew you would come back to town.”

She gaped at him, wide-mouthed. “Could my luck get any worse today?” She tried to push him aside but he grabbed her, holding her in place. He looked familiar, but Olivia couldn’t place him. “Listen, if we used to sleep together, great. But I’m so not interested, okay?”

“Oh, we never slept together, but if you’re offering…” A crooked smile crept across his face as his fingers traced down her damp dress.

Her heart started racing as she attempted to step back. “How do you know my name then?”

“We’ve been looking for you for quite a while, Olivia. Or do you go by Sarah?”

Olivia looked around. The street was bustling with rush hour commuters coming and going. Cars crawled at a sluggish pace along the busy road. No one appeared to notice her predicament so she did the only thing she could think of…she opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could before pushing the man aside and bolting down the street. Her hands were shaking and numb from the cold as she clutched her brown paper bag.

~~~~~~~~~~

Martin turned the corner onto Boylston Street and the SUV continued to crawl. Alexander scanned the streets, desperate to find Olivia, if only to make sure she wasn’t walking in the snow.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, seeing a woman who looked like Olivia running away from a large man. He threw open the car door and ran across the street onto the sidewalk. “Olivia!” he shouted.

She paused briefly, hearing a familiar voice. Turning around, she saw Alexander running after her, clutching her jacket. She shook her head before she continued down the busy street. The strange man gained on her as she desperately ran away from him, wondering why no one thought it was odd that a large man was chasing a woman during a snow storm on one of Boston's busiest streets. Within a few moments, Olivia heard a scuffle behind her. She paused, catching her breath, before she glanced over her shoulder. Alexander was on top of the strange man, punching him repeatedly.

Fearful that he would do some serious damage, she turned around and ran to him. “Alex!” she cried out. “Stop!” She took a deep breath as he raised his eyes to meet hers, his fist in mid-air, ready to strike again. “Please,” she begged quietly.

Alexander glared at the man he had pinned to the ground. He looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen him before. That was never a good sign. The man moaned out in pain. “You go near her again, I’ll fucking kill you.” Alexander slammed his head into the pavement one last time before standing up, watching as the strange man quickly raised himself off the ground and ran away in the opposite direction.

Alexander walked over to Olivia. “You forgot your jacket,” he said softly, handing her the coat in his hand, switching from angry, temperamental, controlling Alexander to sweet, caring, compassionate Alexander.

She stared at him, still clutching her brown bag.

“You shouldn’t be out here walking. It’s not safe,” he said quietly.

Olivia grabbed her jacket out of his hands. “Stop trying to save me, Alex,” she hissed. “I don’t need your help.” She turned and continued down the street.

“Well, then, what do you want from me, Olivia?” he asked loudly, watching her walk away.

She spun around abruptly and searched his eyes. “I don’t want you to always feel like you have to come and help me, Alex,” she whimpered, her throat beginning to close up again, thinking about the man who was no longer hers. “I just want you to stand by my side while I try to help myself.”

Her words caught Alexander off-guard. He had always tried to protect her. He failed to do that at an early age and spent the last several months trying to make up for that.

Her eyes narrowed, staring at him as he remained silent on the busy Boston street. “Do you think you can do that?” She looked at him as snow continued to blanket the sidewalk, desperately wanting him to say that yes, he could do that. That he would stand by her side. That he would forget all about her running out on him. That he would do anything he could to make sure she never did the same thing again.

But, instead, Alexander just stood there and stared, not saying anything.

Several moments passed, the silence deafening. “That’s what I thought.” Her eyes fell as she turned and continued to walk, shivering from the snow and the last shattered pieces of her heart being stomped on.

Alexander tried to open his mouth to say something, anything. Tell her to wait. Stop. He made a mistake. But nothing came out. He knew he had just let the only woman he would ever truly love walk out of his life, and he did nothing. He watched his entire world fall apart and he didn't do anything to stop it. All of a sudden, he felt more lonely than he had ever felt in all his thirty years.