Prologue : tears on my windowpane.

A cup of coffee in one hand, her phone in the other hand, she looked at the rain falling outside. The downpour had started one hour ago, along with her tears, and it hadn't stopped for a minute. Neither had her silent sobs. Her hair was still slightly wet from the shower she had just before the phone call.

She shouldn't be feeling this way, she knew it. Yet, there was no reasoning with the tears that kept falling quietly and as slowly as the raindrops on the windowpane. She closed her eyes for a second, breathed deeply in and out several times, then... she made up her mind. She put the receiver down on its base, grabbed her car key, her purse, forwent her jacket and braved the heavy rain only wearing jeans and a dark red tanktop. The cold air seized her but she ignored the goosebumps on her bare arms. The weather had turned abruptly from sunny to cold and rainy, matching her heart's mood, as if Nature had felt the drama enfolding. She climbed into her car and started the engine.

She drove too fast in this weather and she could almost hear Broots warning her, as he had done so many times. About her driving ? About him ? She pressed harder on the pedal, ignoring the warnings from an imaginary Broots.

It took her only twelve minutes to reach his house, which wasn't long considering that she'd never been there. She knocked only once. He would have this unique opportunity and that was all. A small part of her heart wished he wouldn't hear her knocking. He did. He opened the door and his facial expression was one of pure shock upon seeing his visitor.

« Parker ? What... »

Whatever he wanted to ask was easily forgotten. And soon, his question and even her answer didn't matter. She hadn't come here to talk and had quickly interrupted his question by entering his house and closing the door forcefully while she grabbed his face and kissed him.

He responded instantly to her kiss, just as she had predicted. He kissed her passionately, fighting her for control, as he always did. He pushed her gently enough against the entrance door, letting his right hand tangle up her tresses while his left hand wandered down her back and on her waist. She lost herself in his passion, didn't resist when he directed her – still kissing – donw the hall, towards his bedroom. He had been waiting long enough and working hard enough to have her. She wondered whether he knew from the start that it was more a matter of ''when'' than ''if''. And tonight, she decided that she had suffered enough behind her walls. Walls built up to protect herself. Walls that had imprisonned her inside, forcing happiness to wait outside, looking for a door that was never there to start with. As he lay her down on the bed, kissing her neck, she thought about the door Thomas had built in her house. She closed her eyes and decided it was time to open it again and stop suffering. Foolish dreams, she thought. Then, she moaned from his kisses and wandering hands and stopped thinking altogether.

In her purse, abandonned on the floor in the entrance, her phone rang several times, unnoticed by the lovers down the hall. The caller finally heard the woman's cold ''Parker's phone, leave a message''. He sighed.

« Parker, it's Lyle. I just heard the news. I … I wanted to check on you. Hear if you were okay. Call me back. »

Giving thought to what he just said, he added : « Or not. Your choice. »

He hit the end button. He hated answering machines. But not as much as he hated showing his sister he cared, if only a little.