notice that she had slipped down the covers in her sleep and was now on the floor. When she realized this, her cheeks turned red. > Pull yourself together Claire! You are a grown woman and you have far bigger problems than your bare feet. A nice shower will surely do me good. <

Immediately she went to the bathroom and washed.

Meanwhile, Ryan was standing in the kitchen making coffee. > Why do her long legs get my blood pumping?I'm here to help and what am I doing, sucker? I look at her shapely legs. The poor woman lost her parents yesterday. I urgently need to pull myself together

When Ryan looked up, Claire was standing in the doorway. The scent of fresh soap and shampoo spread across the room. "Here your coffee is ready. I just hope you like it." Carefully he handed her the hot cup and her fingers touched for a moment. Ryan quickly pulled her back and pecked his thumbs into his pants. "Have you already considered how to proceed?"

Claire took a long swig from her cup and looked at him. She really hadn't thought about that yet. Would she give up her career as a dancer and stay here or would she have the heart to sell her parents' house? "No, I haven't yet. I'll stay here for the next few days and maybe weeks and take care of everything. All the work doesn't do itself.I will try to deal with the funeral as soon as possible. Then I'll see. I still can't believe it. "

Lost in thought, they both looked at each other for a brief moment. The thought of the funeral shivered in both of them. Both Claire and Ryan drank their coffee in silence. How should it go on now? Claire took one last sip and at the same moment saw Ryan looking at her. "What is it? Do I have something in my teeth?" She was irritated by his open gesture, yet she tried to sound as normal as possible.

Smirking at her words, Ryan shook his head. "No, you haven't. I'm sorry too, but I was just thinking about how you ..." Now Claire was curious. “Like me what back then?” But her question remained unanswered as Ryan waved her off with his hand. She frowned at him for a moment, but then turned around and put her cup in the sink.As she was about to turn on the faucet, Ryan came up to her. "Take a rest. I'll take care of that for you." "Thank you very much, but I know how to do it. You don't have to serve me all the time now." Visibly offended by his offer, she held her cup under the cold one Jet of water and began to rinse them. Ryan smiled now and raised his hands in resignation. "Okay, okay. How about you do the dishes and then I dry the cups?" Claire wondered at the other person's persistence, but agreed.

After they finished, everyone went to their room as there was still enough to do. The sun shone very strongly and warmed the earth and the plants. Claire took a deep breath and stretched. When she had looked out the window in her room earlier, she had spontaneously decided to go jogging. The movement would be good for her and take a little distraction from her grief. So she put on a pair of black leggings and a gray top over them.With a satisfied look in the mirror, she left the house and began her run. She used to run through the forest and often explored this route with her father. It smelled of pine needles and fresh wood. Although Claire had always run a few laps in the park in town, it couldn't be compared with this one. How wonderfully quiet it was here. Nobody would disturb her or block her way. Here she could be free and sink into her thoughts. The world around her began to shrink and Claire only focused on what was in front of her. Somewhere in the branches there was a crack and she winced. When she looked around, Claire spotted a little squirrel that curiously had jumped down from its tree. Breathing a sigh of relief, she resounded to herself, for her flinch. > Oh man, Claire! It's just a squirrel. Nothing will happen to you here

As she walked on, she came to a clearing.Although Claire had walked this route before, she couldn't remember it. For a brief moment she sat down on the grass and rested. Her gaze wandered to the sky and she watched two birds singing together at the top of a tree. > It's just beautiful here. If I had known how beautiful everything is here, I might have come back sooner. I could have run the garden together with my mother and made long walks in the woods with my father. Maybe we would have passed this clearing. <In her mind she imagined her father sitting next to her on the grass, pulling his old straw hat low over his face. He had often given this picture on various walks. The memory brought tears to her eyes again. Never again would she see him in person and never again would she be able to watch her mother tending her beloved roses.In the distance she suddenly heard a thunder. With the edge of the top she wiped away the tears and stood up. Claire patted a few tufts of grass from her leggings and took another deep breath. You could already smell the rain and a strong wind rose slowly. Finally she turned and ran back in the direction she had come from. Since Claire had a strong sense of direction, she found her way back home without any problems.

To her surprise, she found Ryan standing in the back of the garden chopping wood. When he saw her, he waved to her and swayed the ax one more time. It was an impressive sight for Claire. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so his muscular arms were showing off, and the gathering gray clouds in the background contrasted sharply with his dark blond hair. As if spellbound, Claire stared at the man in front of her for a moment.

After breaking out of her rigidity, she approached Ryan.“What are you doing here?” Her voice was rasping. She quickly cleared her throat and waited for an answer.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with one hand. "I'll make sure we have firewood for the fireplace. I wanted to make it before the rain." Ryan glanced at the clouds and laughed. "As I see just in time. Help me." He pressed two logs into her hand and picked up seven of them himself. They quickly carried the wood into the house. It was a little warmer inside, but Claire stepped out onto the terrace one more time. The sky had darkened and you could already see the first raindrops falling. When the first lightning bolts finally appeared, she wrapped her arms around her body. She liked thunderstorms. She'd been obsessed with it as a young child.

Without her noticing, Ryan stepped behind her. With one hand he leaned against the post that held the roof in place and inhaled the air that smelled of fresh rain."Just wonderful. Don't you think so? The last time it rained a long time ago."

With a bit of disappointment, Claire found that he had his shirt back on. After a short sigh, she looked out over the lake, where the raindrops were boring like needles. "Yes, it is. I love this weather. I used to stand with my father exactly where you are." For a while they only heard the patter of the rain. Ryan eyed Claire furtively. She looked so fragile and weak, yet she looked very collected, even though she had only lost her parents. He appreciated this harshness in her because he couldn't handle tears. Also, he thought, she looked much more adorable with a smile. "I miss them both very much. Bob and Marge were so nice to me. When I get my hands on the driver of the other car, he can be prepared for something. How can you get hit and run?"

The question was meant rhetorically, but Claire was startled. "Hit and run?I thought it was an accident. What really happened "Ryan's gaze slid into the distance and he was silent for a moment." A witness observed that her parents were dragged by a car and they were therefore driven into a tree. The cowardly pig ran away and simply left the two of them wounded on the side of the road. You couldn't tell exactly who it was in the car, but it was said to have been a young man. He probably wasn't from here, because who would leave Bob and Marge hurt? "Angry about his helplessness, Ryan turned away. Claire, however, was horrified and first had to process what she had heard." My parents were pushed off the street? But why and who would bring about something like that? "

An icy cold spread inside her and she shivered. As if in a fog she went into the house and sat down next to the fireplace, in which a fire was already burning. Ryan must have sparked it before stepping out to her.Although the room was warm, Claire was still shivering. Cleo stretched out next to her and the animal's proximity comforted Claire. At least one she could always trust.

Over time it got warmer and Ryan came in too. When he saw Claire sitting in his mind, he began to worry. She didn't seem to be doing well, even though she appeared to be strong on the outside. Nevertheless, the exhaustion was written on her face. What if she suddenly collapsed? Then what should he do? Ryan had no experience of comforting others. He had gone through the same thing a few years ago when he was given news of his father's death and, weeks later, of his mother's death. The pain Claire felt was all too familiar to him. The emptiness that you felt when you realized that as of today you will no longer have someone who you can rely on one hundred percent and who loves you. He definitely had to support Claire as best he could. "Claire?"His voice was a whisper next to the crack of the fire and the crash of raindrops on the window.

Claire startled out of her trance. Once again she had withdrawn into her own world. Embarrassed by her demeanor, she lowered her gaze to the floor. It was only now that she noticed that she was still wearing her sweaty leggings. She briefly explained that she would take a shower and then went up to the first floor. Ryan watched her watchfully and carefully.