My Soul Mate

This is one of my short stories from a collection I wrote a few years ago.I would appreciate some constructive criticism.

I met my husband when I was twenty one years old and it was love at first sight.Jack was my complete opposite.He was crazy about bikes,had a fondness for tribal tattoos on his arms,didnt give a damn about what other people thought and was bravest man the world.I on the other hand,was scared to drive at night,couldnt stand the sight of needles and thought strangers opinions mattered more than the ones of those I loved.But when I met Jack,on that rainy November evening,that person,..that facade,died.And the real me,the real Piper Carter,was born.

My car had broken down just outside the small town of Rossport,which funnily enough was no where near a port,and,as usual,my cell was dead.So I was kicking the trunk of my car in temper,doing quite a bit of damage when I heard the smooth purr of a bike pull up beside me.

“You know if you keep doing that you’ll be going home without a door,” a male voice chuckled to my right.I whipped around and glared at him.Jack was a very handsome man,he had long black hair that fell to his shoulders,always untamed,messy,he,when I begged him to get it trimmed,always said that hair was a persons personality,and he was untamed.That made me laugh,after our first baby was born he went to bed with her and eight every night.

His eyes,..they were like to shining beacons of light.They were the brightest blue I had every seen,I always felt like I was drowning in those blue eyes.His features were straight and handsome.Straight nose,square jaw,high cheek bones.His lips were soft and pink,the mere sight of them made me want to kiss him all over.

“Whats it to you,”I snapped,not in the mood for jokes,even from the handsomest man I had ever laid eyes on.He hopped off his bike and those kissable lips spread into a wide grin,which,I’ll admit made my stomach flip.

“Ooh baby’s got bite,”he teased,popping the bonnet of my car open,and bending over to take a look.This gave me a perfect view to his finely put together,”bottom,”as my mother would often make me say.Man this guy was gorgeous.

“Baby,”I growled,now faking my irritation,”doesnt need your help!,”.Jack pulled back and surveyed me with amusement.He stepped back and spread one arm wide in invitation.The smirk playing on his lips now was mocking,his eyes bright.

“Then,please by all means do not let me disturb you from your mechanical duties,”he said,a hint of laughter in his voice.I stepped forward and gazed in at the mass of wires and tubes and dirty looking screws.

“Um…..the carburetor,…..”I trailed off,seeing him shake his head,laughing as he did so.I tried again,…….”The engine is um,……………broken,?”I asked.Jack laughed at my meek attempts to diagnose the problem.

He took my hand and I nearly fainted and his touch.Sparks ran up my fingers and up into my arm,my heart skipping a beat.He stared at me for a moment and the brought my hand,enclosed in his own one down to a pipe,located just under the engine.

“This is cracked,”he explained,still holding my hand in his own.”And this gives the engine oil,your out of oil,because my guess is you’ve been leaking for the past hour and your engine has ceased,”he told me,though I barely heard a word.I was still amazed this creature was touching me.

“Can you fix it,?”I asked,my voice wobbling.Jack shook his head and released my hand,closing the bonnet.

“No,I cant,it’ll have to be towed to a mechanic,”he told me his voice kind,”do you live far from here,”he asked me,and I nodded in reply,shivering slightly in the cold November air.

“Yes,about five states away,”I muttered,looking at the ground,knowing I should have gotten the damn car fixed before I took this cross country trip to visit my best friend.

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair,he then broke into a smile.”Im Jack Mason,by the way,”he said,holding out his hand.I took it immediately,wanting to feel the roughness and the softness of his hand again.”Piper Carter,”I replied smiling.

That night Jack gave me a ride to the motel he was staying at,it was also the first night we made love.We hit it off right away.He was everything I’d always wanted in a man and never knew it.Jack spoiled other men for me because they looked so weak in comparison.His touch,oh I reveled in it.That first night we got know sleep,we made love all night long.

We had known each other for about six months when he proposed.I said yes right away,it didnt matter that we hadnt known each other for a very long time,because I knew I had found my soul mate.Jack hadnt even met my parents yet and when he did,our relationship came close to ending.

We had arrived at the summer house in Main and I knew right away there was going to be trouble.Jack was everything my parents prayed I wouldnt marry.He had no prospects,my father repeated over and over again.Did he even go to collage,my mother asked,and when I told her he had attended community collage in his hometown,she looked sick.

My brothers belittled him during dinner,my sisters made snide comments about his clothes,my grandmother asked if he had a criminal record and my grandfather fell asleep when Jack told them about his mother.I was more and more in love with him each day and the fact that he sat through all that abuse when any other guy would have cut and run a long time before that made me even more sure that this was the guy I wanted to spend my life with.

The day before we were due to leave,Jack heard my father and grandfather talking in the kitchen.”I bet his parents are bad eggs,it’s always the same,if the parenets are bad,then the children are bad,”my grandfather remarked.As if his parents had been rich.”Oh certainly,”my father agreed,sipping on his brandy,”my guess is drug pushers,…”he guessed.

When I came back from the store with my sister that night,Jack,along with all his clothes were gone,and a note lay on my bed.”You’ll find someone who deserves you Piper,who deserves all your perfection,”the last line said in his messy scrawl.Now I was not one for scences,but that night I crumbled to tiny pieces.I screamed at my father,I screamed at my mother,I threw four hundered and fifety dollar vases’ at my brothers and I sobbed on my sisters shoulders.

But then I heard that distinctive purr in the driveway and I bolted outside,he was back.We married two weeks after that,in a small ceromony on the beach.My parents were not present,nor were any of my family.His were enough though,delighted that there son had found a nice girl.

Our first child,a baby girl was born nine months to the day,after that.We called her Holly and she was Jacks pride and joy.He had never been as happy and when he recived a son,christined,James Daniel Mason,our family unit was complete.We shared blissful years full of picnics and birthdays,first steps and words and laughs and school days.

When Holly was ten,and I thirty one,Jack was diagnosed with cancer.He knew about it for three months before he told me,h said he needed time,………..I wont go into details about his treatment or his pain.I’ll just tell you that Jack passed away a year later.

It has now been ten years and I have never loved again.My Jack was my soul mate,the one person in the world that understood me and loved me and I can never replace that.I hope there is such thing as heaven,because that means when I die,I’ll be with him again.It for these ten years,I’ve had to remind myself that I have his two children with me,to pieces of Jack I have loved and cared for and carried,and that need me.So I get up everyday,and breath,and give the impression that Im living,but really Im not.Because life is nothing without Jack Mason x