'Hold Back the River'

“Olivia, the first time I saw you, you were a baby. Something about you reached right out, so much more than that sad image on the television screen, and grabbed me. It’s never let go. I didn't see you again until you were twelve, gangly and brave and all haunted eyes. There was a connection. There was nothing sexual about it.”

He started back toward her, watched her shift slightly, as if to brace. “I never forgot you. You were in and out of my head. Then you were eighteen. You opened the door of your apartment, and there you were, tall and slender and lovely. A little distracted, a little impatient. Then your eyes cleared. God, I've had your eyes in my head as long as I can remember. And you smiled at me and cut me off at the knees. I've never been the same.”

River's End

________________

"Hold Back The River"

Tried to keep you close to me,

But life got in between

Tried to square not being there

But think that I should have been

Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes

Hold back the river, so I

Can stop for a minute and see where you hide

...

________________

 “I was in love with you. I fell in love with you when you sat down beside me on the riverbank, near the beaver dam, and you listened to me. It wasn't a crush.”

She gathered the courage to turn then, to face him. 

“I was only twelve, but I fell in love with you. When I saw you again, it was as if everything inside me had just been waiting. Just waiting, Noah. After you left, I closed all that off again. You were right, what you said about my turning my feelings on and off. I could. I did.”

River's End