Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Asshole.
Leslie returns and kicks my foot with hers. Slowly, I open one eye, look at her, and try to discern the expression on her face. Regardless of whatever goes on in my life, she’s on my side. It’s part of our bestie pact. We always have each other’s backs. But I know she likes—or liked—Wade the times she met him back in college. He would come visit and he always treated her with the utmost respect and included her in everything we did.
I take the proffered drink and sit up. After a sip, I set it on the coffee table in front of me, which is littered with gossip, fashion, and love life magazines. One catches my attention. I reach for it and flip to the page that says where I can find out who my soulmate is.
“Don’t do it,” Leslie warns. “It’s such a waste of time.”
“Says the one who is happily married.”
“You could be happily married by now,” she says, rubbing it in. I don’t know if she’s right or wrong. I do know I haven’t been happy in a long time, and part of me wonders if I’ve ruined any chance at happiness. At times, I think Wade is who I was meant to be with but, then we . . . well, he messed that up and I haven’t forgiven him.
And it seems I haven’t gotten over it yet. I thought I had, but then I saw her—his daughter and everything came rushing back.
I take another drink and set the glass down. “She looks just like her.”
“It’s expected.”
My head shakes as my heart aches. “I’ve done so well putting her out of my mind because I never had to see her. When she was here for the summer, I could be gone. I had things down to a science and now . . .”
“Maybe she’ll move back to Jacksonville soon.”
One could hope. “Maybe Wade will move there or something.”
“You’d be more depressed than you are now.”
I smirk. “Yes and no. I do a pretty good job of avoiding places he goes. I never head to the bar, and I always go to the grocery store when I know he’s busy mowing. I even have a system at work where Jean is the one to handle all the landscaping issues.”
Listening to my rationale makes me groan. I plop back, my head landing softly on the beige-colored pillow. “When did my life become so complicated?”
Leslie chuckles, and I glance toward her. She lifts her wrist, looking at the watch that isn’t there and says, “Your senior year of college when you convinced yourself you were better off single.”
“You helped.”
“Actually, I didn’t.”
“I mean . . . sort of.” I shrug, hoping she feels the least bit sorry for me. The truth is, Wade and I were “missing” each other. Not only with the long-distance relationship, but calls weren’t being returned, and when they were, we both were accusatory toward each other. “What could be more important than talking to me?” Those conversations turned into fights, and I saw how Leslie was with her boyfriend and yearned for some balance and normalcy. I asked for a break.
And got it in spades.
“I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the year, Les.” Shaking my head, I sit up and reach for my drink. “I’m not going to be able to ignore her or him, and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to keep my emotions in check. I think that’s why I asked if I knew him because it’s easier than looking into his baby blues and remembering everything.”
“Have you considered sitting and talking to him?”
Another shake.
“Why not?”
With a slight shrug, I glance her way. “And say what? Why did you cheat on me? Why did you run to the first person to give you attention?” Did I mean so little to you after so many years that you’d jump into bed with someone the same night I asked for a break?”
“For all he knew, you did the same thing.”
“But I didn’t.” I stand and begin to pace.
“Wade doesn’t know that, Lemon. He probably thinks you broke up with him because you liked someone else.”
“We didn’t break up.”
“That’s the classic he said, she said shit. You call it a break, in the terms of a pause. Whatever the fuck a pause means. He called it a breakup, which means he’s free to do whatever the hell he wants.”
I turn to her. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am always on your side, but I’m also on the side of reason,” she says. “Do I think what he did was okay? Not really. Would I be pissed if it happened to me? Absolutely. Is it time to let bygones be bygones? Probably.”
Walking toward my patio slider, I look out over the apartment complex pool. There is a group of kids in there right now, splashing and having fun. Wade and I used to go to the community pool back in the day, after he mowed lawns in the morning. He would always pay for me even though we were only friends at the time.