Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 133224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“I couldn’t . . .” I shrug, embarrassed. “I’m just going to get through the next two weeks of lessons, and then I’m going to have it out with him and end it.”
“Why are you waiting two weeks?”
“Because I have two weeks of summer school left, and I want to not have to go to work and be happy in front of children with a broken heart.”
And the masochist in me doesn’t want to say goodbye.
“I can’t believe he lied. He blatantly lied.”
“I know.” We walk in silence for a while.
“Are you okay?”
“It’s weird, you know. I just . . .” I pause as I try and get the wording right in my head. “It kind of feels like I’m dead inside.”
“Like how?”
“Like I’m heartbroken and devastated . . . but not surprised.”
“Well . . . I’m fucking surprised,” Juliet snaps. “Not just surprised, I’m absolutely infuriated.”
“Let’s face it. I have a type, and I should have known better. Two more weeks and I’m going to end it, and then I’ll go and stay with my parents for a couple of weeks, and by the time I get back, I’ll be stronger. This entire thing is a magnified nightmare because I have to live across the road from him. It’s not like I can never see him again. It needs to be amicable.”
“I can’t believe he lied. I’m honestly so shocked. I wonder, does Henley know?”
“Don’t say anything to Henley,” I say. “Promise me.”
“I wouldn’t, but I can’t believe it still. I’m just so shocked.”
“Jules, why would he lie if he had nothing to hide? Why would he lie?”
“You’re right. I know you’re right.” She puts her arm around me. “Fucking asshole.”
We walk in silence for a little bit longer. “So, two weeks, huh? How are you going to hold it together for two weeks?”
“I’ll be fine.” I smile sadly. “I’m going to be very busy so that I don’t have to see him, and then I might go away for the weekend with Daisy.”
“Maybe we could come too?” She smiles hopefully.
“Thanks, but I just kind of want to get away from everything and read a book with a glass of wine.”
“You’re going to be okay, Bec.” She links her arm through mine. “Whatever happens, you will be okay.”
“I know.”
“Okay, class, let’s pack up our pencils and get ready for this afternoon. The bell is just about to ring.”
The class gets to packing up their equipment. It’s Friday afternoon, and thank god for that. It’s been a long week. “Remember, Monday morning we’ve got the farm animals coming in to meet us. Don’t be late because I hear there are baby sheep.”
The class chatters with excitement.
“Dr. Grayson,” someone yells. “Dr. Grayson is here.”
I glance out the window to see Blake with Daisy on a leash. He’s still dressed in his suit, so he must have come straight from work. What the hell is he doing here?
I walk out the front door of the classroom. “What’s going on?” I call out to him.
He smiles and waves, then walks over to me. “Daisy and I are here to sweep you away for the weekend.”
What?
“I don’t want to go away this weekend.”
“You will when you get there.” He smiles.
Damn it, this is the last thing I feel like doing.
All I know is that if I’m trapped away with him for the whole weekend, we are going to fight. It’s already on the tip of my tongue.
“I’ve got some more things to do. I’ll just be a minute.” I bend down and pat Daisy as she jumps around on the leash. Great, now he brings my fur baby into it too.
“Okay, we’ll be waiting.” He gives me a playful wink.
Ugh . . .
I go back into my classroom and wait as my class packs up their things, and I glance out the window at him standing there in his suit with my dog.
A sense of déjà vu comes over me.
The exotic weekend away.
Exactly like I predicted, exactly like I’ve lived before.
Indigestion burns my chest as the stress takes a physical hold.
My heart begins to seep into the bottom of my shoe, and I know that I can’t do this anymore. I have to talk to him today. As much as I’ve been dreading doing it and hoping that it wasn’t going to come to this because he was going to prove me wrong, I can’t hold it in anymore. I can’t act like I’m not dying inside.
Because I am.
Every single second that he lies to me, it’s like a knife through my heart.
I thought Blake was my forever man, my one true love.
“Once you have packed everything away, can you all come and sit on the mat as we wait for the bell, please?” I call to my class.
They run around and hurriedly pack everything away, then dive for the mat. They sit with their legs crossed and their backs straight.