I smacked my lips. “Yeah, me too.”
We shared a laugh.
Since I chilled with Kaye in between seeing the animals that had an appointment, that made my day go by faster. Once four came, I walked out the door without looking back. On the drive home, I stopped by a burger place to get a bacon hamburger with potato wedges. I was very hungry since I’d barely had time for a break. When I got home, I wouldn’t have much to do. Before Jonathan and I broke up, we’d watch movies or spend time outside the house after work. I was lonely, and when I was home alone, I felt it tenfold. I never thought my life would end up like this. It was hard to let go of the past and the grief of my parents’ deaths. When Jonathan broke my heart, I thought I wouldn’t be able to move on. Still, I tried daily. Mostly, I felt alone. Maybe I needed more cats. I did want to heal from all my past trauma. If it got any worse, I might have to go to therapy. I was very unhappy.
I yawnedas I pushed the buggy down the aisle at the grocery store. Work had been rough today. We had an aggressive dog come in. The owner knew better than to bring a dog in without proper protection for the workers and anyone else in the clinic. We had a hard time sedating him. I almost walked out because of all the aggravation I felt. If I had it my way, I would call out from work tomorrow, but I had to sit in on a surgery as an assistant. That was another part of my job that I loved.
With animals, I liked to be hands-on. Since I was a little girl, I got scolded a lot because I’d run in the woods after squirrels or even rabbits if I saw one. As I got older, I wanted to learn more about them. Now that I worked at a vet clinic, I saw all types ofanimals people had. My goal in life was to have my own vet clinic with a research center. I’d be seeing it through in the near future.
The sound of a woman’s laughter had me snapping my neck in her direction. I remembered I used to laugh like that — full of pure joy. Now, I didn’t know what joy looked like. The woman seemed awfully familiar to me, and the baby bump she had looked like she was about to deliver any minute now. When the man came into view, I couldn’t help but gasp loudly. It was like my eyes were deceiving me. It felt like déjà vu. It pained me to see Jonathan with this woman again. They seemed to be very happy while I tried picking the pieces of my life up. I had to get the hell out of there before he saw me. I didn’t need him coming over to gloat like I knew he would. That was the type of man he was. He cared nothing for anybody’s feelings but his own.
With quickness, I rotated my buggy in the other direction and crashed into a box of sodas that were in the aisle.
“Shit!” I hissed and kept it moving. It was for the best, and I didn’t want Jonathan to see me.
I was near the register when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I swirled around, ready to slap the piss out of him since I had a feeling it was him. He needed to keep his hands off me.
“Keep your damn hands off me,” I growled, shooting daggers at him.
Jonathan raised his hands and took a step back away from me. “My bad. I saw you and wanted to come to say wassup.”
I arched a brow.Is he being for real?I felt eyes studying us, but I refused to look around to see who it was.
“No, you came over here to gloat. We have no reason to talk to each other. You’re dead to me. Don’t ever in your life try to talk to me again!”
It took everything to hold back the tears that wanted to spill from my eyes. I saw Jonathan for who he really was, and that was a little ass boy. He was with another woman, so why in thehell did he want to speak to me? He didn’t care that he’d hurt me. Did he care how that might look to the other woman? He insisted on hurting me, and I hated that.
“Man, you don’t even have to act like that. I’m trying to be nice to you. You can never let shit go!” He huffed as if he was in the right.
Why did I feel like he was trying my patience just now? I felt like I was being tested. And truthfully, I was about to fail if Jonathan didn’t get out of my face.
“If you know what’s best for you, you’ll get the hell out of my face,” I threatened through clenched teeth. “You’ve broken my heart yet again. Do you even care? I was fine without seeing you. Just be a man and leave me the hell alone. We have nothing else to say to each other.”
I walked away from him, saying nothing else. Damn those groceries. How in the hell was I supposed to heal if I kept seeing Jonathan everywhere I went? What made matters worse was that he’d come to talk to me as if we were cool. What would be the point in trying to heal my broken heart?
I made it back to my car and climbed in with tears streaming down my nutmeg brown face. I rested my head on the steering wheel and gave in to the ugly cry I needed. Jonathan made me hate him, and I hated him with everything I had inside of me. I wished to God I never saw him again.
Three WeeksLater
It had been a while since I had gone to the gym. The only thing I had been doing was putting on weight, which wasn’t good for me, especially since I was already curvy. Before I slacked off with my workout, I used to love going to the gym. Now, I was back and ready to put in extra work if I had to. I’d run on the treadmill for a while before I went to the punching bag.
Before I could start walking on the treadmill, I felt someone behind me. I whipped my head around and came face to face with Nashton Sims — the gym owner. He was fine with a creamed coffee complexion, a full beard, and heart-shaped lips. He had dark brown, hooded eyes with a low fade. It had been awhile since I laid eyes on him. Whenever we did see each other, he’d flirt with me, but I always brushed it off.
“Wassup witcha? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you here.”
I shrugged and stepped down from the treadmill and had to tilt my head back. He was tall, about six foot one with hella tattoos.
“I took a step back from working out.” That wasn’t a lie, but I knew I was about to pay for it.
He whistled. “Good luck to you then. Your muscles are about to burn.”
I rolled my eyes skyward. “You don’t have to rub it in.”
We shared a laugh.
“I’ll let you get to it then. If you need me, be sure to reach out.” With that, he walked away, moving with confidence, his head held high.
I got back on the treadmill and picked up my phone to turn on some music. Once I found what I wanted to listen to, I walked until my legs were begging me to stop. All along, I felt eyes on me, but I hadn’t turned around to see who watched me. That was asking for trouble when it could be Jonathan. That man had me looking over my shoulders everywhere I went. I hated him and didn’t want to see him anymore. He was dead to me.
