“Nofuckingway.” Tiana registered hearing her voice, but she wasn’t sure if it was her internal voice or if she’d actually said it out loud. If she had, she hadn’t meant to.
“Tiana, what’s wrong?”
Tiana blinked as she lifted her head and saw that Poppy was staring at her. She must have said it out loud. She needed to get out of there and deal with this. “Sorry, I’m so sorry. I’ve gotta go.”
As Tiana turned to leave, Poppy reached out and stopped her by turning her back around. “No, wait!”
AJ must have heard the commotion because he was by his new fiancée’s side in a flash. “What’s wrong?”
Tiana glanced at Poppy and AJ, wishing she could just say, “nothing,” and then slip out. Unfortunately, despite not knowing Poppy long, she knew the woman would never let that happen. She was way too empathetic. “My ex is here, in Hope Falls, and he’s staying through Christmas.”
Every year the Bartletts picked a different destination to vacation together for the entire month of December. It used to be Tiana’s favorite part of the year because his family was so amazing, and growing up never having a family, she’d always dreamed about belonging to one. At least now she knew what all the messages from the WAGs were about. They must have known Brock’s plans.
“How do you know?” Poppy asked.
“His mom messaged me. She wants to see me.”
“You’re still close to his mom?”
“Yeah, I love his family. They didn’t…” Tiana hated talking about her ex, but the fact was he never stopped dating. “…cheat on me.”
“Wait, he’s here? In Hope Falls?” Poppy clarified. “Doesn’t he live in Ohio now?”
Her ex played professional football for the Browns. She nodded.
“Does he have any family here?” Poppy inquired.
“No. Just me.”
“Why is he here?”
“I won.”
“What?”
“In the divorce settlement, I won everything I asked for, and a lot I didn’t, he swore to me that as long as he drew breath, he would make my life miserable. This is justoneof his creative ways to fulfill his promise.”
Tiana’s phone vibrated again. She looked and saw a text from Jess G. of a photo Brock had just posted to IG. “Oh no, it looks like he’s not alone.”
Since their divorce, he hadn’t dated anyone, at least not seriously, which Tiana was relieved about. Not because she was jealous, there wasn’t a jealous bone in her body. Her relief was due to the fact she felt she had a responsibility to warn women about the type of man he was.
This was a beautiful, striking woman with green eyes and auburn hair. She wore an off the shoulder sweatshirt that revealed a tattoo on her shoulder and was snuggled up to Poppy’s ex in a booth in Brewed Awakenings. She was a beautiful girl who looked confident, happy, and had an inner light that shined.
If she stayed with Brock, Tiana knew that light would go out. That confidence would be undermined, and her happinesswould become totally reliant on his moods, his needs, and his whims.
She felt Poppy trying to take a peek at her screen, so she turned the phone around.
“That’s Gianna,” AJ stated.
Both Tiana’s and Poppy’s eyes shot to AJ’ and Poppy asked, “You know her?”
“That’s Niko’s ex-girlfriend.”
“The one that was off and on for ten years?” Poppy clarified.
“Wait,Niko Costas?” Suddenly, a realization hit her. Something she’d never put together before. “Did they go to college?—"
“Yes,” AJ offered. “They were rivals.”
