AllFreeNovel
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“Look at the comments on social media.”
Janine opens the comment section after my speech and the videos on IG of me speaking and everyone wondering where they can buy my bracelets and other jewelry to support me. Requests have been pouring into my website, requests I can’t quite fill with working at the diner. I never thought I could make a living making jewelry by hand.
“Fine. I’ll do it as long as you get your money back in full.”
“Done. Miss Rayne. I will get it all in writing. Everything is done in your name only. I will just be the bank in a way to make you feel better, not because I want the money.”
“Yes. Mr. St. Claire.”
“Kalum. You will always address me as Kalum. You don’t work for me, Aura. We just have a business agreement, and you are the owner of your brand. Now look this over and take your time and sign them. You can look it over with Mr. Schwartz, and I will cover his fee.”
“Thank you.”
“Anything for you, Aura.”
“So, you’re like a business owner,” Judy says with excitement.
I gave my notice to Nancy at the diner since Mr. Schwartz assured me that the agreement Kalum drew up was all in my favor. No interest and is basically just helping me. He said it was the most generous contract he had ever seen. It is like an interest-free loan with no risks.
Exie was excited and so happy for me. Even Lane was jumping up and down because he loves to wear the bracelets with his name stitched inside them with his favorite colors. I have managed to add little beads with accessories that have different stones I have found at a local supply store. When Kalum grips me, I notice he never takes his off. He is always wearing one. At first, I thought it was the same one I made, but now I notice he changes them.
“Yep. My boyfriend…” I trail off.
“It’s okay, Aura. He is your boyfriend.”
“I know, but he really hasn’t labeled us, but I’m assuming it is what he meant. I have learned to forgive myself for the shame I felt for falling for him thinking it was too soon to have these feelings.”
“Thinking about how you two met in the first place, I think there is more behind it all. I mean, how do two guys that obviously have some feelings for you besides the fact that your husband loved you not hate each other over the same girl?” She places a strand of her brown hair behind her ear and sits down as we wait until it is time for the theater to open the door and we take our seats. “I mean, that is crazy. He sent the guy you cried about when his parents were a bunch of assholes and kicked you out on your eighteenth birthday to watch over you in case he died. That shit is like fate.”
“Fate?” I ask, tilting my head toward her, pinching my brows. “What do you mean, fate?”
She sticks popcorn inside her mouth. “Fate. Events beyond someone’s control. Things that were supposed to happen when you’re fated to be with someone. I believe you were destined to be with Lane and have his child but also destined to be with Kalum. It’s probably why you feel for both of them. You love them both, but you were always meant to end up with Kalum. It just wasn’t the right time. It was Lane’s.”
It makes sense in a creepy kind of way, but I’m not superstitious. I do believe things are meant to happen, but I also believe in free will.
“I guess.”
“I know this is messed up, but what if Kalum told you he loved you before his parents did what they did? Would you have been with Lane and married him?”
Deep down, I’m scared to admit it, but I know the answer.
“No. I would have chosen Kalum. I would have never been able to fall for Lane because I would have never left Kalum’s side, but if Lane was alive now and Kalum told me he loved me after all this time, I would choose Lane and my son because I wouldn’t abandon my family and deep down, I love them both but would do right by them.”
“I don’t know, but all I know is there is something hidden about the whole thing. It all revolves around you though. It was always about you in the end. It doesn’t matter who would get you. Love is a big emotion and is the center of all things we do in life. It is what we take with us in the end, Aura.”
“My mom used to say that. She used to say without love, nothing matters. It is all we have in the end. Love or hate.” I take a sip of soda and clear my throat. “How about you and Bradley’s friend?”
“Who? Nick. He just wasn’t in love with me. He lied to me when he said it, and he used me. I was just a girl with no money. My parents are divorced, and my mother is a manager at a restaurant in town. We barely made it, and the second month I started at the diner, he came in with Bradley. He was a sweet talker. We went out for six months before his family, I guess, found out and his childhood sweetheart moved back, and it went all downhill from there.”
“What an ass. What happened?”
She laughs sarcastically and flicks a threat of her jeans. Judy is really pretty with brown hair and brown eyes with two tiny dimples. She is twenty-four and is going to college online for her hospitality degree. She wants to land a good job and help her mother out. I admire her for her hard work and passion.
“He would make excuses when I asked why he hadn’t called. Then I saw him with her one day. I was walking home on my way to pick up my mother from her shift at the restaurant when I saw them together heading inside. They were out on a date. I was heartbroken and when I confronted him, he denied it at first. I kept pushing when I asked why I couldn’t meet his parents or why I wasn’t invited to his birthday party. He was annoyed, but I wanted the truth. I think I needed to hear it from him, and he snapped.”
Her voice shakes with sadness. “He said I wasn’t the type of girl he could bring home. I was just a girl he was dating, and he liked me a lot, but he wasn’t serious about me. I wouldn’t be accepted because I was a waitress in a diner, and his parents would not approve. When I asked him why he told me he loved me, he said he didn’t know and that it was a mistake. That he loved Veronica, and that is who he should be with, not someone like me. Veronica, the woman he is currently seeing, that is everything I’m not.”
“What a complete asshole. It makes sense to think Bradley is the same way even if he swears he isn’t.”
