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“I have to tell Gio that I won’t be in for a while,” I told her, then showed her my neck before explaining everything that happened the night before.
Her eyes were huge when she took in the bruises.
“What happened?” she whispered.
A lot.
I told her what I could, explaining about Bart and how he’d all but choked me out before leaving me there.
“Holy shit,” she said. “I knew he was a douche but…”
“I probably provoked that reaction.” I winced. “Mind taking my order?”
She did, making sure to put a “rush” stamp on it in the system.
“You mind helping me fold napkins while we wait for y’all’s food? Today has been absolutely insane. And now you’re telling me that you’re gonna need time off.”
I giggled at Shawna’s manipulation.
“Sure,” I said, shaking my hands for the napkin stack.
She pushed them toward me and together we started folding napkins, her face thoughtful.
“I had some issues myself last night,” she admitted. “With my husband.”
My brows rose, surprise evident in my expression.
“What happened?” I asked curiously.
I’d always thought they had a great relationship.
“How did you know it was the end?”
I looked up to glance at my coworker’s face before going back to folding the napkins.
“Well.” I paused. “You want the truth?”
Shawna rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t serious. Go on. Tell me. What was the reason? How or when did you know?”
I’d started work at Moe’s Diner when Braxton had announced that I wouldn’t be getting any alimony. Of course, I had told him to shove his alimony up his ass, but anyway.
Honestly, that was fine with me. I made my own money. I had my own trust fund. I was six months from graduating school and if he wanted to play that game, I would certainly play it with him.
“Well.” I hesitated to say what I was about to say, but chose to go with it anyway. “The last time we had sex, which was about six months before I asked for a divorce, I couldn’t concentrate.”
She blinked. “Okay.”
“All I kept thinking about was how my mom had given me a fresh loaf of banana bread when I’d visited that afternoon and I’d left it in the car. I thought about how it was pretty hot outside and how it would probably still be really nice and warm. So, the entire time that we were doing it, Braxton was really into it, while I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop thinking about how great that banana bread would be.”
Shawna blinked.
Then she burst out laughing.
“Well, did you go out and get it?” she asked after she’d composed herself.
I smirked at her. “Of course I did. I ate it in the bathroom, too. Because I didn’t want to share with his selfish ass.”
“Is that when you realized that your ex-husband wasn’t the one?”
I looked over at my friend.
“When?” I smiled. “I knew before I married him that he wasn’t the one.”
Her eyes opened wide and her eyebrows hiked so high up that she put her Botox to the test.
“What do you mean you knew before?” she whisper-yelled.
I grinned.
“When I met my ex, I thought he was great.” I paused. “But I learned fast that there was something wrong with him.” I hesitated. “The first time I realized that Braxton wasn’t my one was when I went to prom with his brother.”
“How did you know?” she asked again, a little more persistent this time.
“That day, Braxton had told me that he would take me,” I said. “Well, not that day. But you know what I mean.” I waved it away. “Braxton had promised me, over and over again, that he would take me to prom. I had this really bad feeling, though, so that was why I continued to ask him.” I paused. “I think that he eventually refused the day of because he wanted to teach me a lesson. As in, don’t ever question him. He never gave me a straight answer about why he didn’t want to go. Just that he didn’t.”
“You went to prom with his brother?” Shawna whispered.
“I did,” I confirmed. “When Bain realized how much it meant to me to go, he offered to take me.”
“Bain.” Her eyes widened. “That’s him, isn’t it?”
She gestured toward the door, toward where I knew Bain was still standing because his shadow had fallen on the floor.
Was that the man I compared all other men to? Yes. Was that the man that had a permanent spot in my dreams, waking and asleep? Yes. Was that the man that owned the whole of my heart and walked around with it tucked inside his pocket without him even realizing it? Also, yes.
The man owned me, body and soul. And he had no clue.
“The second time I realized he wasn’t the one? Well, that was the day that he asked me to marry him.” I hesitated to say what I said next, but instead, just decided to go for it. “I actually hated him. Couldn’t stand him, to be honest. I didn’t love him. Didn’t want kids with him. Didn’t want to be his in any way.”
