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1
There was a time, not too far in the past, when Nova looked at me with the same amount of love in his eyes that shined as he stared at Tiffany—his fiancée. The fiancée he cheated on me with. The fiancée he told me about at our final wedding rehearsal, the night before we were supposed to say I Do. As we stood hand in hand, staring into each other’s eyes, the love that I’d seen for years at that point was drowned by something else. Something that made Nova’s eyes water and eyebrows wrinkle as his chin trembled.
In my naivety, my love, I thought he was overwhelmed with happiness. We were practicing our vows in front of our families and friends that were in our wedding party. It was understandable for the weight of what was going on to consume him. But that wasn’t the case. My fiancé wasn’t looking at me in awe over our love as he thought over his vows; my fiancé was getting ready to tell me that he’d been cheating on me for the past year with another woman and couldn’t stomach lying to me about it for another second.
The craziest part of it all? Relief covered his face and his shoulders caved after he vomited his pain onto me. In a matter of seconds, he’d crushed my heart and shattered my world. And he stood there with a small smile on his face, as if telling me about his infidelity was no big deal at all. I’d pulled away from him, almost strangled by his truth, and he became confused. Confused as to why I could no longer stand there and prepare to marry him.
I ran.
I cried, and I ran.
I ran to a completely different city and state and hadn’t seen him or any of my family and friends since that night almost one year ago.
When I left Rose Valley Hills, I didn’t just leave my cheating fiancé behind. I left a business that we’d started together with two of our closest friends as well. For about six months, I shut down from the world. No phone, no social media, no contact. People only knew I was alive and well because I’d told my mother and she relayed the message. Imagine my surprise when I finally reconnected and learned that Nova had not only proposed to Tiffany, but she was working as my replacement in the business I’d funded and started from the ground up. Worse, there were pictures of her smiling and looking as if she belonged with my crew—my people.
Had that been her plan all along?
I’d hired her about a year and three months earlier, because she reminded me so much of me. We needed entry-level associates who could help us because business was doing so well. Hiring her to help lighten my load at work was one thing, but positioning her to take my man was altogether different. I could say it wasn’t her fault. That if Nova fell into her web, he wasn’t mine to have or keep. Both were true, but neither dissolved Tiffany of her role in my hurt, and they wouldn’t excuse her when I exacted my revenge.
So much of the past eleven months and twenty-eight days have been spent shifting the blame from one to the other. Him for betraying me in the worst way… her for taking advantage of the opportunity given to her.
Did she want to be me?
I wouldn’t blame her if she did. On the outside looking in, my life was absolutely perfect a year ago. My family was healthy and thriving, skeletons in the closet concealed, my business was increasing in size monthly, and my wedding was scheduled for me to say I Do to whom I blindly believed was the perfect man for me.
My how quickly things change.
I can admit, I’d become resentful… maybe even a little bitter. Angry was at the top of the list too. Eleven months and twenty-eight days was a long time to think about the wrong that had been done to you and how you planned to recover and get even. Honestly, I hadn’t done a lot of recovering and healing, but I’d done a lot of crying, yelling, and plotting.
Come Monday, my position at Wilson, Cane, Simpson, and Fisher would officially be up for grabs. There was no doubt in my mind Tiffany would want that permanently too. For a while, I considered letting her have it and my man. But something rose inside of me that made it harder to stay away. Something that made me want to fight… fight and regain what was mine.
I would return to Rose Valley Hills to take back control of my position and my company, but I would also take Nova back just to give him what he deserves—the hurt and embarrassment he covered me with just before what was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives.
Setting my phone on the island, I logged out of my Facebook account. The sight of Nova’s proposal video had literally turned my stomach. Swallowing back the vile taste coating my throat, I quickly grabbed my bottle of Essentia water and took a small chug. With a heart that burned and squeezed, I pushed back tears. It didn’t matter how much I told myself Nova wasn’t worth them, they seemed to be the only thing that made me feel slightly cleansed and relieved. Just when I didn’t think anything could top him coming clean about cheating the day before our wedding, he proposed to the woman he cheated with around the time of what would have been our one-year anniversary.
Fucking asshole.
Nova had always been self-serving; I just hadn’t seen it. Him loving me as well as he did wasn’t for my benefit; it was for his, because he knew the better he treated me… the better I would treat him. Somewhere throughout our relationship, what I offered stopped being enough—and I wanted to know why.
“All right, Ms. Wilson. We’ve gotten everything except the stool you’re sitting on. If you’d like to have a look around, we can get your things to the storage facility and be out of your way.”
I forced a smile as I stood from the stool at the sound of Martin’s words, and his coworker, Jose, wasted no time grabbing it and quickly leaving the apartment I’d hidden in since coming to Dallas, Texas. I stopped in Memphis long enough to cry on my mother’s shoulder before I took that six-hour drive, renting a hotel room for a week before finding the apartment that offered as much solace as it possibly could.
“Sounds good, Martin. You guys were really quick.”
He gave me a proud smile as he extended the clipboard my way. “Well, we know how time-consuming and frustrating moving can be. It’s our job to make the transition as quick and stress-free as possible.”
This time, my smile was genuine. I walked through the now-empty space, looking into every room in the process. They’d not only packed all of my belongings but cleaned and swept too. All I’d have to do was turn my key in and I’d be good to go. After signing off on the work they’d done so far, I gave Martin his clipboard back and retrieved the personal items that were waiting for me on the island.
At the door, I looked around the living room area once more. A part of me wanted to stay here and say to hell with Nova and Tiffany. There was a bigger part of me that wouldn’t allow them to get away with what they’d done. That part of me closed the door and filled me with the strength it would take to go back to Rose Valley Hills and take back everything that belonged to me, and I couldn’twaitto see their faces at the sight of mine.
2
Just Winging It had the best wings in Rose Valley Hills, no doubt about that. They were my first stop when I made it back home. Between the familiarity of the space and the anticipation of the good food I was about to receive, my heart felt light as I made my way inside.
The smell of honey hot sauce and the feel of heat that naturally radiated from several items being fried at once was the warm welcome home that I needed. The corners of my mouth lifted as I headed toward the counter to order. Just Winging It was the cutest little hot spot just outside of Domingo Ave, which was considered one of the bougier hoods in Rose Valley Hills. If I had to describe it, Domingo Ave was where you went when you had a little money but didn’t want to spend it on bills, opting to splurge on luxury things, trips, and experiences instead.
While the tile was white and black blocks, the walls were red. Several arcade games were on the right side of the restaurant while TVs and an old-school jukebox were on the left. There was a small area to the left of the front door for kids to play in an enclosed space, and all the way in the back were small, square tables where card and dominoe games could pop off at any moment.
