AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smiled fondly as I answered him. "That is none other than my beloved niece, Coralee! She had been trying to catch butterflies all day and put them in that coffee can she was holding. She’s curious about everything and has an imagination and a sense of adventure! I love her with my whole heart."
As we scrolled further, I showed him more photos and shared several stories and exchanges of laughter. I landed on another photo I wanted to share with him- a picture of our family dog- a golden retriever named Max, who had passed from old age only a year before.
"Max was an unrivaled mischief-maker," I reminisced nostalgically. "Every Christmas, my mom would have to keep our wrapped presents up high, out of his reach. If we didn’t, we would come home to find wrapping paper all over the living room, exposing our presents, ruining the surprise.”
"Max sounds like quite the character!” Jeremy smiled. “I’m sure having him around brought a lot of happiness into your family's lives."
I smiled and nodded gently. "Yes," I said wholeheartedly. "When he left us, we took it hard. It broke all our hearts, but our memories of him are treasures."
After several more swipes, my search landed on a picture of Cole and me vacationing at the lake. We were laughing and having fun. It stopped me in my tracks. I tried to scroll quickly, but it was too late. Jeremy had seen it.
“Who was that?” he asked inquisitively.
“Oh, that’s my ex, Cole. I’m so sorry. I must have missed this one when I deleted pictures of us.” I kept scrolling, hoping to change the subject.
“Here’s another picture of Max. Aww. I miss him so much. Did you have any pets?”
"I did, actually. I had a dog named Chris when I was a kid," he shared.
“Oh, that’s an interesting name for a dog,” I giggled.
“Well, I got the dog as a Christmas present when I was seven. I wanted to name him Christmas, and we just shortened it to Chris.”
As we continued to delve into anecdotes about our animals, a warmth blossomed within my heart. Sharing these cherished memories and personal stories with Jeremy fostered a sense of closeness—a connection built upon unveiling fragments of our pasts that held immense significance to us.
However, just as I prepared to unveil more photographs from that time, a sudden buzz came from my phone, indicating an incoming message. My heart skipped a beat as I glanced at the screen, only to be confronted with a text from an unfamiliar number.
"Baby, it’s Cole. Please call me. I am on my way to the city to see you."
The words sent an unexpected shiver down my spine, and a knot of unease twisted within my gut. Cole was my abusive ex-partner, whom I was terrified of. He was someone whom I had fervently sought to distance myself from. His sudden reappearance instilled a haunting sense of anxiety within me, as if I were trapped in a nightmare from yesteryear.
Jeremy's eyes narrowed upon glimpsing the incoming text message on my phone's screen—an unsettling message that seemed too casually affectionate for his liking.
As I looked at Jeremy’s face, I knew what he was thinking. Dread washed over me, and I felt a coil of discomfort tighten in the pit of my stomach. Raising my eyes to meet Jeremy's concerned stare, I attempted to explain away the doubts I could already see forming in his mind.
"Oh, it's just Cole, my ex," I replied with false casualness, not wanting to dive too deep into the history of abuse. The tremor in my voice betrayed my unease, though, and only lent itself to confirm Jeremy’s most horrible suspicions seemingly.
Lines etched themselves onto Jeremy's brow as his discomfort over the text bubbled under the surface with palpable intensity. "He’s on his way to see you?” he asked. “And calling you Baby? What is going on here?”
“We don’t even talk,” I tried to explain. “He has been texting a lot lately, but I haven’t responded. You saw I didn’t even have his number saved, right? He’s using some texting app. He can’t seem to let things go! I have been avoiding his texts. Please believe me."
Jeremy’s clenched jaw revealed a simmering anger in him that I was not used to seeing. "Why is he contacting you now, though?” he asked. “You’ve been here for months. This has to be coming from somewhere. What does he want?"
Sighing heavily and feeling the weight of the past resurfacing, I responded. My voice was laced with resignation and determination as I tried to calm myself.
"I don’t even know, Jeremy. Cole has a peculiar way of reappearing when least expected, but I assure you it is not what it appears to be. I have no intentions of seeing him or engaging in any form of communication. If he is on his way here, he’s wasting a trip."
I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. Jeremy's past experiences and lingering trust issues from his previous relationship clouded his judgment. Doubts hovered in the air like lingering shadows, and I couldn't help but wonder if he still believed there was more to this story than met the eye.
"And how can I be certain of that, Jill?” he asked. “You have shared so little about your relationship with him. It didn’t end well, but I know nothing about the guy. Who’s to say there isn’t still something going on between you two?" he pressed, his tone tinged with skepticism.
My heart sank. It felt like the fragile foundation we had been building together was beginning to crumble beneath our feet. "I understand your worries," I murmured, grappling for words to bridge our growing divide. "But please believe me when I say that you are the one who matters to me now."
Minutes ticked by in agonizing silence. Finally, Jeremy rose abruptly, signaling an end to our meal.
"I gotta get out of here, Jill," he stated tersely, offering a fleeting glance that revealed detachment in his eyes. "I can’t be here right now; we’ll discuss this at the office tomorrow.”
A pang of disappointment crashed through me as I struggled to comprehend the suddenness of it all.
