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By seven I had checked my phone over a dozen times. First to make sure it wasn’t on silent, then to ensure I hadn’t somehow unknowingly missed a text or call. Neither was possible.
Nothing.
The silence both annoyed me and had my mind reeling. I was annoyed because Ezekiel hadn’t called and my mind was reeling, almost spiraling, because I’d wanted him to…badly. In the past few weeks, my life had gone from a one night stand with a man I’d planned on never seeing again to working intimately with that same man while pretending that one night stand hadn’t completely changed my life to now wanting every second of every minute of his focus on me.
This was terrible. I was in over my head and there was only one way this would end.
Tragically!
Yet, when my phone rang, I leapt across my sofa to retrieve the device only to realize it wasn’t who I was hoping. I was, however, still smiling ear to ear when the name flashed across my screen so I answered with an honest endearment.
“Friend, I miss you.”
“Save that shit because no you don’t. You left me and haven’t bothered to call to tell me you’re alive.”
I smiled wider. “I’m alive but you knew that already because you’ve been liking my posts on social media.”
“Two posts, Jhorie, and that could have been some stranger pretending to be you while you were locked away in a dungeon somewhere.”
I sputtered a laugh and rolled my eyes. “If that were the case, there should be a missing person’s report out for me. I also liked and commented on your posts, all six thousand, eight hundred, and twenty-two, with personalized things only I would know.”
“You have a point, but you still left me.”
I reached for my bowl of fruit, crossing my legs and placing it between them. “I did, but you know why and you encouraged me, Malin.”
“I didn’t think that you leavinghimmeant you would leave me.”
She was my best friend and always would be but she was also engaged to my ex’s business partner. That meant she and I had to figure out a relationship outside of the life I’d walked away from. I hadn’t decided what that would look like.
“I didn’t leave you. I just moved. You still have me.”
“Do I? Because you’re there and I’m here and I don’t even know wherethereis.”
“I’m in Crescent Falls. Which you’re very aware of and you can come visit me.”
“Girl, I don’t know where that is.” The amusement in her voice had me smiling. “Butyoucan come visit me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I have a job, for one, and if I come back to Los Angeles, I’ll have to see him.”
“Are you sure leaving was the right thing? You don’t sound like you’re over him.”
“I’m over him but he’s not the type to accept defeat. His ego won’t let him. He also feels like I owe him something, which I don’t.”
The lifestyle I had with Dre’thon was a really nice one but I never asked for anything. He offered, he provided, he promised. All of which came with a very exhausting price tag. I had to accept that he lived his life the way he wanted. The promises were all lies, the commitment was nonexistent, and the family I wanted wouldn’t happen because he wasn’t ready.
“You don’t owe him a damn thing,” she asserted before saying, “He asks me about you every time I see him.”
I tensed. “Asks you what about me?”
“Relax, he already knows where you are, Jhorie. It’s not like you tried to hide. You told him you were going home. Mostly he asks if I’ve talked to you, if you asked about him, how you're doing, if you’re seeing anybody.”
“I’ve been gone less than a month. I don’t have time to see anybody.”
“Girl, you could meet someone in five minutes, let’s be real, but the point is he doesn’t believe you walked away because of what he was or wasn’t doing. He swears it’s about someone else. You know how inflated that man’s ego is. He refuses to believe he’s the problem.”
