Page 16 of Succeeding Love

What is wrong with him? As of late, he isn’t present in this relationship. Not like he was before.

And that kid comment. It stung like hell, but I expected him to feel remorse finally and come after me to apologize at least.

Does he just not care anymore?

No way. There is absolutely no way. He left his wife for me. I never thought he would, but he easily abandoned the woman and moved right in with me.

But he has been acting off. Sex was what started all this. Raw, carnal, desire-driven sex. It’s been two weeks, at least since we last had any intimacy, and it hasn’t been carnal for a long time.

Is he getting bored with me already?

I paced back and forth in the bedroom, worrying myself to death.

He said he was with his kids, right? Would it be inappropriate to text Jessie and just confirm?

Going back and forth in my head, I finally decided to just send her a basic ‘how was your day’ message. Opening my phone, I smiled at the background image. A picture of Nick, Jessie and me at the amusement park. Nick wouldn’t ride anything, giving Jessie and me plenty of time to bond. I love this girl. She’s so sweet and kind hearted. Going through my messages with her confirms that. She texts me at the most thoughtful times. If I have a court hearing or an important meeting she knows about, she always checks in to see how things went. Nick hasn’t brought his kids over for a few weeks now, and I’m really missing Jessie.

Me:| Hey girlie! How was your day?

It took maybe ten seconds for a reply.

Jess:| Hey Arlene! My day was great. Just school and hanging out with dad after. How was yours? I’ve missed you!

My heart swelled and a smile spread across my face. She is so adorable and sweet.

Me:| I’m glad to hear that! I miss you too. I’m hoping to get some girl time this weekend.

I sent a heart and smile emoji, then a GIF of a cutesy ‘I miss you’ icon. She was the one that showed me the GIFs on my phone. I try to always include one now.

Jess:| For sure. Pres is dropping me off after school. I’ll see you then!

Me:| Okay, girlie. I’ve got to plan. We’re going to have a blast.

So Nick really was with his kids. That’s a relief, but not as much as knowing Jessie is coming over tomorrow.

I’m probably reading too much into Nick’s recent behavior. At least, I hope I am.

It’s A Date

Vin

“One. Two. Three….” I’m sitting in my late father’s rocking chair, which is angled to look out the front window, counting the dust particles in the air. The morning sun is shining brightly through the slits in the blinds, making them easy to see. “Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.”

I leaned forward, pushing two fingers between the blind slits, opening the crack wide enough to see across the street.

Nope. No sign of her yet. She leaves her garage open when she walks her dog, and it’s still as closed as it’s been the first three dozen times I’ve looked out while sipping my Redbull.

I went back to counting, starting back at one again. My ears perked when I heard the sounds of what I thought was a garage when I’m at number twelve, and I hurried to look outside again. “Bummer,” I muttered, seeing it was the neighbor beside her, and not her house. I was about to sit back and start counting again, but then I noticed Lynn’s neighbor, some woman in a shower cap and fluffy robe, pulled her trash cans out to the curb.

Shit, it’s trash day. All the houses have their trash cans out. Mom said she wasn’t sure what day trash came on anymore, so I didn’t know. Surprisingly, her trash wasn’t too full, not like she had forgotten to take it out at all in the past weeks, so I wasn’t in a rush to figure it out. I was going to go into thecity later to get utilities switched to my name and find out the schedule then, but I guess I can put the trash out now.

I checked one last time out the blinds, seeing if my giggling, happy neighbor that cooks killer lasagna might have come out yet, but the garage was still closed. Bummer, because taking out the trash would have been the perfect opportunity to see her again.

Damn, I’m acting like a freaking stalker now. I can’t help it. I had fucking dreams of her laughing and giggling last night. I thought I was going crazy. When I sat down in that chair fifteen minutes ago, I told myself I was just waiting to see her so I could return the food containers and bag to her, but then I had to face the fact that I was just eager to seeheragain.

I dropped the bag with her stuff on the kitchen counter, then slipped on some shoes as mom was coming down the back stairs into the kitchen. She’s taking them slower than I would like. Maybe I should get a lift installed for her soon.

“Morning, mom,” I kissed her cheek as I went around her to the garage door.