Page 29 of Bad to the Bone

Despite looking somber, he’s dressed to kill. The dark suit and gleaming white shirt fit his frame like an Italian tailor was flown in to dress him. He’s tieless of course, it would be too much to ask Zayne Turner to wear a tie even under the best of circumstances. The bouquet in his hand is gorgeous. Almost as gorgeous as the woman who walks up to him and smiles coquettishly. I can’t hear what she’s saying but I know that look.

She reaches out to touch his arm and my stomach clenches. He doesn’t shake her off, instead he gives her a forced smile and hands her the flowers.

This is the moment when I stop looking. I’ve seen enough. What did I expect? We already broke up. Did I expect him to sit around forever, pining after me like a lost school boy. Even at just eighteen he was already a player when we met. Of course he would be out on the town with sexy, eligible women. It beats the hell out of sitting home and licking your wounds.

The sound of a car horn alerts me to the fact that the light has long since been green. I pull out of the intersection and follow the familiar path to the post office. I feel foolish for the nights I spent praying, hoping that he was handling everything well. After weeks of wondering I finally have my answer. He is doing fine. He will be fine without me. He’s still young enough to recover from a broken heart. We both are.

By the time I get back to the house I have decided to put it all behind me. As much as it hurts, I can chalk it up to a lesson learned. As far as lessons go, this one wasn’t so bad. The first real boyfriend in my life was perfect on paper and hollow inside. The second was all wrong on paper, but made me feel things I never thought I would feel. The next? Hopefully I’ll love wiser next time.

“I found a buy one, get one free coupon in the kitchen,” Shannon says, sliding two everything pizzas in front of me.

“Sounds good,” I mumble.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I think it’s just hitting me now,” I smile at her anxious face. “I better start looking for an apartment. The future doesn’t just build itself.”

“You’ve got it under control Aunt Kim,” Shannon says, snagging a slice of pizza and flopping down on the sofa.

“I think I do. Live and learn, right?”

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