Page 9 of Hard Candy Christmas

I learned that life outside of Westover wasn’t better.

I learned that not all pretty faces held pretty insides.

I learned that I was a small-town girl and always would be.

And I learned, probably the biggest lesson ever, that my heart was not meant to be given away when it already belonged to someone else.

He just couldn’t know it. Because he would destroy it.

It was evident that he had no feelings anymore and I had to learn to let go as well.

Now that was a tougher lesson, but it’s one I would see through. Like I had every intention of making this date with Bo be the best it could be.

We had common ground and a good friendship, so it wasn’t impossible that a relationship could come of it.

I nodded to myself, pleased with that idea, and headed into the store. I knew I needed some green onion, some chicken, some….some…

“Really, B,” I muttered to myself, pulling the list up on my phone. I only needed a few items, and I couldn’t remember them?

“Talking to yourself is a sign, you know?”

I snapped my head up and glared at the man standing next to me.

“What are you doing here, Chase?”

“Shopping, like you. Mom wanted to make some pies and needed me to hit the store since I was in town. What about you?”

“I’m making dinner.”

“You cook?”

I know I shouldn’t take offense, because his tone didn’t come across harshly, but I still did. And he easily picked up on that.“I’m just asking because you didn’t when you lived here. I remember both Mom and Grandma Betty trying to teach you.”

“Yeah, well, I had to learn.” It was that, or suffer the wrath of my husband, which I couldn’t stand.

“Makes sense. Look, Belinda, I wanted to apologize. I acted like a jerk, and I’m sorry.”

“You’re damn right you did, Chase. It was uncalled for.”

“You’re right, it was. I’m not disputing that. And I am really sorry for it. I promise it won’t happen again. You’re back, and it seems for good. I’d rather be friends than have issues.”

Right, friends.I could do that. It wasn’t hard. We were friends before we started dating. And it wasn’t like I was wanting to date now. Nope. At least not with him.

“Friends,” I told him, holding out my hand for a shake. “We can be friends.”

“So, friends talk. Want to tell me about the scar on your face?”

“Friends don’t get into those kinds of details right away, if ever. Look, Chase, some things are just best not to go over. What happened, happened. It’s my past. I learned from it, and I moved on. No sense in dwelling back there.”

“I’m just saying the woman I knew wouldn’t have stood for that. B, it’s not like you take any kind of abuse. I remember Tony back in high school. You punched him three times into the following week when all he did was grab your arm to keep you from falling. It wasn’t even abuse.”

I chuckled as I recalled that day. I almost got kicked out of school for it because they thought I was fighting. I had to explain, quite a few times, that it was a knee-jerk reaction. That I didn’t mean to hurt him, I just didn’t take kindly to being grabbed. He didn’t know and after I apologized a million times over, the thing was put to rest.

But I also couldn’t explain why I stayed with a man who abused me. It wasn’t like I had a fear of him, because that wasn’tit. In truth, I stayed because I was stupid and used him as a barrier. However, I couldn’t tell Chase that.

Fuck, I couldn’t tell anyone that.

Nothing of that time frame would make sense to anyone, not even my mom and she understood me and my emotions probably better than anyone.

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