Page 9 of After Him, There Was You
“I’m glad you said that because I am out of my element. The only reason I came out is because of Eva.”
“Is Eva still the life of the party?” I asked, momentarily thinking back to a much simpler time when we were high schoolers without a care in the world, going to all the parties we could get into and living it up.
“No, believe it or not. Her sons mellowed her out. She has two boys, but you better believe when she doesn’t have them, she is very much still the life of the party.”
“She sounds like Zeke.”
“I know you saw how cozy the two of them were,” she recalled with a knowing look.
“Yes, I did see the two of them all over each other. Zeke has had a crush on her since high school, so their encounter is long overdue,” I reasoned. “Enough about them though. I’m more interested in when you’re going to carve out some time for us to properly catch up with each other.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Tell me when you’re free. Let me worry about the details. The only thing I need you to do is to get dressed and look as breathtakingly stunning as you do tonight.”
“My kids are with Jason for the weekend,” she stated with suggestive eyes.
“Tomorrow night, be ready at seven. Put your number and address in my phone, and I’ll call you when I’m getting ready to come scoop you up. How does that sound?” I asked, taking sight of the ever-present, wide smile on her gorgeous face.
“That sounds absolutely perfect to me.”
“I was hoping you would say that,” I stated, reaching for her hand. “We can finish catching up then. For now, let’s rejoin the celebration before they come searching for us.”
Following me out of my office, we walked back out to the main area of the club and then back up to VIP. For the rest of the night, we celebrated O’Dell’s birthday in true Club Déjà Vu fashion.
Chapter 6: Stuck on You - Tara
The Next Morning
On the particular weekends where my kids were with their father, it seemed as though time dragged. A part of my Saturday routine included attending a yoga class at the YMCA taught by an amazing instructor I loved like family, Breonna. Even with my morning having a relaxing start, I missed coming home from hot yoga to my kids requesting cinnamon roll French toast, sausage, and eggs.
It was the part of not having a two-parent home that I dreaded the most when the façade I thought was a foundationally sound marriage came tumbling down. Honestly, some weekends I tried to do any and everything to avoid being home alone. Most times I would stop by my folks’ house and spend time with them, but even they had made plans for the weekend.
With nothing else to do, I arrived back at my empty house, ready to shower and lounge around for the rest of the day. Much to my dismay, the last person I expected to see was seated at the kitchen counter, enjoying a cup of coffee as if they belonged.
“What are you doing here, and where are my kids, Jason?”
“Ourkids are at my house.”
“Oh, you left them at home with your little wife?” I questioned with a smirk that caused him to roll his eyes as I walked past him in the direction of the coffee pot. “You know you only have a key in the instance you need to do something regarding the kids, and the kids are not here, so you don’t need to be either.”
“Is it always going to be this hostile between us?”
“No,” I stated, causing him to wear a premature smile. “I imagine when I’m dead, I’ll no longer have any hostility toward you.”
“Tara, can we just go back to the way things were?” Jason questioned seriously.
“Jason. I don’t know what fairytale you woke up in, but it doesn’t exist in this house. You created the reality we are living in, and you only have yourself to blame for it, so when you say can we just go back to the way things were, no we cannot.”
“Are you saying you can’t forgive me?”
“I’m working through the process of forgiving you, but the way things were are only memories at this point of our lives,” I declared while my heart broke on the inside because at one point in time, the words he was saying would have been music to my ears. The realization quickly brought tears to my eyes because while I wanted my family back, I couldn’t fathom giving him another chance only for him to do the same thing to me with whoever the next ‘Amber’ would be.
I couldn’t say without a doubt that Amber was the first person he cheated on me with during our marriage, and because of that, I knew on my end, trust would never exist between the two of us.
“Tara, I need you. Tell me you don’t need me,” Jason requested, taking purposeful steps in my direction to close the distance keeping us apart.
“No. I don’t ne—” Silencing me, Jason put his lips to mine, and all of a sudden, a flash of memories came back to me, seemingly rushing to the front of my mind like rapid waves on the port.
