Page 79 of The Heart Shot
All that was left was a last-minute run to the store after work to get a few things for our date. Then I’d get to pick up my grump-who-was-secretly-a-sunshine-in-disguise.
Maya’s name flashed on my phone, and I debated not answering it. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to my cousin, but more that I wasn’t sure I was up for any more of her meddling. Besides, I was at the store and needed to get my butt back home to set things up.
I didn’t have time for a phone call with Maya right now, so I let it go to voicemail. A second later, it rang again. This repeated two more times before I finally gave up and answered with an impatient huff.
“Yes, Maya?”
“Jam-Jam! Were you ignoring me?”
Yes.
“Of course not.”
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you where liars go?” she retorted.
Apparently not away from you.
I sighed into the phone. “Now isn’t a good time, Maya. What do you need?”
“Are you seeing Elsie tonight?”
“That was the plan.”
A beat of silence and then, “Jameson, I need to tell you something about her. It’s important.”
Every muscle in my body clenched tight. She used my full name which told me this was serious. My mind took a deep dive off a cliff, coming up with endless awful scenarios. The store was loud around me, but it did nothing to drown out my thoughts, nothing to settle my churning stomach.
“What about Elsie? What’s wrong? Is she okay?” I asked, gripping the phone tighter.
Maya’s exhale made the phone crackle. “I’m assuming Elsie never told you much about her past.”
Of all things I expected her to say,thatnever crossed my mind.
“She told me about Benjamin who, unfortunately, is my neighbor.”
“Ben is yourneighbor?” Maya shouted, and I pulled the phone away from my ear, wincing.
“Can you not break my eardrum? Thanks.”
“Sorry,” she said, and I could picture her rubbing the bridge of her nose like she always did when she was thinking. “Elsie didn’t tell me that.” Another beat of silence.“Ben is a deadbeat,” Maya muttered. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. Elsie has a fear of relationships because of her parents.”
“Her parents?”
“Yeah.” Maya sounded out of breath as if she were pacing back and forth. “Four years ago, her parents suddenly divorced after almost thirty years of marriage. They went from fine to…really bad, but Elsie never expected for them to just split up. Their divorce hit her hard.”
Understanding settled over me.
“It ruined her belief in love, and she’s afraid if she gets in a relationship, if she lets herself love someone, that they’ll grow to hate one another and everything will end. That was one of the reasons she broke up with Ben. Although, that ended up being a blessing in disguise because Ben is a loser who never treated her well. On paper he was perfect, but behind closed doors…” Maya sighed. “He wasn’t a good guy.”
“No argument there.” I rubbed at my forehead, my mind spinning. “So, that’s why she has so many walls…why she won’t let me get close.”
“Yeah,” Maya admitted. “I told her to talk to you about this, but she refused. I wanted you to know why she is the way she is. I don’t want her to make a rash decision to end things between you guys when anyone can see how crazy you are about each other. You both deserve happiness, and I don’t want her fear of getting hurt to end something so good.”
Everything suddenly made sense. Why she wouldn’t let me in, why she was determined not to date, not to let anything between us go farther than the third date. It made sense why her walls were so thick, and why she shut down any time I caught a glimpse of the Elsie she constantly kept hidden.
“Thanks for telling me, Maya,” I responded after a lengthy silence.
“I’m trusting that you’ll use this information for good, Jam-Jam. Elsie deserves the world, and so do you.”
