Page 148 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
The worst part? He didn’t even care. I was left completely heartbroken and shattered, while he was probably on his way to Jessica’s to have the best sex of his dicked up life.
I had to speak to my sister, Rachelle. She was my rock in tough situations. I needed to hear her voice and listen to her words. I needed her to tell me that things were going to be okay.
“Hello?” My mother answered the phone. Worst case scenario. Ugh. My mother. Shit.
I thought about hanging up, but knew that she had caller ID. I sniffled as I tried to make my voice sound clear and strong.
“Is Rachelle there?” I asked. My mother scoffed at me.
“Nice to hear from you, Tiffany,” she sneered. “Your sister isn’t here. Why are you calling her?”
I supposed that I couldn’t hide the failed engagement from my mother. She would find out sooner or later.
“Brad broke up with me,” I cried into the phone, tears bursting from my eyes as my heart broke in my chest all over again. A small part of me hoped that my mom would be sympathetic for once in her life.
“Ha!” she laughed into the phone. “I knew it! I knew he wouldn’t stay with you. A man like that doesn’t stay with a fat pig. Let me guess, there’s another woman in the picture, too?”
“Just let Rachelle know I called,” I said, hanging up the phone. I didn’t think it was possible, but I felt worse than I had before I called. I crumbled to the floor and let myself have a good cry. My mother’s harsh words had been spoken too many times in my life for them to matter at that moment, but the sting from losing Brad was painful enough.
There wasn’t much lower I could go.
After my cry, I set my phone down and noticed a Facebook notification pop up from my co-worker responding to a wedding question that I had posted earlier in the evening.
“Great, I’m going to have to do a complete clean sweep on my social media accounts.”
Wedding talk was all over my Facebook, asking my friends which florist to use and what dress shop to go to. I had to tell them all that it was over, and they would want to know why.
What would I tell them all?
Brad left me for another woman.
A confident, attractive woman from the gym.
A woman who probably wouldn’t even serve cake at her wedding ceremony.
A fit, beautiful, better than me woman.
Story of my life.
CHAPTER 1
CAYDEN
Present Day
“Dude, what happened to your fantasy team this weekend, bro?” My assistant, Maurice, appeared in my doorway. I flipped him the bird with a grin on my lips.
“Shut up, man,” I said, rising from my desk. “How was I supposed to know Gronk would have gotten hurt and been pulled out of the game?”
Maurice grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But, I am sure glad I won! That means you are buying lunch today, right?”
I grabbed a folder from my desk and walked past him.
“Sure,” I responded, although lunch was the furthest thing from my mind. I had to find Tiffany, our newest fact checker, and ask her a few questions about an article I wanted to run in this month’s publication.
“Where is Tiffany?” I asked. Maurice shrugged. As usual, he was no help.
