Page 29 of Cups of You

‘Amber, what the hell! Did you and Josiah break up? Why didn’t you say anything? Is that why you went to Georgia?’

‘Girl. Call me!!!’

‘…’

The final message hadn’t been a text. It had been a picture. There on her screen was Josiah, but Tasha was right. That wasn’t Amber who was kissing him in their favorite restaurant. Amber was in the middle of nowhere Georgia about to have a breakdown inside her car.

The pain Amber felt as she stared at the image on her phone left her shaking. She had abandoned the groceries in the car and stomped into the house while dialing Tasha’s number. Jackie had hobbled to the foyer after hearing the noise, but Amber only shook her head and for once, her aunt said nothing. Maybe it was the look on Amber’s face that gave her pause. Amber didn’t know. All she knew was that she had been grateful to not have to answer anything just yet as the phone in her hand rang.

Tasha hadn’t started with pleasantries. She got right to business which Amber had appreciated.

“Girl, what is going on? Why is Josiah at your favorite diner kissing on some teenager? Are you guys not together anymore?”

“We are but clearly not for long,” Amber had hissed. “Do you know the chick?”

“No idea. Never seen her before.”

“Describe her for me.” Amber began pacing the living room as Tasha gave a description of the woman. When she finished, Amber’s heart sank.

She knew exactly who it was.

“That’s Darcy. His project assistant,” she said. Her pacing had stopped then as she let the information sink in.

Darcy had started at Josiah’s company a year ago and Amber hadn’t been wary of her until after she first caught Josiah’s affair with one of his clients. By then, Amber knew all the signs to look for.

A few months had gone by and the texts between Josiah and Darcy had become more constant. “He told me there was nothing between them but work. That fucking liar.”

Rage hot and painful had welled up within her then. Amber had wanted nothing more than to jump in the car and race back to Chicago to confront them. She wanted to yell and scream and burn shit down, but she knew it was pointless. Not only would they be long gone by the time she finished the eighteen-hour trip, knowing Josiah, he would never own up to it the same way he had stumbled through owning up to the first affair. He couldn’t admit to being wrong about choosing the wrong brand of cereal so she knew there was no way in hell he would be truthful now. Not when he had clearly lied to her from the beginning.

“Trip to New York City my ass.”

“What do you need me to do?” Tasha had immediately jumped into best friend mode and Amber had needed that.

“Nothing just yet, but if you see the two of them together again, can you get more pictures for me? I don’t want his ass to be able to lie his way out of this when I confront him.”

“You got it girl. Will you be okay?”

No, Amber had wanted to answer.

She had wanted to scream out every curse word she could think of and have Josiah feel the pain she was feeling.

Things had been rocky between them, but she had been willing to try reconciliation.

They had even talked about attending couples therapy sessions to try to build their relationship back from his first affair, but clearly the only one who thought there was anything worth salvaging had been her.

“I’ll be okay. I’ve got family here.”

They had hung up not long after that and Amber had just stood there frozen in place. It wasn’t until her aunt pulled her over to sit on the couch that Amber realized she was crying. When Jackie had asked her what was wrong, Amber wordlessly passed over the phone and let her read the messages. Jackie read the messages before putting the phone on the coffee table and pulling Amber into a hug.

“You just cry until you can’t cry anymore.”

Amber had taken those words at face value and cried until she felt empty inside. It was only so satisfying. She had to confront Josiah somehow. Amber was not one to wait. She had fired off a text to him complete with the pictured evidence along with announcing that he would have plenty of time to play boyfriend to Darcy because Amber wasn’t coming back. Then, before she could say anymore, she opened the drawer on the coffee table and tossed the phone in it before slamming it shut.

Now, in the light of a new day she just felt hollow. Three years of her life and countless possibilities flushed down the drain and all Josiah had said to that was how his needs weren’t being met.

Hisneeds.

Amber had done nothing but bend to his needs from the very beginning from moving to the part of town he wanted, only considering jobs that worked around his schedule, and being his emotional support cushion whenever he faced a little strain.

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