Page 70 of Love Always, Nova Black
Clearing his throat, he spoke as calmly as he could. “Nova, I know you’re upset right now, so I think it’s best—”
“You’re damn right I’m upset. You were supposed to have my back and you didn’t.”
“Have your back?How the hell am I supposed to have your back against somebody that you still have feelings for?”
“What?”
“You heard me. The way you reacted after finding out that he was with another woman was crazy as hell. You lost it, Nova.”
I paused.
Is he serious?
“You’re joking, right?”
“Nah, I’m not.”
Once again, I was met with that nonchalant ass tone, and it was getting under my skin.
“You know what? Fuck you, Don. It’s obvious that you’re drinking the same kool-aid as my silly ass cousin, and I don’t have time for it.” I hopped out of the car. “After everything that you know I’ve been through, I can’t believe you would come at me like that.”
“Answer one question,” Don said.
“What?”
“If you want a divorce so bad, and you know the only way that might happen is if you have a conversation with your husband, why won’t you just do that? What’s really stopping you from sitting down with him?”
I dropped my shoulders, and slowly shook my head while trying to find the words to express what I was feeling. But nothing came out. In all honesty, I didn’t know what I was feeling. Everything was just stirring around inside of me.
The more I tried to figure out what to say, the harder it became. What started as confusion quickly turned into something else, and before I knew it, the only thing I could force out was, “Have a nice day, Don. I’ll have Kendra give me a ride home.”
I didn’t stick around to hear his response. It wasn’t necessary. Nothing about this moment was necessary, and I was done trying to make sense of it all.
Fuck everyone.
29
Don
My mother stared at me while holding one of my coffee cups to her lips.
“What?” I questioned, unsure of what part of my story had her confused.
Shaking her head slowly, she said, “Young man, I thought I taught you better than that.”
“What do you mean? Better than what?”
“Son, I raised you, so I was convinced you knew how a woman’s emotions work.”
I shrugged. “I mean, for the most part, I pretty much do, but I’m assuming something about what I told you makes you feel otherwise. Care to elaborate?”
“I shouldn’t have to.” She stood up from the kitchen island and stared at me a few seconds longer.
I didn’t understand the message that she was trying to get across, and I was tired of beating around the bush to try and figure it out. “Can you please just tell me what you feel like I did wrong in this situation because I’m pretty damn confused.”
“For starters, you already know how Nova feels when it comes to that man. You know that she’s also been dealing with family issues when it comes to him too. So, did you ever think that her anger stemmed from the fact that not only do they refuse to respect her wishes about not having him around, but now they’re letting him prance another woman around in front of her too. The same man that cheated on her with another woman.”
“Okay, I get that. But you should’ve seen her, she was so pissed off. No man that you no longer have feelings for should make you get that angry.”
