Page 50 of Other Side Of Never
Jakey.
Barely crawling when Gary and I met, he used to call me mommy.He was my world, then Gary ripped him away from me as surely as he stole everything else.
I rocked back and forth.
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, I picked up my phone.With shaking fingers, I blocked him.
I should have stopped reading after the first message, as soon as I realized the new number was him.
Over the past two years, I’d considered changing my number hundreds of times, but this was the contact on all my business cards.It was the number all my previous business partners had for me.
I could, of course, send them an updated contact, but considering I was technically out of business?Why would they bother?
And how would Jakey ever contact me, even if he wanted to?
I didn’t have his number to send him my new contact.Gary made sure of that when he found out I’d been talking to him after he kicked me out.
Carefully setting my phone face down on my nightstand, I completed my morning routine with deep intention, taking extra time to massage in my face cream and slather body lotion on my legs before heading downstairs to make myself a cup of hot cocoa.
No matter how hot it was outside, inside I was frozen.For years chocolate had been my only solace.
And after that unwelcome blast from the past, solace was exactly what I needed.
Anita was out front chatting with a few of her regulars.I wandered around the kitchen listlessly, cursing Gary, then cursing myself harder for letting him get to me.
Suddenly having the day off seemed more like a curse than a blessing.I hadn’t quite decided which when I decided to go for a walk.
As soon as the chatter out front died down, I made my exit.
“Whoa, slow down, Bridge.What happened?”Anita held her palm up in front of my chest.
I shook my head and looked down, unwilling to show anyone the toll that man’s words took from me.
Her lips thinned.“Did that prick contact you?”
I gave a short nod, closing my eyes to brace myself for the lecture that was sure to come.
Changing my number was the smartest move, but hope burned eternal, and no matter how I reasoned with myself, changing that number was tantamount to snuffing it out.
And thank God hope was as yet more powerful still than fear.
“I’m sorry, Bridget.You don’t deserve that.And he never deserved you.”
I finally allowed my eyes to meet hers.
Warm with compassion, she gripped my upper arms.“Oh, my darling girl.I do not like to see you like this.My brother would have taken a bat to his fat head, I know he would.”
I barked out a laugh and then tears welled in my eyes.It was at times like these I desperately missed my parents.“Probably,” I agreed, my voice strained.“He would have done something crazy by now.”
She drew me into her arms.“We women need a little crazy in our lives to protect us from the psychos.”
“It’s true,” I sniffed, then extricated myself from her arms and palmed the moisture off my cheeks.“I’m going to have to manufacture my own crazy, Auntie.”
“I’ll be your sidekick,” she promised.
I turned away from the door at the sound of the tinkling bell overhead.
