Page 25 of Love Rescheduled

“I want him to leave.”

“Why do you want him to leave?”

“Isn’t that obvious? We broke up and he made me a laughingstock over the weekend.”

Alec cringed on the screen. “I saw the video.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you did. Everyone’s seen it.”

“If it makes you feel better, most of the comments reflect poorly on him, not you.”

“It doesn’t make me feel better. I don’t want anyone to make comments about my life online.” Especially ones about how I scheduled intimacy. It wasn’t that uncommon. Relationship therapists even recommend it sometimes.

“What have we talked about before? You have to be okay letting people be wrong about you.”

I curled more into myself. I didn’t love that advice. “Josh is wrong about me. We don’t belong together.”

“Then why are you so upset he’s there?”

“I don’t like these questions, Alec. You’re supposed to just fix it already,” I joked.

He chuckled. “You know that’s not in my job description. I’m here to act as a guide to help you achieve your goals.”

“My new goal is to kick Josh out.”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“My plan failed. I told him about my upcoming wedding, thinking it would do the trick, but that only seemed to make him more determined to stay. He doesn’t believe I can schedule love.”

“He might not be wrong.”

I scrunched my nose. “I thought you said if anyone could do it, I could.”

“I stand by that statement, but I also said it may not end in marriage.”

Oh, it was going to just so I could prove Josh wrong. “Alec, I feel so out of control right now. I need your help. Like, desperately.”

“Natalie, I think that’s the root of your problem. You think you can control everything, but you can’t. If I may say, I think you should honestly ask yourself why you left Josh. Was it because you preemptively wanted to control the outcome?”

“No,” I spluttered, highly offended he would think such a thing. “I did it because I loved him enough to let him go. So he could live a happier, fuller life.”

“But you can’t control that. Did you ever stop to think that his life was happier and fuller with you in it?”

“It wasn’t,” I sighed. “I made him miserable.”

“Then why is he there?”

“He loves being tortured?” I half laughed.

“Possibly, or maybe your insecurities stemming from your childhood clouded your vision. Maybe you listened to your parents’ voices, not your own.”

I blinked and blinked, not knowing what to say. That thought kind of hurt. Like a big ouchy.

Alec’s face softened. “Or perhaps I’m entirely wrong.”

“I don’t want to live in the spotlight,” was all I could think to say.

“That’s understandable. Few people would.”

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