Half Of Rhea

The Changes

Rhea lay on her bed staring at the ceiling her heart in her mouth. Her phone lay on her chest and she picked it up looking at her reply.

Rhea- Hey Slade, yeah things have been pretty busy, how have you been?

She couldn’t believe that he had sent her a message and she was nervous not only with her quick reply but the thought that Zane would find out. Was it okay to entertain someone else? Was this considered cheating and could she pursue this friendship in spite of the father of her son, living in her home. They hadn’t broken up and she knew she was skating on thin ice, when it came to the boundaries of her relationship with Zane. Things weren’t over and she knew he still very much considered them still in a relationship, even after the violence.

She sighed and sat up, this had to stop. This situation was already ridiculously complicated. Adding another factor to this sh*t was only going to make things so much worse. As alluring and attractive as Slade was, she had to let her fantasy go.

Slade- pretty quiet for me just working and sleeping. Do you want to catch up for a coffee?

Damn it! Maybe she could meet up with him and tell him it wasn’t a good idea to even be friends. Not at this stage anyway. Yes that’s what she would do, meet up and tell him in person.

Rhea- I’m a bit busy this week… maybe next week?

Slade- s**t I’m heading south on Friday but only for a couple weeks. When I get back? I really want to see you again.

That would give her enough time to sort out this mess with Zane and time for her bruises to completely disappear. Could she just be friends with this man? Could she break up with Zane? Right now was not the time to decide this and at least the time, will give her an opportunity to think.

Rhea- Okay sounds like a plan message me when you get back :)

Slade- Will do ;) x

Why did her life have to be so damned complicated? She went back to the kitchen and cleaned up the remaining mess and got Laken ready for bath time and bed. Her mind was all over the place as she went to bed and fell asleep snuggled up with her son.

The next day the sun rose and she took Laken and the puppy for a walk. They met up with Sage at the park, Rhea figured it would be better for them to meet there, then the alternative of her and Zane having to face each other, unprepared, at Rhea’s house.

“Hey girl” Rhea hugged Sage, as Sage gave her a thermos filled with coffee.

“When did you get a frigging dog?” Sage bent down and petted the little pup.

“Ahem… uhm… yeah about that… after you left Zane turned up crying and with the puppy for sonson.” Rhea looked down knowing how disappointed Sage would be.

“Oh so that’s why you wanted to meet down here.” She peered over the top of her glasses at Rhea.

“Well honestly Rhea I’m not surprised, I knew that worm would weasel his way back one way or another, I just didn’t know what form of manipulation he was going to use to get back in.”

“Laken…. Crying and a puppy.” Rhea said shrugging her shoulders.

“Nice touch with the puppy though I didn’t think he would try that one on you…..” Sage pointed at Rhea, knowing exactly what games he had played on her. “You fell for it mate, you were suckered into his sad story.” She shook her head at Rhea. “There’s only so many times you can be this naïve Rhea-Rhea. I know this is harsh, but you need to wake up and realise this will never change and it will only get worse.”

Rhea stood there thinking about what her friend had said and she knew she was right. “I keep expecting things to change and get easier…. I know you’re right Sagey, I just don’t know what to do or how to get out of it.” She knew her friend was disappointed in her for giving him the opportunity to come back into her life, when she had the perfect excuse to finally get rid of him.

“And what’s worse is that Slade messaged me last night too, so I’m really up sh*t creek without a paddle.” She sighed her hands on her face, peeking at Sage through her fingers.

“WHAT! He messaged you!.... Oh My God you should have told me that first you saucy minx!” Sage laughed and grabbed Rhea’s phone flicking through the messages.

“Yes…. Yes…. Okay you played it cool and now you’ve got a couple of weeks before you meet up.” She nodded in approval.

“Why are you so determined for me to meet with this man?” Rhea asked Sage slightly bemused.

“Cos I know you deserve better than that piece of s**t you’ve got.” She replied without hesitation. “Plus he’s f*****g hot as f**k!” She wiggled her eyebrows at Rhea.

They walked around the park and chatted, drank coffee and went down the main street. In the window of a second-hand clothes shop Rhea spotted an ad for kick boxing classes for women. She looked at it and felt her mind warm to the idea. She pointed it out to Sage.

“What do you think mate?”

“I think you need it more than me.” She laughed and took a picture of the ad on her phone, “I’ve sent it to you and now you have all the details.”

Rhea nodded and the thought of getting fit and stronger made her feel excited. She always liked practical solutions to practical problems. If I can’t beat him physically, I’ll just get stronger she thought in her head. She nodded again at the ad in the window.

They parted ways and Rhea walked back home with a very tired son and an even more exhausted puppy. When they got home Zane had left again, but it didn’t bother Rhea, she was used to it and enjoyed the time without him in her personal space.

She rang the number from the Kick boxing class and spoke to a really sweet sounding lady, who ran the classes. The first one was free and only 7 dollars per class after that. It was just the motivation Rhea needed and she gave all her details over the phone, ready to embark on this new journey.

The next 15 days flew by as Rhea started a new healthy regime. She woke at her normal time in the morning and then walked Laken to kindy with the puppy, then she went to the park and spent an hour running laps around the field. Her strength and stamina increased gradually. On her first day she spent more time walking then running absolutely exhausted and puffing like a 90year old woman. Now on her 16th, she could make it around the perimeter 4 times without stopping. After the first lap the puppy would get tired and she would tie him to a tree close by, where she could see him all the time and he often slept, while she continued.

Rhea noticed just in that short amount of time that her clothes were fitting better. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she went to kickboxing classes. They were held in the afternoons at 330pm, around the time she had to pick up Laken anyway so her absence from home and the slightly longer trips there and back were not noticed by Zane. He attributed the delays to just extra time with the puppy. Rhea was glad he never asked, she couldn’t be bothered explaining it to him or have him asking questions.

She got them ready for another day of kindy, exercise and kickboxing. Zane was sitting at the table eyeing her suspiciously. Things had not gone back to normal for them, he kept his distance trying to be nice from afar, giving her the odd compliment and she spent her time just ignoring his presence. This frustrated Zane he thought that by now she would have forgiven him and things would have resorted back to her being submissive and quiet, listening to his demands. But there was something different about her. He didn’t like it. She seemed happy and unaffected by their lack of proximity, intimacy and engagement.

“Off again I see” he said quietly to her. There was just a hint of a scowl on his face as he tried desperately to hide his emotions.

“Yup” she replied popping the ‘p’ at the end of her reply, not looking up from her shoelaces. She continued tying them and picked up the dog’s leash.

“Have you guys picked a name for this pup yet?” she asked the two of them. Looking him straight in the eyes.

“We will probably wait a bit longer and see what his personality is like ay son?”

“Yeah I dunno what he is yet mama… I wanted caramel sauce but dad said no.” He pouted at them both, unaware that caramel sauce was a ridiculous name for a dog.

Rhea laughed and tugged them both towards the door, “you can’t name him caramel sauce son.” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Wait, why don’t we go and do something when you get back?” Zane asked.

“Sorry, I can’t I’m busy” Rhea replied instantly.

A frown crossed Zane’s face and his lips sneered at her as he bared his teeth and spoke slowly through his gritted teeth. “Busy. Doing. What.” he half whispered, trying hard to hold his anger in.

“I’m taking the dog for a walk then meeting Sage for a coffee and what not.” She shrugged her shoulders at him, not meeting his eyes, as she tried untangling the leash, her feet and Laken’s bag.

She missed the look on Zane’s face and the flash of anger that crossed his eyes.

“I’m trying Rhea…. I’m trying really hard to fix this, but I can’t if you don’t give me the opportunity to.” He said to her closing his eyes and breathing hard and slowly through his nose.

“There’s nothing to fix Zane, I told you just give me my space and look after son and the puppy.”

“You can’t hold what happened between us, against me forever!” He yelled at her completely frustrated.

“And you can’t determine how long it will take me to get over what happened!” she yelled back at him.

She had underestimated how angry he really was and he strode towards her, after pushing his seat back from the table and devoured the space between them in a few long strides. He gripped her face and forced a kiss on her lips. She was so startled and taken by surprise that she instantly went for his crutch and kneed him straight in the family jewels. He fell to his knees and rolled onto the ground grunting in tremendous pain.

“WHAT THE f**k!” he grumbled, panting hard on the ground.

“Oh sh*t….. sorry you made me panic…. Why did you kiss me??.... I thought you were going to hit me!”

She dropped to her knees to see if he was okay. The puppy started jumping over everyone on the ground, Laken fell backwards and onto the kitchen floor crying. It was chaos as Rhea tried to wrangle control of the puppy, her son and Zane on the floor. She untangled her son first and placed him on the seat making sure he was ok, then she tied the puppy to the leg on the table and looked over to Zane who had sat up.

He was fuming, she was sure she could see steam literally coming from his ears, his face was burning red and his eyes were black. That’s when a lump formed in her throat, she was scared and a panicked expression crossed her face.

“Do you think just cos you’ve lost a bit of weight that you can now take me on?” he looked at her seriously.

“I-it was a genuine mist-ake…. I did-didn’t mean too…” she stuttered through her words.

“You scared me.” She said looking down at the floor. “And you can’t just go forcing yourself onto other people’s faces.” She wanted to make it known that his advances were unwanted and that’s why she did what she did.

“You’re not just a random though Rhea! You’re my partner and the mother of my son!” he yelled, “If you won’t kiss me then who have you been kissing?” he sneered at her.

“NOONE!” she looked at him absolutely incredulously. “Why would you even think that!?”

“Come on Rhea, we never touch each other, you’re happy and losing weight, so who is it for? Cos it sure as hell isn’t for my benefit!” he spat his words at her, fuelled by his anger and also a little bit of shame for being kneed in the balls.

“It’s for myself you asshole! I won’t be hurt again, you won’t get to me that easily, and at least if you try I’ll give you a good run for your money, I won’t go down without a fight!” She screamed and tears started running down her face.

“It was a f*****g kiss you drama queen!” He threw his hands up in the air. “You need to get over this and get over it really f*****g quick!” He stood up and stormed out of the kitchen.

Rhea quickly wiped her face and stood, taking Laken and the puppy out the door. She dropped her son off at Kindy and decided she would continue with her routine at the park. the exercise helped clear her mind as she finished, she sat down with the puppy in the shade of the tree, feeling a little bit clearer and happier. It was a just a little run in with Zane this morning, she decided to go home and have a proper talk to him. Maybe they could figure this out, or at least come to a better understanding of each other. She sighed and then giggled a little bit at the scene in the kitchen. She couldn’t believe she had kneed him in the balls and she laughed out loud. At least she could rely on her fight or flight reflexes, he certainly didn’t see that attack coming. Those kickboxing classes had really started paying off. She stood her muscles aching from the run and her throat dry in search of water. She sauntered off home ready for a shower and hydration.

She arrived home and opened the door, yelling out for Zane, she wondered where he had gone. She went through to the lounge and he was standing with his back to her.

“I know the perfect name for the dog.”

She was slightly taken aback at his sentence but thought she would play along.

“Oookay… what’s the name?” she asked wondering where this conversation was going.

“How about Slade?” He turned and looked straight at her, she was confused at first shaking her head, not understanding what was going on. She looked at his hands and he was waving her phone through the air and it dawned on her. Her phone. He had gone through her phone.

Panic went through her as a sadis*ic smile crossed Zane’s face. He walked towards her and she closed her eyes not knowing what the hell to do. Run or Fight?