The Beauty of Summer (A Christian Romance Novel)

Chapter 3

“X, don’t tell me you’re breaking up with me.”

C’mon, X. Tell me no. Tell me I’m wrong. Stop my heart from beating so fast in my chest.

Finally, he looked at her. And his eyes told her the truth. Dear Jesus.

Summer drew back in her chair again. "X, please don’t kid around with me."

"I'm serious."

Summer looked in his eyes and didn't see any hint of his normal jovial nature. But something didn't gel. Why would he invite her to a fancy restaurant just to break up with her before they served the wine? That was too callous for Xavier, so she knew this conversation had to be leading somewhere other than the termination of their fifteen-month relationship. "X, stop kidding with me. Let's talk real here."

"This is not a joke, Summer."

There were two things at that moment that convinced Summer that Xavier was not joking. The first was that he used her real name. Xavier never called her by her real name unless he was angry. Usually it was honey or baby or sweetie or gorgeous or some variation thereof.

But Summer was really convinced when she looked up in response to a shadow darkening their table. The person standing there was not a waiter.

Xavier stood. "Summer, you know Jada."

Summer looked up at Jada Hardy with the scorn of forty jilted women. Jada Hardy was the assistant to the president of Visual Notions. Her office was just ten paces away from Summer's. There she stood, fake auburn hair, fake nails, Hershey-bar-dark model-thin body, and enough chest that if someone tapped her gently on the head from behind, she would tip over forward. And for all she knew, that might be fake. Summer quickly dialed back her hard look, realizing that Jada had enough clout to get her fired with a bat of her eyelashes. Summer had liked Jada. Until now.

Jada tried to be cordial in a less-than-cordial situation. "Hi, Summer."

Summer looked down at the table. "Jada."

Jada walked over to Xavier's side of the table. Summer looked up just in time to see Jada plant a respectable kiss on Xavier's cheek. She then sat in the chair directly to Xavier's left. When Xavier sat back down, he looked over at Summer and saw a blaze in her eyes.

"Summer, I wanted to let you know that me and Jada have been seeing each other for a few months now."

Summer inhaled deeply. Her heart began to palpitate. The shock of that statement cut her deeply than anything she would have imagined, rendering her vocal cords inoperative. She focused her eyes on the table, fighting back tears, not wanting to give either of them the pleasure of seeing her cry.

At that moment, Summer realized the mistake she had made a few months before. Summer had invited Xavier to her office to have lunch, something she rarely did with her friends. She preferred to separate her business and personal interests as much as possible. After lunch, when Summer was walking Xavier to the door, Jada strolled past. In courtesy, Summer introduced Jada to Xavier, referring to him as "one of Visual Notions' clients." Not my boyfriend, or my man, or even my friend, but my client. The last thing you want to do is introduce your man to another gorgeous, buxom, clasping woman as nothing more than a business interest.

The waiter returned to the table, interrupting an awkward silence. Once he had given his welcoming spiel, he asked for their drink orders. Xavier politely sent him away once again, and then focused his attention on the two lovely ladies sitting at his table.

Emboldened now that the worst of his silent confession was over, Xavier said, "Listen, I know the two of you have to work together. I was hoping we could come together, talk it out, and at least be civil to one another."

Summer knew the hidden meaning behind Xavier's words: this is my new girl. I'm going to be coming around the office quite a bit, nuzzling up to her, and I don't want you screwing things up.

Summer phased out Jada for a moment and focused her icy glare on Xavier. "You couldn't even give me the courtesy of breaking up with me without bringing your new girlfriend along, and you expect me to be civil?" Summer threw her hands up. "I don't even know why you're doing this."

"Why I'm doing what?"

"Why you're breaking up with me."

"You know why."

"Because—" Summer stopped, realizing that what she was about to say was too personal for Jada's ears, and frankly none of her business. She turned to Jada. "Could you excuse us for a moment?"

Jada cut her eyes at Xavier, seeking his permission. Xavier nodded. Jada cut a final glance at Summer before she stood and walked toward the bar on the other side of the restaurant.

Summer leaned in toward Xavier. "You're breaking up with me because I wouldn't marry you?"

"You know I'm looking for a relationship that is going somewhere, Summer. I've been asking you for your hand for months. I can't wait any longer."

Summer sighed. "You know I have issues with marriage—"

"Yeah, I know. And your daddy issues. Although I don't think you're against the idea of marriage as much as you are against the idea of marrying me."

Summer leaned back in her chair. She couldn't argue. Xavier was a fantastic boyfriend. But not every relationship was made to make the leap to marriage. From her perspective, there was so much that needed to be worked out. Unfortunately, Xavier had lost patience. And with so many women around waiting to throw themselves at a handsome, high-paid stud such as Xavier, he no longer needed to be patient.

When they had started dating, Summer told him that she intended to be celibate until marriage. Her mother had raised her that way, according to her Christian principles. And Summer considered herself a Christian, even though she had not been to church in many months. But Xavier was the type of man who was used to wrinkling a woman’s sheets within one to two weeks of the first date, so challenges greeted his relationship with Summer from the beginning. And Summer went into the relationship fully intending to make a decision about marrying Xavier within a few months. But then, the alcoholism and the controlling issues surfaced, and that was all she needed to hold off any possibility of a deeper relationship. Summer adored her mother, but she didn't want to become her by marrying a man that was potentially abusive. She saw how much it affected her mother, and she had no intention of following in those footsteps.

But now she sat there, quickly drowning in the hurt and pain of rejection. What was worse, he was cheating on her with a co-worker, a woman she respected and trusted. She fast-forwarded through her life and realized she was about to go through life once again without a man, lonely and depressed. Thirty-five years old, and no closer to having a successful relationship than she was at eighteen. Her entire life had been relationship-deprived, especially since moving to Richmond. The realization of losing the one person who seemed drawn to her was so frightening that her next words were a compromise against facing the ugliness of the next few months, perhaps years, of her life.

"X, I don't want to lose you. I could look more closely at this marriage thing. Please let's talk and work this out."

"Summer, I've already proposed to Jada, and she accepted."

Summer squeezed her eyes shut. This was unbelievable. The evening was just getting worse, and she could feel Xavier slipping out of her grasp. "You haven't known her that long."

"But we don't need to know each other for long to know that we were meant for each other. When you feel that way, there's no sense waiting."

"You used to say that about us."

"What?"

"That we were meant for each other."

Xavier looked way. "Maybe I was mistaken."

That stung more than anything that Xavier had said. That their relationship was a sham, a mistake. She wasted fifteen months of her life on a mistake. They were hard, sharp words, but she didn't want to acknowledge them. She knew that Xavier was the man for her. She knew it now more than ever.

And with those thoughts, she was moving into the same dangerous territory and destructive co-dependent behavior that her mother had exhibited throughout a year of a***e; that sometimes it was better having a man in your life that abused you, than no man at all.

Summer's next words were abrupt and only half-hearted. "Okay, I'll marry you."

Xavier shook his head. "We had our chance, Summer. I'm going to be with Jada now." He looked toward the bar, hoping that he could meet eyes with Jada and summon her to return to the table.

Summer's eyes were moist with tears now, and as she blinked, they started to flow down her face. "How can you do this to me?" She made no effort to stop the flow, as they had begun to drip off her chin and onto the tablecloth. A few of the patrons noticed her tears and stole periodic glances, trying to figure out what was going on without appearing nosy.

Jada returned to the table, at which point Summer noticed that several of the patrons had noticed her crying. Flustered, Summer grabbed her purse, got up from the table, and without a word, headed for the door. One of the waiters saw her on the way out and asked if she was okay. She hurried past him without answering.

Then suddenly, just before she reached the front door, anger mingled with her sadness like a suitor cutting in on a dance. This woman, Jada, the one she trusted and respected for years, just stole her man from her. There was no way she was going to do that without Summer making a bold statement about it.

Summer turned around and headed back into the restaurant. On a table near the door, three wine glasses, half-full with Merlot, were sitting there, left by departing patrons. Summer clutched her purse tighter between her left arm and her side, then grabbed two of the glasses. She marched toward Xavier's table. Xavier and his new girl-toy Jada were sitting next to each other, nuzzling close while reviewing the wine selection, so they didn't notice her approach. By the time they did, it was too late.

With the precision of a gunslinger, Summer hurled both the glasses forward, sending the wine out of the glasses and directly into Xavier and Jada's faces. They jumped up and screamed, and the room fell silent, as all eyes were now on them. Summer dropped the glasses on the table and marched toward the door. The glasses rolled off the table and crashed on the floor, creating the only sound in the room at that moment.

As Summer left, she couldn’t help but notice that a few of the women, understanding her pain, had smiles on their faces.

* * *

Summer went home to her apartment in the Midlothian area of Richmond, just a ten-minute drive away from the restaurant. As she entered her apartment and tossed her purse on the couch, she regretted, for a moment, that she was not one of those sisters who would have cussed Xavier out within an inch of his life, and then keyed his BMW on the way out. But this hurt, really hurt. She couldn't believe that the man she loved did this to her. It was a type of grief that felt worse to her than a death of a loved one. And without hope, the grief was much more difficult to survive.

Summer's only hope was that Xavier would come to his senses, change his mind, and return to her with hat in hand and an apology. Maybe once he saw how much he had hurt her, he would reconsider his decision to marry Jada. Maybe once again her phone would ring, or her doorbell would chime, and Xavier would be on the other end, realizing what a fool he was.