Right Time

Chapter 2

After unpacking, I made my way to the dining room for dinner.

“How are you holding up honey?” My Grandpa asked, looking up from his paper.

“I’m holding it together.” I replied, giving him a weak smile. “I plan to go into the office tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to do that. Elijah can handle things a little longer till you are ready to take over.”

“You should call your friends honey and go out. It might help with the grieving.” My Grandmother chimed in.

Friends…… I never had many of them and once I was married I lost contact with all of them. I never had time to spend with them. I didn’t do anything a normal 18-year-old would do. I would go to college and rush home to finish homework and have dinner ready for Chris.

Dinner was my favorite time with him. It was almost like it was the only time we really talked and I saw a different side of him. Or maybe it had been all pretend.

“Grieve? He didn’t die, he cheated on me with his high school girlfriend. The same girlfriend that was at our wedding. The same one his family invited to every family barbecue. The same one they all assured me was only a family friend after years of them being apart.” The venom was clear in my voice.

My grandmother sat down next to me and took my hands in hers. “Honey, you have every right to be angry and upset and, yes, grieving. You managed to get past the denial after seeing the video, but anger is next and you have to learn to let the anger go or it will eat you up.”

I knew my Grandmother meant well, but I wasn’t grieving. I was angry. So angry about everything I had done for him and the way he neglected my love.

“You’re right, Gram, and maybe I will try to give some of my friends a call.”

The rest of dinner was peaceful and there was no talk about my failed marriage. After dinner, my Grandmother set a bowl of vanilla cherry ice cream in front of me and Grandpa before walking out of the room.

“So you plan to start work on a Friday?”

“Yes Grandpa.” Shoving a spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.

“Hmmm.”

I sat the spoon down and looked at him. “ OK… out with it.”

“Oh it’s nothing.”

“Grandpa.”

He held his hands up in defense. “If I were the boss and somebody just got a divorce….I would at least tell them to take the weekend. I actually would tell them to take a week at least. But that is if I was the boss.”

Looking at it from a boss’s perspective, he was right. I would tell them to take some time but I was looking for a distraction.

“Fine you win. I will call Elijah in the morning and let him know I will start next Monday.”

“Good.”

We continued to eat our ice cream in silence. That was my favorite thing about Grandpa. He knew how to get to the point in a way that would get through to me.

After saying good night, I made my way to my room. I changed into my most comfortable pj’s and crawled into bed. After 5 years, this was my first night sleeping alone. I felt the warmth of my tears falling and wetting my pillow.

Damn it! I did not want to cry for him. He was not worth my tears but they kept flowing. Each time I managed to stop crying I would think of a different memory. I’m not sure when I finally fell asleep but my alarm on my phone woke me from my slumber.

After placing a call to Elijah, I made my way to the bathroom. I looked terrible from crying all night long. After a long hot shower, I looked and felt better. Throwing on some comfortable clothes, I went to the kitchen and found my Gram cooking some pancakes and bacon.

Grandpa was waiting as he read the paper. I swear this man reads the paper from front to back and reads each line.

“Anything good?” I asked, taking a big gulp of my coffee.

“Never is.” He said, putting the paper down and smiling at me.

Gram sat the food on the table and we began digging in. My Gram was the best cook and I learned everything I knew about cooking from her.

“What are your plans today?” Gram asked.

“Oh I don’t know. I think I will just lay around. Catch up on some emails.”

“Hmmmm.” Grandpa mumbled.

Looking over at him, he smiled and took another bite of food.

“Or maybe I could try giving some friends a call.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Grandpa said, taking another bite of his bacon.

After breakfast, I went to my room and picked up my phone. I decided that of my three friends, Reannah, was my best bet for forgiveness. But I couldn’t bring myself to call her. I chickened out and decided to send her a text message.

I kept typing a message and deleting it. Nothing I typed warranted the way I abandoned them. As I went to delete the last message, I accidentally hit send.

“Shit.” I watched the screen and it felt like those 3 bubbles continued to show on the screen, but no message was received on my side.

To be honest, I wouldn’t even be mad if she left me on seen. I sat my phone on bed and laid back staring at the ceiling. Before I could over think, my phone pinged letting me know I had a message.

I grabbed the phone and saw a message from Reannah.

Reannah: “Hey girl! I miss you like crazy. Let’s meet for lunch. How does Park Place sound?”

Me: “Hey, I miss you too! Does 1 sound good?”

Reannah: “I will meet you there :)”

I thought about messaging Nicky and Karie but I didn’t want to push my luck. As I waited I could feel my anger rise again. Here I am trying to get one of my 3 friends back, while Chris never gave up any of his friends.

They get together at least once a month. But this time the anger was focused on myself. He never asked me to give up my friends. That was my obsession with wanting to spend every second I could with him. But he gave hints that he would rather I stayed at home and, of course, like a fool I did.