Chapter 2
I yawned as I pushed the buggy down the aisle at the grocery store.
Work had been rough today. We had an aggressive dog come in.
The owner knew better than to bring a dog in without proper protection for the workers and anyone else in the clinic.
We had a hard time sedating him. I almost walked out because of all the aggravation I felt.
If I had it my way, I would call out from work tomorrow, but I had to sit in on a surgery as an assistant.
That was another part of my job that I loved.
With animals, I liked to be hands-on. Since I was a little girl, I got scolded a lot because I’d run in the woods after squirrels or even rabbits if I saw one.
As I got older, I wanted to learn more about them.
Now that I worked at a vet clinic, I saw all types of animals people had.
My goal in life was to have my own vet clinic with a research center.
I’d be seeing it through in the near future.
The sound of a woman’s laughter had me snapping my neck in her direction.
I remembered I used to laugh like that — full of pure joy.
Now, I didn’t know what joy looked like.
The woman seemed awfully familiar to me, and the baby bump she had looked like she was about to deliver any minute now.
When the man came into view, I couldn’t help but gasp loudly.
It was like my eyes were deceiving me. It felt like déjà vu.
It pained me to see Jonathan with this woman again.
They seemed to be very happy while I tried picking the pieces of my life up.
I had to get the hell out of there before he saw me.
I didn’t need him coming over to gloat like I knew he would.
That was the type of man he was. He cared nothing for anybody’s feelings but his own.
With quickness, I rotated my buggy in the other direction and crashed into a box of sodas that were in the aisle.
“Shit!” I hissed and kept it moving. It was for the best, and I didn’t want Jonathan to see me.
I was near the register when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I swirled around, ready to slap the piss out of him since I had a feeling it was him. He needed to keep his hands off me.
“Keep your damn hands off me,” I growled, shooting daggers at him.
Jonathan raised his hands and took a step back away from me. “My bad. I saw you and wanted to come to say wassup.”
I arched a brow. Is he being for real? I felt eyes studying us, but I refused to look around to see who it was.
“No, you came over here to gloat. We have no reason to talk to each other. You’re dead to me. Don’t ever in your life try to talk to me again!”
It took everything to hold back the tears that wanted to spill from my eyes.
I saw Jonathan for who he really was, and that was a little ass boy.
He was with another woman, so why in the hell did he want to speak to me?
He didn’t care that he’d hurt me. Did he care how that might look to the other woman?
He insisted on hurting me, and I hated that.
“Man, you don’t even have to act like that. I’m trying to be nice to you. You can never let shit go!” He huffed as if he was in the right.
Why did I feel like he was trying my patience just now? I felt like I was being tested. And truthfully, I was about to fail if Jonathan didn’t get out of my face.
“If you know what’s best for you, you’ll get the hell out of my face,” I threatened through clenched teeth. “You’ve broken my heart yet again. Do you even care? I was fine without seeing you. Just be a man and leave me the hell alone. We have nothing else to say to each other.”
I walked away from him, saying nothing else. Damn those groceries. How in the hell was I supposed to heal if I kept seeing Jonathan everywhere I went? What made matters worse was that he’d come to talk to me as if we were cool. What would be the point in trying to heal my broken heart?
I made it back to my car and climbed in with tears streaming down my nutmeg brown face. I rested my head on the steering wheel and gave in to the ugly cry I needed. Jonathan made me hate him, and I hated him with everything I had inside of me. I wished to God I never saw him again.