4. Dove
I inhaled the fresh, crisp ocean air as I stepped out of the car. There was a balmy breeze on this first day of July. I welcomed the breeze, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the seagulls, and all that came with being on this beautiful island.
I prayed that the change and the restoration that I needed would come while I was here. I prayed that the answers and healing I sought would be found on this island. The last year had been extremely rough, but I had no one to blame but myself.
Neal was my ex, who never should have been my man.
We met at a floral convention that he was covering as part of a larger celebration.
It had been two years since we met in Miami, and the city was celebrating Memorial Day.
There were so many events going on, and he had been assigned to cover some of them.
I was one of the people he interviewed at the florist convention that day, and he liked my energy, or so he said when he invited me for coffee and dessert later. We talked nonstop about everything under the sun, and I vibed with his energy too.
I was single and open to wherever our connection led. I learned that he lived just over fifty miles from where I lived in Cherokee Springs, and we made plans to reconnect once we were back home.
His work often had him traveling, and whenever I could, I traveled with him. Our connection was spontaneous, our chemistry was explosive, and my heart didn’t fall for him; she tumbled over, tripped up, and stubbed her big toe on that man.
I ignored the signs in the beginning: late night phone calls, always meeting at hotels, quickly ended calls, and last-minute canceled plans.
He blamed it all on work, and I accepted it—until it all changed one weekend while we were away.
Neal thought I was asleep when he took the phone call that led him to the hotel room balcony.
He thought he closed the door behind him, but he didn’t.
I overheard him speaking with someone named Tanya about “the kids.” When I questioned him about it later, he tried to lie, but that was when I searched for him on the internet, something I vowed never to do.
That was when I learned the field reporter that I loved and hoped to marry was already married.
There were tears, recriminations, shouting, throwing things, threats, and him finally grabbing me in his arms and carrying me to the bedroom. That was where he apologized and explained that he was wrong for not being completely open with me in the beginning.
He said that they were separated, their marriage was crumbling, and all they had in common were the kids. He said they were past the point of reconciliation, and he was simply waiting for her to sign the divorce papers.
I chose to believe him for the sake of my heart.
I chose to ignore the voice in my mind that said, “Girl, don’t be a fool.
If he’s serious about you, let him reconnect after his papers are final.
” I let him make love to me that day and many more days afterward.
He showered me with gifts and affection, and he became more attentive than ever.
It was all good, until it wasn’t. It was all good until we were spotted together at a concert in California, holding hands, kissing, and laughing.
It was captured and plastered all over social media and the gossip vlogs.
That was when I learned the truth. Not only was he still married and living in the same home with his wife and kids, but they were expecting another one. She was five months pregnant.
I was labeled “Rose the Recker,” based on my business and the fact that I was a homewrecker.
He avoided the media initially, and when he finally did face the allegations, it was at his news channel.
He explained how he had allowed some misguided young woman to lure him into a situation that no married man should be caught up in.
He explained how many regrets he had, how much he loved his wife and kids, and how he would never lose them and prayed that they wouldn’t leave him. He explained me off as nothing more than a “mid-life crisis.” He was fifty, and I was thirty. People chose to side with him surprisingly.
I was devastated and left all alone. He wouldn’t take my phone calls or anything.
Everyone hated me and vilified me for a while, until the next sensational scandal took over.
At that point, I finally blocked him on my phone and on social media, in case he changed his mind and decided to reach out one day.
Seeing him at my shop again brought all the hurt, humiliation, and shame back to the forefront. Yes, I was wrong for the part that I played in the affair. I should have walked away the minute I learned he was married, but I didn’t.
“Ma’am, would you like for me to carry your luggage to the porch for you?” my driver asked, pulling my attention back from the past.
I looked up at him and smiled. “Yes, please.”
I took in the cute four-bedroom seafoam-green cottage, with four rockers on the front porch and a porch swing. Seashells decorated the front door, and wind chimes swayed in the breeze.
I tipped the driver, thanked him, and pulled out the key that had been secured in my wallet. I opened the front door and lugged my luggage inside, smiling at the familiarity of this place and all the fond memories it brought through the years.
My parents co-owned it with neighbors of theirs who had been friends of theirs since before I was born. I headed to the bedroom that I knew would be mine, the one all the girls slept in as kids.
It was as if nothing had changed. The peach and tan bed covers that matched the curtains at the window were both new, but the same color and style as the ones that had been here all those years ago.
The house smelled like it had been freshly cleaned and not locked up for years.
I was glad that Mama had called a service in to take care of things.
After I put my luggage in my room, I headed to the front to take inventory.
I needed to see what all I would need immediately versus what I could wait for.
I wasn’t in the mood to go grocery shopping at the moment, so I prayed that there was something there.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the refrigerator to find that both it and the cabinets were fully stocked with fresh food.
I headed back into the room, showered, and changed into my swimsuit. The only thing that I wanted to do was walk down to the private beach and recall all the good times we had.
Thirty minutes after my arrival, my toes were digging into the hot sand, and I was inching my way to the cool water. I took a swim to relax, and when I emerged from the tepid ocean water, I felt like a new woman.
I sat down on my beach towel and wiped my face just as my phone rang. I frowned at the unknown number. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn’t, because it could have had something to do with my business.
“Hello?”
“Babe.”
“Why are you calling me, Neal? I asked you to leave me alone and stay away. I have found peace and happiness that I could never have with you. Please let me live my life.”
“I am your life, Dove. I have been for the last couple of years. I love you, and you mean the world to me. How can you easily forget about what we had?”
His words had me heated. I jumped up from the towel as though I had been burnt. I paced back and forth, trying to compose myself, but it was a struggle.
“You mean the way that you did? You conveniently forgot about those feelings and that love when the media found out about us, and you left me out to dry by myself. I had to figure out my next moves, I had to speak up, and I had to defend myself!” I exclaimed, jabbing my finger against my chest as though he could see me.
“You were nowhere to be found, not even in my rearview. Only my family stood by my side throughout that ordeal. I sure as hell didn’t feel the love then, Neal. ”
“I was trying to keep my family intact.”
“Why, when you promised that you and her were going through a divorce because there was nothing left to salvage?”
“My kids. M-m-my life was changing quicker than I expected, and I-I-I could barely hold onto my world. I couldn’t lose my kids, Dove. I was confused for a while about what I wanted most, but I know now that it’s you.”
“Why? Because you lost everything anyway? Well, you know what? You lost me too. No, you gave me up, but that’s fine. I didn’t want or need to be a kept woman anyway. Forget my number. Forget me. Don’t ever call me again!”
I jabbed the end button on the phone and sank back down into the sand. I lay there for several minutes and allowed the tears to fall down my face. After several minutes, I stood, gathered my things, and slowly walked back up to the beach cottage.
My heart was ripped out of my chest, and the only thing I wanted was to make the pain go away. I had come out here to escape the heartache and the memories, thinking that this place would bring back warm memories and healing. I’d be damned if on the first day here, Neal hadn’t managed to ruin that.
I tried to push the thought of him out of my head, but it was difficult, until I realized that I wasn’t alone in the cottage.
“Dove? Damn, girl. Where you been?”
I jerked my teary gaze up from my phone.
I had been deleting all the pictures of Neal and me, pictures that I had been reluctant to let go of because, like an idiot, I still wanted to believe that what we shared was special while we were together.
I had wanted to believe that all the memories couldn’t be tainted.
“Reighvyn!” I shrieked at the sight of my old friend standing at the refrigerator with food in his hands. My heart damn near exploded in my chest, and joy and peace filled every part of me.
“I missed you, li’l bit,” he greeted warmly as his warm nut-brown eyes glowed with happiness. He chuckled and set the items on the counter as I ran to hug him.
Shock poured through me at the sight of him. His dark, massive arms wrapped around me in a warm embrace, and the fresh scent of his crisp, airy cologne made me want to stay right where I was.
Reighvyn squeezed me and held me tightly to him. He rubbed my back and rested his face on the top of my head. “I missed you so gahdamn much, girl,” he whispered in an emotion-filled voice.
Eventually, I pulled back and looked him up and down the same way he did me, both of us smiling like fools. While he hadn’t grown taller since I last saw him, a lot had changed in terms of his muscles and all the tattoos. At six feet, three inches, he towered over me by nine inches.
His walnut-colored skin was covered with full sleeve tattoos on both arms and legs, hiding the burns he suffered from the childhood fire he had been trapped in.
He wore his thick, tightly coiled hair braided into a bun on his head and faded on the sides.
The trimmed mustache, soul patch, and beard had grown in thicker than when we were teens and highlighted his broad forehead and triangular-shaped face.
His full, heart-shaped lips crooked up into a sexy smile that somehow translated into him lifting one slightly arched eyebrow at me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Mama Alma gave me the keys because I needed an escape,” he explained, pulling more items from the refrigerator and smiling widely.
“Same. When did you get in? Just now?”
“Nah. Yesterday evening. I would’ve come sooner, as soon as Alma reminded me of this place, but I wanted to spend an entire day with Wryn and Paloma.
I was out picking up a few last-minute things when you arrived.
I guess that explains why I didn’t know you were here.
When I saw the back door unlocked, I assumed the housekeeping services had been by and forgotten to lock it. ”
“My mama sent me here. I was waiting with the hopes that the place would be cleaned by the time I came. Your things must be in you guy’s old room. I noticed all the doors were closed when I arrived. I never bothered looking in any of them.”
“Yeah, they are. I closed the door when I left.”
“They always taught us to do that. I guess old habits die hard,” I declared.
“They do. This is about to be a vacation worth taking. We’ve got so much to catch up on.”
“Yes, we do, and I can’t wait. I believe that seeing you is exactly what I need, Reigh-Reigh.”
He chuckled. “Well, I’m making steaks and baked potatoes. You want some?”
“Sure, I would love it,” I replied. “Let me clean up, and I’ll come back and help.”