Staring at her, I think about how thankful I am for her. “I can’t even fathom doing anything today. Let’s just wander until something catches our eyes.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Evie replies, squeezing my hand. I give her a thankful smile. The food comes out surprisingly quick, and we dig in. Wasting no time stuffing our faces, I savor the grease now settling in my stomach.
Leaning back after effectively destroying all the food on my plate, I let out the most satisfied groan. “God, I swear this food is better than sex. I might start coming here more often.”
Evie shoves a huge bite into her mouth, chewing a few times, “This food is better than sex,” the words barely audible over her chewing.
I wipe my face with my napkin, piling all my dishes on top of each other so the waitress can grab it in one swoop. “Okay let’s go walk this off. I’m feeling a lot better after all this.”
After paying, we leave Ruthies, turning right and head toward the boardwalk. The weather is perfect and the sun feels so nice on my face. We check out all the little shops, spending hours going up and down the boardwalk. I buy a beautiful antique glass bowl to put in the middle of my kitchen table. It’s going to look so gorgeous there. Smiling at my purchase and listening to Evie ramble on about some swoon date that went horribly wrong, I begin to slow my steps as we approach our local animal shelter.
“… And then this dude had the audacity to ask me if I was sure I wanted to get the chicken parmesan because of the calor— Harper? Are you even listening to me?” she asks. I was until my attention was snagged by the sign on the shop window, which reads ADOPTION FAIR. I look at her, my smile spreading.
“Harper, no. You literally just ended a relationship. You shouldn’t be making such a huge decision like this after a life changing event.” I purposely ignore her as I open the door to the shelter and walk in. I know she’s probably right, and she’s trying to rationalize with me. But the moment I saw that sign, my mind was made up. I keep moving, internally smirking at Evie following me.
The receptionist greets us with a smile. She’s an older lady with short curled hair and glasses. She has a kind smile and warm brown eyes. “Hi there! Welcome to Barks and Recreation! What brings you lovely ladies in here today?”
Evie elbows me in the ribs, her voice barely more than a whisper. “We really shouldn’t be here. You’re not thinking straight.”
I give her a pointed look before I turn back to the receptionist. “I’d like to meet the dogs please!”
Chapter Four
Harper
Therestoftheweek flies by, and there hasn’t been much time to spiral over recent events. Evie may have thought I was crazy when we walked into the animal shelter but . I fell in love with the most adorable American Bulldog named Winston. I’ve quickly started to call him Winnie. Having him here has made it a bit easier with Dalton being gone. Winnie quickly took over Dalton’s side of the bed, firmly cementing himself as my leading man. I wasn’t planning on having it happen, until a particularly hard night came. I was sobbing in bed because I thought watching the movieUP!was a fantastic idea. News flash, it was not. Having the couple walk through life, growing old together, just for her to fucking die? At the beginning of the movie!? Who does that! Winnie had jumped on the bed sensing the mood shift, quickly circling the bed before laying back down resting his head on my leg. The dog bed I purchased is useless. He’s my partner in crime, and we’ve quickly fallen into a comfortable routine.
We get up in the morning, have breakfast, and go for a nice walk to start off our day. Winnie hangs out in my office, napping while I work. We spend my lunch break walking some more, and I eat lunch while working when we return. After supper, I sit outside at the fire while playing fetch with Winnie, letting him get his final zoomies out before we crawl into bed. It’s Friday night, and I’m in the backyard, barbecuing supper. I love the taste of seasoned chicken breast with asparagus on the grill. My mouth waters at the thought of dinner. A nudge at my side brings my attention to Winnie, who gives his best puppy dog eyes trying to get a taste. Dalton is supposed to be over shortly to collect the rest of histhings. I decide to do some reading while I wait, making my way into the living room to grab my tablet. I don’t remember the last time I touched it as I’ve been reading manuscripts for the last week trying to meet my deadlines. I don’t see it, so I head to the bedroom. I look through my nightstand, but it’s not there.Hmm, when was the last time I had it?It takes me a couple minutes, but then I remember that Dalton was using it the day we had supper with his parents.
I spin in the room. I know he had it before running into the bedroom to grab his phone. I spot it hanging above the mahogany shelf that I requested Dalton hang to help with cord management. When I reach the tablet and unplug it, I notice a message notification on the main lock screen. Which is weird because I don’t remember connecting my phone to the tablet. Not thinking anything of it, I unlock the screen, and it opens up to what was last on the tablet. I see messages that are connected to a phone, and it doesn’t take me long at all to realize that these are from Dalton’s phone; all from some girl named Chloe.
A memory unlocks of a coworker named Chloe that Dalton told me about. I even met her a few times, too. She was this petite brunette, working reception at his office. She kind of gave off this stuck up, entitled vibe whenever I came in to have lunch with Dalton. The fake smile always rubbed me the wrong way, and the way she shamelessly flirted with him in front of me had always irked me, but I’d never seen it reciprocated. She was never outright rude, but I saw the looks she’d give me.
I was used to them. After all, I usually get that response when people see me with Dalton. He is your typical good looking guy, while I am thebiggirl.
He never let anyone question it though. Dalton was always into PDA, and he had to be touching me in some way. A hand on my lower back, or quick kisses on my neck or cheek. At least, that's how it used to be. Our lunch dates slowly became few and farther between, and I eventually just stopped going. If it wasn’t me being busy with work, he was canceling, stating something important came up.
I don’t mean to start reading the conversation that’s loaded up on the screen, but it’s hard not to. I must be hallucinating because these messages aren’t friendly coworker messages. The further up I scroll in this text string, the louder the deafening silence becomes. These messages are romantic … and not just romantic. They’re fucking sexual too.
What in the actual fuck!
I look at the dates. There are months uponmonthsof messages. Growing lightheaded, I head to the bed to sit for a minute. Placing the tablet next to me, I close my eyes and take deep, slow breaths. The tightness in my chest begins to loosen a smidge, and then I sit with the realization of what has been going on behind my back for fucking months. I couldn’t stomach reading further than that. I’m honestly a little too nervous to try and see when this all started.
Something snaps in me, because the next thing I know, I am gathering his shit up and bringing it to the front door.
It doesn’t seem good enough to just leave it at the front door.
No, I need all his thingsout of here. I need them out of herenow. My chest tightens again as everything I read continues going through my head on repeat.
I feel like all I’ve known is a lie.
Next thing I know the front door is open, and I’m not so carefully taking all of Dalton’s stuff and chucking it out onto the front lawn. The feeling is so fucking freeing, I huff out a laugh as I grab the next handful of things and follow suit. I’m in some sort of trance as I continue to throw out every single thing Dalton left behind in this house, decorating my front lawn with it.
Is this making a scene for all the neighbors to see? Oh absolutely.
Do I care? Fuck no.
I’m on my way back into the house to get another arm full of things when I hear a voice from the front lawn. “What the fuck?! Harper what are you doing!?” My head whips around as I see Dalton climb out of his dark blue Nissan Altima. He quickly scrambles to grab his things, checking them for damage. His head snaps up and he makes eye contact with me.I glare at him and make my way through the door, out to the front lawn. He begins to walk toward me.
