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Chapter 1
Haley
I toss back the heavy covers with a sigh.
It doesn’t look like I’ll be getting any sleep tonight, either, and the weighted blanket I bought yesterday is still not living up to its hype.
Earlier tonight, I scoured my small kitchen until every surface gleamed. Last night, I did the bathroom, and the night before, I tackled my bedroom, filling up a couple of trash bags with clothes I never wear anymore that I plan to donate.
If only I could rid myself of a broken heart just as easily.
Well, calling it a broken heart is being a little generous. More like, disappointment with an unhealthy dent to my self-esteem and finding myself suddenly single after three years.
Chad might not have been Mr. Right, but he was Mr. Good Enough. Besides, I’m thirty-three, if my soulmate was out there somewhere, I would have already met him by now. Not that I believe in stuff like that. Uh-uh, soulmates and true love are the stuff of fairytales, and I’ve always been a practical person.
So, I’ve decided to be jaded. . . after the week I’ve had, I’ve earned it.
While Chad didn’t make butterflies flutter in my stomach or my heart pound, he made me happy. Well, at least, content. We were together for three years. Three long years. It was the best relationship I have ever had, and now it’s gone. Gone like the crusty mystery stain I scrubbed off the shelf in my refrigerator.
To be fair, I’ve never had the greatest track record with men. My last boyfriend and I were together for nearly a year, and it ended when he stole my credit card. The one before that was okay, but he and I broke up because we agreed we were better as friends. Then, there was my college boyfriend. I broke up with him when he cheated with my best friend. I dumped both of them as soon as I found out.
So, when I met Chad – a stable guy with a steady job and I was attracted to him – I was thrilled. I thought we had a solid relationship and that we were on the same page. I even thought he was going to propose soon.
Turns out, he was going to propose all right. Just not to me.
I really, really shouldn’t have snooped on his Instagram this morning. He and the new girlfriend – ahem, fiancée – are in New York City on an impromptu vacation. Where he proposed.
And they announced they’re expecting a baby. The hateful words Chad yelled at me make total sense, now. It’s only been five days since I walked into his house to find him balls deep in another woman, but that image and the things he said afterwards keep running through my head on repeat. Not to mention the sleazy offer he made me.
After he hustled the other woman out, asking for a few minutes to explain everything to me, he suggested that things didn’t have to end between us. He actually had the gall to say he wanted to keep seeing me. Secretly, that is, without the other woman finding out. In other words, I’d be the sidepiece.
Ugh, men. I swear, all they care about is getting their dicks wet. I really hope his falls off.
I’m not proud of how I reacted. I wish I could say that I was strong and chewed him a new asshole and told him exactly what I thought of his suggestion.
No, instead, I stared at him and then I started giggling. Like a maniac. That’s when he let loose with every vile insult he could think of in an attempt to hurt me.
I heave another sigh as I turn on the television across the room and search for my favorite show. Maybe a distraction will help me relax so I can finally get some shut eye. If nothing else, it’ll at least take my mind off of the carefree photo of the happy couple in Central Park that I wish I hadn’t seen. I really shouldn’t have snooped on his Instagram. Or hers.
“Stupid Chad,” I mutter under my breath before snuggling into a soft pillow and turning my attention to the TV.
It’s one of my top five favorite episodes of The Golden Girls – the one where one of the characters thinks she’s seen a UFO. I’ve watched this episode and all the others at least a hundred times and can quote the lines from memory. As the antics of the characters play out on the screen and the eighties laugh track acts as background noise, my mind begins to drift.
I haven’t been on a real vacation since I was a kid. At least, not one further than a couple of hours away. Maybe I need a change – somewhere exotic and sunny with a beach. Or a cabin on a mountain somewhere. I can start planning the trip tomorrow and use the time to relax and forget all about Chad.
Stupid Chad. A change of scenery is just what I need.
Just as Dorothy is telling Rose that, yes, it was indeed a UFO that they witnessed flying over downtown Miami, I notice a flash of bright lightning streaking through the sky just outside my window. My muscles immediately go rigid with tension. I’ve always been a little fearful of storms and lightning ever since I was a kid. I wait, listening closely, but no thunder follows the streak of light.
I turn over onto my back and study the darkened sky outside my window.
That’s weird.
The forecast didn’t mention any storms. In fact, it’s supposed to be cool and clear for the next week. Maybe the forecast was wrong – let’s face it, they are a lot of times.
In the distance, I hear my neighbor’s dog erupt in a frenzy of barking before he suddenly falls quiet after a loud whimper. I shiver as a strong sense of foreboding goes down my spine and leaves the hairs on the back of my neck and arms standing on end. It’s insane, but I have the strangest urge to run and hide.
Sitting straight up in bed, I grit my teeth in firm resolve. Obviously, the breakup with Chad has triggered the anxiety attacks I thought I had outgrown, and now, I’ve been reduced to jumping at bumps in the night. No way am I going to cower in bed like a mouse. Not Haley Richardson.
