Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
We made it to the airport a few minutes before the flight. I ran across the terminal but when I got to my gate, it was already closed. I fisted my hand and let out a string of curses. I really didn’t want to spend an unnecessary night in Ohio. It had too many painful memories.
I decided to rent a car and drive back. The idea grew more appealing as I walked across the airport to the car rental offices. A long drive would give me a chance to ponder things. Figure out my next move.
Fifteen minutes later, I was driving the rental car out of the airport and headed to the highway. I’d sent a text to Abigail letting her know that I’d be home the next day and we must finish our ‘talk’ then. Even messaging her had brought out feelings of resentment. I was tired of owing her an explanation.
I’d hoped that working with my father would bridge the gap between us but it hadn’t and I knew that was my fault. I hadn’t been able to forget the threats that he had issued that had made Charlotte and me have to abandon our dreams to live together in New York.
Maybe then, she would not have left me. But that was fucked up thinking. I couldn’t blame my father for Charlotte leaving me. That had been squarely on Charlotte.
After driving for close to four hours, I was nearly crossing into Pennsylvania for the short drive to New York. It was close to five in the evening and I was starving. I got off the highway and followed the directions to a small town called Woodfield.
I spotted a diner on the edge of town. I parked the rental car in the parking lot and headed inside.
Charlotte
“Daisy, can you cover for Lulu for a few minutes. She has to dash home and check on her boy. He wasn’t feeling well,” Hannah said.
She was the owner and manager of the diner and was particularly kind to us single mothers as she had raised her son alone until she found love in her later years.
“Sure,” I said.
“Don’t bother changing, they all know you’re a chef anyway,” she said.
I washed my hands and left the kitchen. Four to seven were our busy hours when everyone in town seemed to come for their dinner. We were also pretty close to the highway and we usually got quite a lot of out-of-town customers.
I knew how lucky I was to still be able to do a job I loved and provide for my son. My vision had deteriorated further and I’d been forced to let Hannah know but she’d been adamant that I continue working.
My job gave Kayden and me, a pretty comfortable lifestyle, for which I was grateful. For more than a year, my vision had not deteriorated further and I clung to the hope that it wouldn’t for many more years. Every day, week, month was a gift to spend more time with my son, raising and loving him.
I stepped into the diner and Hannah pointed me to a lone diner with his back to me seated at a booth at the corner. “He hasn’t been served yet.”
I didn’t bother with a pen and notebook to jot down the order as our menu was ingrained in my memory. As I approached him, something about the way he sat and the back of his head reminded me of someone I knew.
As I got near, he turned his head and our gazes caught. I grinded to a halt and clamped down a cry with a hand to my mouth. I blinked rapidly sure that my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Alex. I rubbed my eyes and when I looked again, I was sure. I forced my legs to move. He stood up and stared. He seemed just as shocked to see me.
“Chaz?” he gasped.
My heart melted. I’d not heard that name in more than two years. I moved even closer so that I could see his features better. He looked a little different. His features had hardened.
“Alex,” I said.
“I can’t believe it’s you.” He looked away and then swung his gaze back to me as if he expected me to disappear at any moment.
He wasn’t wrong. If I could have run, I would have. As the initial shock wore off, my brain scrambled to come up with a plan.
Alex sat back down. I didn’t know what to say or do. A million thoughts crowded my brain, top of which was Kayden. I recalled the conversation I’d had with Alex’s mother. It was ingrained in my brain.
I’d told her to pass on the message that I urgently needed to speak to Alex. He had ignored me. That memory hardened my heart.
He was not the Alex I thought I knew. This was a man who had rejected me when I really needed him. In essence, he had rejected his son.