Better Late Than Never (4 page)

 
She had shocked him by slapping him, and he had worn the mark of her slap for a while.

She paused when she grasped the reality of Randy’s reason for breaking up with her. “So you ended our relationship because you thought I had fallen for another man?”

“Yes and no. I ended our relationship because I wanted to make sure you had lived your life and accomplished all of the things you wanted to accomplish. So you had the opportunity to date other people if you chose to.”

Kristen closed her eyes. Six years gone because he jumped to an irrational conclusion. Six years she couldn’t get back. Right now she wasn’t sure she wanted them back.

“So you are telling me that you broke up with me because you
thought
I was interested in another man?”

She could hear the hesitation in Randy’s voice. “I didn’t know for sure but I wanted—”

She laughed harshly. “You didn’t
think
to ask me either, did you, Randy?” Kristen sighed in frustration. “I can’t believe you, Randy. After what we shared, all we had, you just doubted my love for you without asking for answers. Are you sure it wasn’t you that wanted out?”

When he didn’t respond she kept speaking. “God, Randy, you did, didn’t you? You didn’t want to be with me anymore so seeing another guy kissing me gave you the perfect out, didn’t it?”

His silence was deafening, and anger coursed through her. She had given him the benefit of the doubt the entire time. Now she felt like a fool.

“I can’t believe you. You would just throw our relationship away because you wanted out, but instead of being a man and telling me outright you use a weak excuse to end it.”

“Kristen, it isn’t—”

“Save it, Randy. You should have explained
this
six years ago. Then neither of us would be sitting here wasting our time, and I wouldn’t be giving you credit for being a man that you obviously aren’t.”

“Kristen, I—”

“Just save it because right now I wouldn’t believe anything you have to say.”

Randy protested. “You don’t mean that.”

“How would you know? It seems as if you don’t know me at all, and right now I’m not sure that I want to know you.”

“Kristen, we—”

“There isn’t a
we,
Randy. I’m not sure there ever was. Now I’m tired, and I’m starting to get a headache. So have a good night, and don’t bother to call me again.”

She disconnected the call and closed her cell phone wishing that she were on a landline so that she could slam down the receiver. Instead, she settled for slamming the cell phone down on the bed. How could Randy have done this to her? Her stomach turned, and she was sure she was going to be sick. She looked at her cell phone when it rang and knew who it was before she picked it up. Seeing Randy’s name, she ignored the call. She didn’t want to talk to him. Couldn’t talk to him right now. To know he had been so selfish was infuriating. If he wanted to break up with her he should have just said so. It would have hurt but not as much as it did now. She spent six years thinking about a man who didn’t seem to exist right now. She closed her eyes and pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes. She wouldn’t cry. He wasn’t worth crying over.

What she needed was a hot shower to clear her mind. Then she could go downstairs and get some ice cream. Ice cream was the best medicine to deal with a situation like this. She just hoped that her sisters weren’t still up. One look at her and they would know something was wrong. Her cell phone rang again, and she growled pressing the Reject button to ignore the call. She walked into her bathroom and undressed quickly, with her mind still on her conversation with Randy. A pain shot through her heart. To know Randy didn’t want to be with her after all this time was devastating. As she stepped under the spray of water, the first tear fell.

She placed her head against the wall and cried. Randy’s words hurt her tonight, but everything else now made sense. It explained why he was able to move on and start a relationship with another woman. Start a family with that woman while she spent her time thinking about Randy and what went wrong. She had been such a fool. Sticking her face underneath the warm spray she resolved not to shed any more tears over Randy. He wasn’t worth it. She began to bathe and wondered how she was going to pick up the pieces. A lot of her time had already been wasted on Randy, and she didn’t plan on wasting anymore.

“What in the world are you doing?”

Kristen stopped in the doorway to Keirra’s room, and her mouth fell open. Her sister had lost her mind.

“I am rearranging my room,” Keirra huffed.

Kristen shook her head and entered the room. “Why didn’t you ask for some help?”

Keirra put the nightstand down where she wanted it to be before straightening up to face her sister. “Because I didn’t want your help.”

Kristen rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Keirra must have had a rough day at school. She hadn’t been herself all evening, but she didn’t want to talk about it, so Kristen was not going to press the issue. When Keirra wanted to talk was when she would talk. She also felt as if she owed Keirra the favor because her sisters had done the same lately. The past two weeks had been stressful. It had become a full-time job to avoid Randy. Since his confession she hadn’t talked to him, and she didn’t plan on it. The bad thing was that Randy wasn’t going away as easily as he had the first time. He called her constantly. The local florist was out of flowers, and her sisters were dying for her to tell them what happened. Through it all, she found a way to stay sane . . . barely.

She turned her attention back to her sister who was still huffing. “So is this one of those self-therapy things or do you just want a vacation?”

Keirra gave Kristen a dumbfounded look that didn’t trick her at all.

“What does rearranging my room have to do with a vacation?”

“Because if you keep moving this stuff around by yourself, you are going to dislocate your back, and then you aren’t going to have a choice but to take one.”

Keirra stared at Kristen for several heartbeats and then a huge grin spread across her face. She started laughing so that hard tears came to her eyes, and she had to bend over to keep from falling down. Kristen wanted to remain serious about the situation but couldn’t help herself, and she began to laugh. Once Kristen was able to stop laughing and catch her breath, she gave Keirra her sternest look. “Now, if you are ready to accept my help, we can get this done together.”

Keirra swallowed the last of her laugh, nodding. “I would appreciate your help.”

Keirra stood and told Kristen what she wanted moved and where. A short while later they had everything rearranged. Keirra thanked her, and Kristen left the room shaking her head and out of breath. This was the third time Keirra had rearranged her room. Keirra had been like this for a while now, even before their father had passed away. She could remember walking past Keirra’s bedroom and watching her sister move things around in her room with their father’s assistance. When she asked Keirra why she changed her room around so often, her sister had shrugged and replied she didn’t like how the room looked anymore.

Kristen entered her own room wondering if her sister would ever get tired of rearranging her room all of the time. If she ever got married it would drive her husband insane, and if she had kids it would be downright ridiculous. Deep down, she already knew the answer to the question.

Sighing, she walked over to her closet, pulled out a polo work shirt and khaki shorts, and then hung them on the back of the door. She walked into her bathroom and ran water into the tub, adding her favorite bubble bath to it. Once the water was at the right level, she took off her clothes and pinned her hair up then stepped into the tub. She reached for her bathtub pillow and relaxed into the tub. She let out a long sigh and then closed her eyes. It had been a long day, and in a few hours, it was getting ready to start all over again. She relaxed letting the tension flow from her body. When her eyelids began to get heavy, she sat up and began to bathe. The last thing she needed to do was fall asleep in the tub. She made that mistake one time, and it had taken an entire bottle of lotion to make her skin presentable.

A short while later, she pulled the drain to let the water out of the tub. She wrapped a towel around her body, stopping in front of the sink. It didn’t take her long to brush her teeth and braid her hair so it would be manageable in the morning. She walked into her bedroom and put on her nightgown before crawling into her bed. For some strange reason she was more tired than usual. Not that it would amaze anyone. Running around a day care after kids all day could be exhausting. Yet, she was proud of herself because she had set a goal, and after a lot of hard work, she accomplished it.

She must be more tired than she first thought because she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. When her alarm went off, she groaned and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

It was her morning to cook breakfast at the day care. The task called for her to have to get up an hour early. She went into her bathroom and brushed her teeth, then fixed stray hairs that escaped her braid overnight. It didn’t take her long to get dressed. She grabbed her purse and keys, heading downstairs. The smell of coffee assailed her, and she was grateful to have Kayla for a sister. She grabbed her thermal cup and poured the coffee in it. She took an appreciative sip and then headed out the door and for her car.

Jill was waiting for her when she pulled up to the center. She took another drink of her coffee prior to climbing out of her car. Jill met her at the front door with a smile.

“Is it early enough for you?”

Unlocking the door, Kristen rolled her eyes at Jill. Sometimes she wanted to hit Jill for being so positive, but there were times when it came in handy. Jill followed her inside and locked the door behind her. It would be at least thirty minutes until the first child arrived. It was all the time they needed to make sure everything needed for the day was ready. Once it was, she and Jill began making preparations for breakfast. They had to make sure the children that were going to ride the bus to school had breakfast. It was a service she provided because the bus picked up the children late in the morning, and by the time they got off the bus they had just enough time to get to class. Once all of the school kids were off things
were
a lot less hectic. She had the chance to break away and try to complete some paperwork.

Zebbie stuck her head in the office. “Randy just dropped Wade off.”

Kristen rolled her eyes in agitation. Her staff had followed this routine since they found out she wasn’t speaking to Randy.

“You don’t have to announce when Randy drops Wade off everyday.”

Zebbie gave her a look of disbelief. “Are you sure? It seems like you disappear into your office and close the door at least five minutes before Randy is scheduled to drop Wade off.”

Kristen felt her mouth drop open.
“I do not.”

Zebbie nodded. “Yes, you do, and everyone has noticed.”

Zebbie stepped farther into the office. “The only thing I will say is that you can’t avoid Randy forever. At some point, you will have to talk to him about whatever it is you are mad at him about.”

Kristen put down her pen and dropped her face into her hands. “I wish it were that simple.”

Zebbie exhaled softly. “It is as simple as you make it, and if it makes you feel any better Randy looks worse than you do.”

Kristen smiled as Zebbie left her office. She was happy to hear Randy was having as hard of a time as she was. Since he had revealed why he had broken up with her, she had experienced an abundance of emotions. Right now, anger and disbelief were the two she had a hard time controlling. What had she done to deserve such callousness? There was work to be done, and she didn’t have time to go over the things that could have been with Randy. Picking up her pen, she tried to focus on the paper in front of her. A short time later, she sighed with frustration and put her pen down. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to get any more paperwork done. Her mind was on Randy, and once that happened, her concentration was gone. There was no use in sitting there pretending it hadn’t. She stood up and left her office. Zebbie had the children engrossed in story time. They had story-time three times a day. It kept the kids preoccupied, and it got them interested in reading. She heard Zebbie say, “The end,” and smiled.

“All right, children. It is class time.”

Everyone got up full of excitement. She led her four-year-olds to their area and stopped to check in on Jill on the way. Each of them had an age group to take care of. Jill had two infants, one seven-month-old, and one ten-month-old. She also had two one-year-olds. Zebbie had five two-year-olds and one three-year-old, Wade. He liked Zebbie and was always well behaved with her. To be truthful, he was well behaved with everyone. He was also Zebbie’s little helper. When they combined all of the children together, the two-year-olds followed him around and tried to do everything he did. It was funny to watch at times. With all the age groups being accounted for, it left her with the four-year-olds, and she had six of them. Gerri rotated out with whoever needed a break until the school-age children, who were her responsibility, came in. So far, things were working out okay with the way the system had been arranged, but she was looking at bringing in two more workers. She needed a cook and another attendant. Although she could consider three additional workers, there were days when they needed a full-time receptionist.

It would be helpful to have someone who was able to stay at the front desk the entire time the children were being dropped off and picked up. The day care had grown larger than she ever imagined in the short amount of time that passed since she opened. At least this part of her life had worked out. She always thought she would be married to Randy by now, possibly with a few children
of their own,
while she ran the successful day care. Well at least she had achieved part of the plan. Quicker than she expected and now it was past time to hire some extra help. She had hoped to finish the advertisement for the positions before lunch. It was obvious she wasn’t going to. After they made it through the first lesson it was going to be lunchtime, and they would get busier from there. She would be finishing her work from home. When she considered how much thoughts of Randy preoccupied her mind when she was at home, keeping busy might be a good idea.

Once the children were situated, they began working on the alphabet. They reviewed the letters they had covered so far them moved onto the letter
Q
. It was the letter of the alphabet they were going to focus on all week. She was amused when she asked her students to give her a word with the letter
Q
. Bobby called out the word
quiet,
and everyone took him literally. After a quick laugh, she was able to get the group to give her a few more words. She supplied them with a few more. By the time they finished the lesson, it was lunchtime. She walked into the kitchen and looked at Jill. One thing she knew for certain was she needed to get the advertisement for the job postings completed tonight. Otherwise they were going to have to start joining the children for naptime.