His Proposal

Chapter 43

He came back with our coffee. A caramel frappe for him and a strawberry frappe for me. I drank half of it, and the caffeine hit me like a ton of bricks. As I talk to him I am typing at the speed of lightning for the next half hour. I was only supposed to put out five hundred words today. I had written one thousand and fifty-two. He asked me what I was writing, and I told him the beginning of a memoir.

"You are too young to be writing memoirs."

"I started my life super early."

"I started my life early too. Mom gave birth and that's when I started my life, as soon as I took my first breath.

He laughs.

"Aren't you the funny one? I mean my life with him, and my children." 

I had managed to tell Gio what I wasn't able to tell Excalibur. I am married with three children. My husband has been unfaithful to me for the last year, and I want a divorce. For some reason, it seems easy to talk to him about this, and he understands where I am coming from, and how much it hurts. I think he does. You can never tell these days. He might be saying these things because he thinks he's going to get some loving. 

"Oh yeah, that man should be ashamed of himself. I don't care what's going on, I wouldn't just give up on my family like that. I mean, what happened to communication?"

"Yeah, if something was wrong he should have said something, but he didn't."

"When and if I ever get married, I'd like to have what my parents had."

"Had?"

"My father is deceased, he had some major health problems that finally got him."

"I'm sorry to hear that, you have my condolences."

"Thank you, you are such a sweetheart. I don't know what that man was thinking, but I know he's a fool to leave someone like you."

"Someone like me huh? Boy, you just met me."

"I know we just met, but you seem like a really good person. I can say this because I know so many not-so-good people, unfortunately."

"For a young buck, you seem to know a lot."

"It's my job. Nah, let me stop. My mother use to always say it seems like I've been here before, and I remind her of my great grandfather with the way I talk and behave."

"That's funny, that's what my mom used to say about me, and I say that about my daughter. She behaves like she has been here before."

"See you are opening up, you seemed so standoffish when we first met."

"I was, and I was meeting a friend that day, and I didn't want to look funny when he came in."

"Ah, I was wondering what that was about. I was like why is she acting all weird? Then I saw him, and after that, I realized you aren't from around here. Hyde Park is like a college town. There's usually a lot of young people in this area. You and your laptop stuck out like a sore thumb."

"Do you watch any of the crime shows?"

"Yes, I do. Why?"

"You sound like a profiler. That was extremely detailed."

"You got me; I'm obsessed with criminal minds. I see that you are too. Ms. You sound like a profiler."

"Touché."

We laughed, and he asked if I wanted another drink. I said yes.

"Hurry, so we can dish some more about the crime shows."

He walked up to the counter to get us two more coffee drinks. Gavin walked in. He called my name, and I turned around.

"This is what you do when you come into Hyde; you didn't even stop in to see Kendra. What are you some coffee shop diva now?"

Gio came back with the coffee and put them down on the table. He asked Gavin if he could help him.

"Go sit down somewhere punk."

"I'm not leaving unless she wants me to." 

I told him it was okay, that I'll talk to Gavin and send him on his way."

"Send me on my way huh?"

"You're embarrassing me. I'm here with my friend. We were having a good time until you showed up. Well, until you had the guts to get out of your truck. You have been sitting there for hours stewing. Yes, I saw you when you pulled up."

"Listen to me, I need to talk to you, and it's an emergency."

"Unless, it's about my parents, sister, or my children, it's not an emergency."

"Wow, you have really changed on me."

"I have you to thank for that. Thank you Gavin for taking off my blinders and helping me see the light."

"When can we talk privately? I have some things I need to discuss with you."

"We'll discuss them when I have time to discuss them. Right now you need to go; you are embarrassing me, leave."

"Fine, I'll go but we need to be having a conversation soon. I hope you don't have random people around my children."

"Bye Gavin, I'll see you when I see you." 

"I'm sorry about that. I do believe he has lost his mind. He's been following me around for a while. I saw him when he pulled up a couple of hours ago. I was wondering if he was actually going to sit there the whole entire time I was in here. I guess it looked like I was having too much fun for him, so he came in here to embarrass me."

"Seriously, you don't have to explain yourself to me. He looked real hostile when he came in and came over to you. I just went into protect mode when he began berating you like that. I wasn't going to walk away unless you wanted me to. If he would have gotten rough, I would have handled him."

"I don't want you fighting with him. He's upset because I want this divorce. I don't want him anymore, and he can't handle it. He thought I would be sitting around twiddling my thumbs, and now that I'm ready for life changes, he wants to reconcile. If we were to reconcile who's to say he wouldn't do this again with another woman."