Never The Bride

The new normal

The sun rose quietly in the early morning sky as she woke up. She yawned wearily , closed her eyes and drew in a deep exaggerated breath. Birds were chirping and singing gleefully cheery songs.  The room glowed a warm and cozy yellow. Grace got up and slowly stretched, Milo quickly appeared at her feet, welcoming her to the world with a pur. "Good morning Milo, did you sleep well?" She asked, happily scratching his ears. Milo was a rescue cat found hiding in a drain during a really brutal storm.

"Time to get up and get a shower."  She smiled, strolling slowly to the shower. Milo slinked around her legs as she walked. "Be careful!". She muttered, giggling, briskly shutting the bathroom door behind her, turning on the speaker. She flicked the lights on, the bright lightly was harsh. After turning on the shower Grace stepped in, the warm water gently embracing her tired skin, waking her up. Showers were her favorite way of preparing her for a long day ahead and she had plenty of those.

After her shower she got dressed into her new uniform and grabbed herself a bowl of cereal. She lived in a nice house in quiet area of Augusta, Georgia. Until recently she'd had numerous roommates. They'd all moved in search of new adventures and she was left behind. Happy but lonely. She was an avid runner and the best part of her neighborhood was easily the beautiful hiking trails behind it. She tried to run at least four times a week. Running was therapy for her.

The trails were beautiful, with a small pond hidden behind the tall majestic trees lined the flat dusty pathways. The small fields of grass scattered among the trails were spoiled with colorful, beautifully delicate flowers. It looked like something out of a fairytale. Luckily for her it seemed that nobody knew about the trails and if they did they never seemed to make use of them. She loved to take pictures there and occasionally she thought of how nice it would be to share this beautiful oasis with somebody. But, she never seemed to meet the right kinds of guys and after numerous failed relationships and a few broken hearts she have up on "love". She didn't believe in it and after years of disappointment she just stopped trying. Anyway, if true love was real she didn't want it anything to do with it, because knowing the way things usually went for her it would end up being a tragedy!

After making her face look semi presentable she stepped out the door, she had a long twelve hour day ahead of her. Her new job was an escape from her boring reality. Work, sleep, eat and repeat. Weekends were for video games, food and friends. Life was hard up until this point. She'd seem to recently find peace. Six months ago she was almost homeless and now she was training for a new and promising job. Training was thirty minutes away but she didnt mind was enjoying life again. Before getting the job as a manager at a new local restaurant she was jobless and virtually homeless. She was renting a room from a local family who were kind enough to take her in after she was kicked out from the "family". Now she was doing well with her own place her own car and a new found sense of happiness. Adulthood was hard. But she kept on trying.

Lost in her thoughts she arrived at work. Early as usual. Her smiley disorganized boss appeared at the door to let her in. "Hellooooo Miss Grace!" He said clumsily clapping his hands together, welcoming her inside. "I hear training is going swimmingly." He smiled, cheerily. "I'd hope so." She blushed. Shifting anxiously from foot to foot. Grace had always worked hard. When she was let go from her previous job of three.years she was dumbfounded and panic stricken. They closed their doors only giving her two days notice. But that was all in the past and as she had recently learnt you had to live in the present of you want to happy. Her previous job had made it hard for her to have social life or any kind of life really, some days she'd end up working 15 hour days!

Grace was excited for her day ahead, she was a morning person and doing prep work was fun to her. She liked learning, especially if it made her better at her job.

It was fast approaching her favorite time of year, Christmas. She was excited, there was a slight chill in the air for very unusual for November in Georgia. Luckily her new co workers shared her excitement for the seasonal holiday. They often played Christmas music in mornings before they opened and at night when they were closing. The company she worked for paid her well and cared about their workers. She knew she'd be happy here. On top of all the good things about this new blessing her new coworkers were friendly. She could tell that one coworker Eddie, liked her a little. He often invited her to dinner or out for coffee but Grace wasn't looking for anything and was enjoying being single. Plus, she knew dating a coworker was never good idea. He was nice and friendly and quite funny. Eddie was good looking but in boring way. Average face with a nice smile. With stubble and hair a little too long. Additionally she enjoyed her boring and safe routine. Today she would be training on the register which she'd later find out she'd be good at. She liked talking to the customers and taking their orders. Her long day flew by. "Time goes by when you're having fun" she smiled, waving goodbye to her new found friends at the end of her shift. It was 8pm so a run after work was out of the question. She'd likely go home and sleep. Even if she was off tomorrow. On her drive home she thought about how she'd spend her day tomorrow.

She ended up sleeping in late and making herself a wonderful homemade breakfast. It was moments like these she felt lonely. She often felt alone on her days off, she was finally happy in life so not many people thought to check on her. Most of her good friends lived thousands of miles away so hanging out with them during her off time was never an option. Her friends close by all had day jobs and barely had time off, the friends who were available were chain smokers who day drank. Both things she never enjoyed. She caught up on all the shows she'd like to watch and after searching for something else for much too long she decided she needed to go on a walk. It was cool outside so she dug out her camera grabbed a light jacket and headed towards the trails. She strolled slowly up to the trails snapping pictures of her surroundings.

She rested on a tree stump over looking the small charming pond. She scrolled through Facebook, what was the world up to? She had a suggested ad for a dating app she'd never seen. It had good ratings from what she could see. She wasn't looking for anybody but thought maybe she'd find somebody to talk to. She would explain this to anybody who messaged her. She just wanted friends she'd been burned way too much in the past. She downloaded it, set up her profile, it couldn't hurt just so see who was out there, right? After taking in the beautiful views around her for about an hour decided to walk home. On her short walk home she received a message. She checked his profile, he was younger than him and definitely not the kind of guy she typically attracted...he was good looking. His profile was actually interesting and the message he sent was....nice. Something didn't seem right. She was sure he was fake!

"Where is the next place you'd travel?"  He wrote. "Sweden" she replied. She found out wasn't fake. She was shocked. They talked more and more and until late that night and, for the first time she went to bed smiling.