Heart Missed A Beat

Chapter 4

"Veronica..." Darrell calls out to her.

She ignores him, swiftly walking up the street.

"Can you stop, please?"

"For what?" She asks without looking back.

"I'm trying to help."

She stops, turning her body towards him with her hands on her hips.  "Why would you wanna help when you don't even wanna talk to me?"

"What?"  He's genuinely confused.

"You heard me.  Don't play dumb."

"Alright, so Imma let you slide on that attitude since you're clearly upset."

"-Whatever."  She rolls her eyes, starting to walk away again.

"Veronica, can you please tell me why you think I don't want to talk to you?"

She faces him.  "How would you feel if I ignored your email?"

"I didn't ignore your email.  Did you write something that needed a response?"

She breathes out in shock.

"Listen... I'm not trying to be funny.  I really thought you were just thanking me.  Plus, I'm not trying to make you feel like I'm harassing you when you made it clear to me at the spa that you wanted me to suppress my feelings for you."

"I didn't think you were going to stop talking to me, though.  You said you weren't going to give up on me."

"I'm confused.  Do you want me to pursue you or not?"

"V!" Nate's voice is heard from down the street, causing Darrell and Veronica to look in his direction.  "Are you coming back?  He left already."

"Yeah, yeah.  I'm coming," she quickly says, trying to hide her pain from him.

Nate nods, briefly scoping out Darrell and Veronica's bodies close together, before turning back to the shop.

"...I need to go back," she tells Darrell before fanning her glossy eyes.

"No.  Why didn't you tell him you need more time?"

"You didn't see all those people waiting in line?" She asks, rhetorically.

"You're the boss.  If you need time to get yourself together, then they can wait.  What're they gonna do?  Go to another barber that's going to charge more with less skill than you?"

Veronica sighs.

"He said someone left.  Who was it, Stephen?  Did he say something to piss you off?"

"No.  My uncle.  He came here, disrespecting me with his stupid allegations."

"Y'all are really going through it.  I wish there was something I can do to bring you some peace of mind."

"Well, you could've responded to my email."

"You told me you wanted me to move on, so that's what I did."

"... You found someone already?" She asks with disappointment in her voice.

"Did you hear how you asked that?  Why would you tell me to find someone else, when that's not what you want?  Don't say shit you don't mean.  We're too old for that."

Veronica opens up her mouth to speak when Nate comes back around the corner.  "V, come on.  The line's getting mad long."

"-She needs a minute.  She'll let you know when she's ready," Darrell says, impatiently.