Summerfield: Chapter 13

I couldn’t sleep that night. I tossed and turned in bed, because it was too quiet. Even after I opened my window a full inch, all I heard was a few crickets and nothing else. I was used to the sound of traffic outside my New York apartment. The city that never sleeps always provided me with a lullaby. I would create movies in my head to help distract myself from thinking of him.

He used to be my fiancé’. Joel and I dated on and off in high school, but we became serious in college. We were sure we’d ‘make it’ if we both went to the same college, took most of the same classes in the pursuit of a degree in business, and we’d open our coffeehouse in Brooklyn. He’d run the books, hire help and do the marketing, while I would make decisions on the décor and coffee and manage the customer service. It was a no fail plan; until I found out he’d been cheating on me for a year.

I rolled over again and put the pillow over my head. Forget him. I can do it all on my own. It became my mantra and I especially lived by the second part. I was an independent woman from New York City. There was nothing I couldn’t do: like run a business in a small southern town where I knew no one except Josh, gossip prone- hens, and a handful of new employees I’d have to train soon. I sighed and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water and then quietly made my way outside to the porch. I sat on the porch swing to sip on the cool beverage. Then I noticed a light was on over Josh’s bookshop in one of the rooms where he stayed. For some reason it comforted me. After heading to bed, the last thing I remember is listening to the crickets and making up a story in my head about what they were saying to each other.