A New Beginning

I ended up spending the rest of the weekend with Alex because Friday night was absolutely amazing, and two, I knew I was due for a long week at work. Toward the end of my lunch break on Monday, I received a call from Iris.

"Hey, cuz."

"Hey, hun."

She sounded weird.

"There's something I need to tell you."

Oh God.

"Did someone die? Please don't tell me someone died."

"Harper. No one died. Trust me."

"Then, what is it? You're worrying me."

"I think Kyle's girlfriend is pregnant."

"What? What makes you think that?"

"I saw her at the pharmacy and she was picking up prenatal vitamins."

"Are you- are you sure?"

"Honey, I'm absolutely sure. I wouldn't be telling you if I wasn't sure."

My heart was racing and silent tears ran down my face. I couldn't believe this; Kyle and I had been together for six years and recently had been talking about having children before I found out he was cheating on me. Plus, the fact that it was with the most recent woman he had cheated on me with hurts terribly, down to my core.

“I know you’re telling the truth, but I can’t fucking believe this. We were talking kids, and here, he’s gonna have a kid with a chick he’s known for what? Three months? This is complete and utter bullshit.”

I was fuming as well.

“I totally get it. It’s bullshit. I wish I didn’t see her.”

“She better be lucky she doesn’t know who you are.”

“Definitely. Sorry for the news.”

“Hey, it is what it is. I would’ve felt the same way if I were in your position.”

"Anyway, how was your day before I called?"

"Okay. It is a Monday after all. How about you?"

"The same. Can't wait to go home."

"Me either. I'll see ya, then. My break is almost over."

"K. Love ya."

"Love ya, too."

I hung up and held in the urge to throw my phone unlike the day I found out about Kyle cheating on me and threw his.

It was eight in the morning on a Saturday and my amazing husband was already in the shower while I was attempting to fully wake up. What ultimately woke me up was a text on my husband’s cell.

Hey baby. Hate to text you so early, but I was wondering what time you’d like to meet up tonight?

I resisted the urge to throw his phone at least until he came out of the shower. Less than ten minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom with a smile on his face. I would've loved to rip it right off of his face.

"Good morning H-"

He paused as he saw me with his phone clenched in my fist.

"Good morning, you bastard. Care to explain?" I said, showing him his phone.

"Well..."

He went to scratch the back of his head.

"Speak up. I can't hear you! Who is this chick?"

"A girl I met at a bar a couple of months ago. We quickly hit it off.”

Tears threatened to escape, but the anger I was experiencing was covering up how heartbroken and sad I was.

"Have there been others?"

He explained that there had been nearly a dozen who he slept with and/or dated during our three-year-long marriage. That was my breaking point and I lost all self-control as I threw his phone against the wall and smashed it into countless pieces.

I placed my phone back into my purse and drove back to work. The day continued slowly but without any drama or more heartwrenching news. When I left to go home, I was eager to talk to Alex. Iris wasn’t home, so I went to my room and changed before I texted him.

Able to talk?

Eight seconds later.

Of course. FaceTime?

Sounds good. Give me a second.

Seconds later, I FaceTimed him and saw him smiling; unfortunately, that didn’t do much to make me feel any better.

“Hey.” he said.

“Hey.”

“What’s wrong?”

“How can you tell something’s wrong?”

He gave me a knowing look.

“I found out via Iris that Kyle’s girlfriend is pregnant.”

“Oh, Harper...”

“Yeah.”

“How’d she find out?”

“She saw her at the pharmacy picking up prenatal vitamins. I’m glad that she doesn’t know who Iris is. I just don’t get it. Kyle and I were together for six years and recently talking about having kids. Now, he’s gonna have a kid with someone he’s known for not even six months.”

“That is such bullshit. I can't even imagine how you're feeling."

"I'm speechless and hurt. This just makes the divorce worse, knowing he got a girl pregnant while we were still together."

"Are you gonna confront him about it the next time you see him?"

"Probably. I wanna know how long he's been keeping this from me."

"I'd just love to see his face if you do that."

I laughed.

"Well, in that case, I definitely have to. I’m due to see him again tomorrow.”

I genuinely had a smile for the first time since this morning.

“Let me know what happens. Ok?”

“Ok.” I said laughing.

After five more minutes of talking, I hung up and rose off my bed to go make dinner. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw Iris come through the front door.

“Hey chick.” I greeted.

“Hey. How was the rest of your day?”

“Slow but good. You?”

“Good. Did you talk to Alex?”

“Just a few times ago, actually. I FaceTimed him.”

“What’d he think about all of this?”

“Well, he thinks this whole situation is bullshit. He wants to see the look on Kyle’s face when I confront him.” I said, getting food out of the fridge.

“I wanna see it, too. Glad he’s so supportive.”

“Me too.”

I was such in a good mood and I hoped it would last the rest of the day. I made a fairly quick dinner and had a short evening before I headed to bed; I was exhausted and had a big day ahead of me. I woke up with a lot of pep in my step and could not wait to start my day; before heading to work, I needed to go to a divorce proceeding, and perhaps, confront my ex.

"Ready for what today has to bring?" Iris said before I left the apartment.

“Absolutely.” I said with a smile.

I pulled in the parking lot by the building where the proceeding was to take place. Getting out of my car, I took a deep breath and let it go before going to where I needed to be. When I was only a few feet from the building, I felt a presence behind me.

“Good morning, Harper.” the piece of shit said.

“Fuck you.”

“Now, that’s no way to greet your future ex-husband.”

I resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

“Could you just shut up till we need to talk?”

“Who peed in your cereal this morning?”

I growled, but oppositely Alex did last weekend.

“Fine. Let’s talk. How’s your girlfriend? How’s her pregnancy going?”

He was shocked.

“How do you even know about that?”

“I have my sources.”

“Iris? How’d she find out?”

“Does it really fucking matter? I know it’s true.”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Why do you think? We talk about having kids, then I hear you’re gonna be a dad with this fucking chick.”

He laughed.

“What’s so fucking funny?”

“We’re done and you care. It’s pathetic.”

I may have resisted the urge to punch him, but I could not hold in the urge to kick him in the balls. He crumpled to the ground, holding himself there.

“Here’s hoping you aren’t able to have any more children.”

I turned around and walked into the building with a smirk. He didn’t say a single thing from then on. I left feeling quite satisfied and optimistic that the day would go well. I let Iris and Alex know that I would tell them about how things went between Kyle and me during dinner.

"I hate that you're waiting till tonight to tell us what happened." Iris said, setting up the table.

"It'll be worth me telling you both at the same time."

She groaned for the second time today causing me to laugh.

"Glad I amuse you."

I shook my head for a second then heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" I said ecstatically.

And with that, I practically dashed to the source of the sound. I opened the door and immediately kissed him instead of hugging him first as I should have.

"Somebody's happy to see me." Alex said with his arms around me.

"I'm always happy to see you."

I heard Iris gag nearby in response to Alex and me.

"Did she just-"

"Ignore her."

He kissed me before walking into the apartment; I walked back into the kitchen with Alex in tow.

"What are you doing?" I asked, turning around.

"Helping you with dinner."

"No. You just wanna know about what happened today before Iris."

"No. I just wanna help-"

"You're such a liar." I said, bringing my lips to his.

"Please tell me." he pleaded after we kissed.

"Not happening. Go sit down."

He grumbled and I held in my laughter.; they were truly acting like children. Just a few minutes later, dinner was served and their eyes were set on me.

"What happened?" Iris asked.

I sighed, just wanting to be able to eat at least a single bite of food.

"Give me a minute, you guys. I'm starved.”

After a couple of bites, Alex spoke.

“So, he started with a good morning...

After I spoke our short greetings, the true conversation about his girlfriend’s pregnancy began.

“He was shocked when I asked how her pregnancy was going. It was quite laughable actually. He asked about my source and then began to laugh after I told him why I cared so much which is a reason you guys know. He told me I was pathetic and that we were done. I proceeded to kick him in the balls where he crumbled to the ground and I told him that I hoped he would never have any children.”

“What the fuck is wrong with him? I used to love the guy. He was like family.” Iris said, clearly irate.

“What a fucking loser.” Alex said, shaking his head.

I smiled knowing my two favorite people had my back.

“Even better, he was silent from then on. It certainly made my day to hear nothing from him the rest of the morning.”

That smile turned into a smirk.

“I bet it did.” Alex said, smirking back.

“I’m glad you did this. You’re a badass.” Iris added.

Nothing else about Kyle came up and it was a pleasant and delicious meal. Instead of Alex going home around the time I was to head to bed, we agreed on him sleeping over which was odd considering I had work the following day; I didn't care a single bit because I enjoy waking up to Alex.

"Hey." he said, climbing into bed beside me.

I was lying on my stomach while I was on my phone checking my Facebook like I do every night before I go to sleep.

"Hey." I said, not turning to look at me.

"Whatcha doing?"

He shimmied and placed his head on my shoulder.

"Checking my Facebook."

"How much longer?"

"Just a few minutes."

"That's forever."

I couldn't help but laugh; he was acting like a child.

"You'll survive. Just lie down."

He grumbled and laid down. When I was done, I swiped out of the app and looked over to see Alex who was still awake and on his back.

"Told you, you'd survive." I said, kissing his neck.

He pulled me closer and kissed me. I maneuvered myself so that I was partially on his body and returned the favor.

"You are pretty damn incredible. You know that. Right?"

I couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you."

"I knew that before what went down today, but you're even more so and I truly did not know that was even possible."

I was speechless. What I did as a response was kiss him again, more passionately this time and he responded by pushing me down so that he was towering over me and still kissing my lips.

I wanted him.

"You think we can be quiet?" I asked after a moment.

"I think we can. You?"

"It'll be difficult, but yeah."

"I always love a challenge."

I smirked.

"Let's begin. Shall we?"

In seconds, we stripped out of our clothes and thus begun a night full of fun and slumber.

Notes