Chapter Two
BETHANY
I swiped at my alarm until I knocked it onto the floor. The annoying buzz traveled beneath my bed as my phone slid into a place that I couldn’t reach. Great. As I tried to get out of my bed, my feet entangled into the covers and sent me tumbling to the floor. I shook my head and reached for my phone. After I was finally able to corral it, I looked at the time. It was 5:30 am, and I had to get up and get ready for work.
I walked to the kitchen just beyond the front door of my two-bedroom starter home. It wasn’t as big as I wanted it to be, but it was mine, and I took pride in that. I shoved two pieces of bread into the toaster and then grabbed the butter and jelly out of the refrigerator. I just needed a little something to hold me over until I got to work. The teachers always had doughnuts and bagels in the break room that everyone could help themselves to.
I loved my job. I worked at Morris Elementary as the principal’s assistant. I didn’t think I would be able to get the job when I applied because I didn’t have the necessary experience. But after Principal Jones met with me during the interview, he hired me right on the spot. I needed that job, though, especially since I didn’t want to go back to my old lifestyle as a stripper. I did what I had to do back then, and that was how I met my ex-boyfriend. Those were some of the worst years of my life, and I was happy just to have made it out alive. This new job is not something permanent, but for now, it would do. I only had another year before I finished school, but as the time to graduate neared, I began to get cold feet.
I flinched when the toast popped up in the toaster. Get a hold of yourself, Bethany. I slipped the toast onto my plate and covered one side with butter and jelly. When I took my seat at the table, I grabbed the book that I kept there to read each morning. Love Waits. I read the title out loud, then turned to the last chapter I left off on. I didn’t know why I tortured myself with these love stories because they did nothing but create fantasies in my mind that I would never live out.
A lonely woman just happens to find the right man; then he helps her through some traumatic time in her life and, pow, all of a sudden, they are married and live happily ever after. I shook my head at the idea, but for some reason, I couldn’t put the book down. I figured that if I wouldn’t be able to live that type of life on my own; the least I could do is read about it and imagine myself in the leading woman’s position.
My love life had been anything but desirable. My last boyfriend was abusive and controlling. Things started off well enough, but it didn’t take long for his true colors to show. I had to get a restraining order against him, and even then, he would still pop up unannounced from time to time, “just wanting to talk.” I had to remove myself from social media because he would always find a way to locate me and give me his lame ass excuses as to why he messed up before. “I swear I have changed, Bethany. Please. Please! Just let me show you.”
It was all too little and much too late. We tried a number of times before, and it always ended the same way. I was ready for love, but if it meant that I had to get back with him, then I was just going to be single for the rest of my life. After I finished my breakfast, I slid the book back to the center of the table and got ready for work.
Morris Elementary was twenty minutes away from where I lived. Everyone there was friendly and, even though I wasn’t a teacher, the faculty treated me like I was. I felt like I was a part of a family at the elementary school, and that was one thing that kept me around. When I got out of the car, I headed inside the building.
“Hey, Bethany! Good morning!”
“Good morning, Ms. Beautiful, um, I mean Ms. Cindy. How are you doing today?”
She blushed. “I am good! It is always a joy to see you in the morning. It helps me start my day.” She handed me a plate of doughnuts. “I grabbed you a few from the teacher’s lounge before the rest of the wolves got there and demolished everything. Do you want one?”
“Um…” I scanned through the plate of doughnuts. “No, I think I am going to grab a bagel instead. Were there any more left?”
She laughed. Her smile pushed her cheeks up and for the moment, covered the crow’s feet the clung to the edge of her eyes. “Honey, yes. There are more of those than anything. You know these folks around here don’t eat healthy. Well, everyone except you. I see why you have that nice figure now.”
“Oh, Ms. Cindy, stop it. You are just trying to make me feel good.”
“Nope, honey, you look good, and you know it. But I need to go ahead and get to my class before these children get in there and run amuck. I’ll see you around.”
“Yes, you will.”
Ms. Cindy was one of the older teachers at the school. She was in her upper forties, but she carried herself as if she was twenty years younger. She was the sweetheart of the school, and she always went out of her way to make us smile. “And look who it is! Diva!” I put my hand on my hip and posed for Sharon as I stood in the doorway. “Look at you, looking as cute a button! Girl, how do you keep that slim shape of yours?”
I let the door close behind me, “Well, you might need to cut back on those doughnuts,” I said, pointing at her plate full of junk food.
“Yeah,” she said as she picked up a doughnut, “well, if that is what it takes, then I am not cut out for it. I need my sweets, honey. No doubt about that.”
She smiled as I walked to the box of bagels and scooped one out. “Yeah, I hear you. I was that way before I made a change to not eat so many sweets. It’ll come, but I guess until then, enjoy yourself.”
“I will. Oh, and Derrick is looking for you.”
I sighed, “Lord, again? What does he want now?”
“You know what he wants.” She winked her eye at me, “He wants some of that–”
Principal Jones walked into the room before she could finish her words. “Ladies! Good morning! How are we doing today?”
Sharon stuffed a doughnut in her mouth to hide her smile. I shook my head, “We are good, Principal Jones. Ready to start the day.”
“That is good to hear!” He walked over to the doughnuts, then looked back in my direction. “Now, I will trust that neither of you will tell my wife that I was eating doughnuts today, right?”
I laughed. “Um, Principal Jones, I am not getting in the middle of you and your wife. Let’s just hope that when she visits today, she doesn’t ask me because you know I cannot lie to your sweet wife. She is just too nice for that.”
He closed the box of doughnuts and grabbed a bagel instead, “Yeah. How about I just grab the bagel and avoid all of that? I remember last time she asked you what I ate in the morning, and you told her the truth. She was mad at me all night. I had to sleep on the couch.”
I laughed. “I am sorry about that, but you know that you have to watch your blood sugar. I won’t snitch on you, but if she asks, I will tell it. I will tell it all.”
He smiled. “Yes, I know.” He tossed the bagel a few inches into the air and caught it again, “Well, I’ve got what I needed. You women have a wonderful day, and Bethany, I am sure I will see you again in your office.”
“Sure will.”
As soon as he left the room, Sharon spoke up again, “Girl, that man is like my father. Every time he comes in the room, I feel like I have to shut up. He always catches me in the middle of saying something I didn’t need to be saying.”
“Yeah. Well, as long as you know you didn’t need to say it, we can leave it at that.” I placed my bagels in a small box. “I am on my way to my office. Call me if you need me.”
“Okay, sweetie.”
I walked out of the room and headed to my office. A few children smiled and waved at me on my way there. Some of the young girls stopped to give me a hug. They felt like they were my own children. I knew that at some point, I would want to start a family and have kids of my own, but at the rate things were going for me now, that seemed like another dream that would never come true. Especially if I had to choose between my ex or Derrick. I may as well sign up to become a nun.