As if I wasn’t angry enough, I could have screamed when I remembered my car was at the café.

Just perfect.

Doing the walk of shame across Pismo Beach back to my motel was exactly what I was in the mood for. I didn’t even know where I was or how long it would take to get back. The night before, when Kane carried me all the way from the beach to his house, I paid no attention to where we were going. The only thing my attention was focused on was how blissful I felt in his arms.

I was a blissful stupid idiot. I was so mad I’d let myself get caught up in him. Before I reached the edge of his lawn, I stopped to put my shoes on. I bent over and saw a large rock that was just begging me to hurl it through his window. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider it, but I chose not to.

I didn’t have to stoop to his level.

Plus, deep down, I knew that below this rage was the world’s most awful hurt. It felt awful knowing I was the other woman, and doubly sad knowing Kane wasn’t the man I’d hoped for.

I wandered down his street, hoping it would start to look familiar soon. I was looking for a clue as to which direction I needed to go. When I got to the bottom of the street, I had to choose left or right. I checked left first and didn’t see much that was recognizable. When I checked my right, I saw the large glowing sign for the Rolling Wave Motel.

I was less than a two minute walk from my motel.

That’s how close I’d been to sleeping in my own motel bed and not putting myself in this terrible situation. The thought really pissed me off.

That lying, manipulative pig of a man knew I was staying at the Rolling Wave. When I was soaking wet, dreading having to walk all the way back to my motel, he’d made it sound like his place was closer. He said it like it was a fact that if we went back to his place, I’d be in dry clothes quicker.

He was never worried about me. He wasn’t trying to help me get into dry clothes. All he wanted was to get me back to his place so he could get more of what he was after.

Sex.

It had nothing to do with me. He just wanted to get a naked woman into his bedroom.

I walked into the motel parking lot and remembered the free coffee in the office.

I wanted a coffee.

I needed a coffee.

The one good thing about being up so early was that it gave me a couple hours to calm down before I started my shift at the café. I knew it was just a waitressing job, but that job meant so much to me. The way it almost seemed to fall into my lap, and the fact that Sandra took a chance on me was more than dumb luck.

I knew it was a gift from God, and I wasn’t about to do anything to mess it up.

I slowly opened the door to the motel office. Before it was halfway open, I reached up and held the bell above my head, stopping it from making a sound. I leaned on the door a little further and slid through unnoticed. I loosened my grip on the bell and made my way to the coffee machine. I took a cup from the tower of paper cups and poured myself a hot, strong cup of coffee. When it was full I took another cup and filled it too. It was definitely a two cup kind of morning.

“Well, it seems we’ve got an early riser on our hands. Good morning, dear.”

I forced a friendly smile on my face before turning around to greet the lady.

“Good morning,” was all I could manage.

The look on her face made it clear I hadn’t been very successful in my attempt at a smile. She stood there with a worried look on her face.

I felt horrible. I was in an awful mood, but it wasn’t her fault. Without physically shaking my head, I mentally tried to snap out of it so I could be kind to her. I could fake my way through a bit of small talk in the interest of good manners.

“It’s funny, I haven’t always been a morning person. It must be the ocean,” I said with a little laugh.

“I do love the mornings here. It’s so peaceful before the rest of the town wakes.”

“It sure is,” I said.

“I can’t help but notice you’re pouring two cups of coffee,” she said before I could hide them.

“Oh my. How greedy of me,” I said, embarrassed at getting caught abusing my coffee privileges.

“Oh no, it’s fine. There’s plenty where that came from. But now, this might be none of my business, but I can’t help wonder if you found a nice young man to welcome you to town,” she said with a cheeky smile on her face.

“Oh, I found a man all right. He welcomed me by reminding me all men are lying, cheating assholes,” I blurted.

She looked at me like a deer in headlights. The poor woman had no idea how to react. I knew the best thing was for me to get out of there before I really made a fool of myself.

“I’m sorry. I need to get back to my room,” I said, placing lids on both cups of coffee.

I was mortified and couldn’t get out of there quick enough.

I opened the door and the bell rang above my head as I hurried out. I rounded the corner and burst out crying. With both hands carrying coffee, there was no wiping the tears. I hurried to my door, put both coffees on the ground, and dug through my bag for the key.

Once inside, I slammed the door behind me and collapsed on the bed, burying my face in the pillow. I took a deep breath and let out a massive scream. I hoped the pillow would muffle it enough that I wouldn’t terrify the other guests. I lifted my head and the giant alarm clock caught my eye. It wasn’t as early as I thought it was and I had to be at the café in an hour. I hurried into the bathroom and turned on the shower, undressing as it ran. I was ready to get in there and scrub Kane off me forever. I made a mistake with him and I was going to wash it down the drain.

I knew I had to toughen up. I couldn’t be so emotional. I wasn’t going to let him win. This was my new life, and I wasn’t willing to let another cheating asshole rob me of it. I was going to shower, do my hair and makeup, and look fabulous for my second day at work.