Discovering Truths by B. Benfield (chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT) 📕

“Tell your boy to watch it. I’m not afraid to beat up a dude. That’s all I’m saying.” She said, strutting across the street as if she owned it.

Although I knew she was simply playing around and being funny, I didn’t want Damien to take her comments the wrong way. I only hoped that he took it as the joke it was.

We made it to our destination for lunch at one of the smaller restaurants downtown. It was in an older brick building, but the inside was sleek, with lots of bright colors and modern décor. The hostess escorted us to a booth and Taylor slid in on one side, purposely placing her purse beside her with a smug look on her face. Damien slid in the other side and her eyes directed towards him. I rolled my eyes and smiled at her as I slid in beside him.

After our orders were placed, I picked up my phone to see if I had any messages. The whole morning, I hadn’t even thought of Marcus, Gage, or all the troubles that awaited me when I finally made it home for good.

Marcus: Hope everything is going okay.

That was the only message I had. And that hurt. The one person that I wanted to love me was pulling away. He said he’d never do that. He said he’d do whatever it took to make us work. I clung to that, choosing to believe that everything he always told me was still true.

Me: Everything is fine. Just exploring the city today. Hope everything is well for you.

I wouldn’t send Gage a message. Not yet. As much as I wanted to, I had to stay strong. I wanted to see if he’d ever break down and send me one first.

“Hello? Earth to Abby.” Taylor said, waving her hand in my face.

“Sorry. Just checking my messages,” I said. “Let me take a picture of this menu. I told my friend Melinda I’d take pictures of everything today and I already forgot the trolley ride.”

I snapped a picture and stuck my phone in my purse, promising myself that the only time I would look at it again was if I was snapping a shot of the day’s adventures.

We had lunch, and walked around downtown, visiting all the shops and buildings. I asked Damien multiple times if he was okay, and he insisted he was. Most men despised shopping, so I didn’t want to bore him to death. I got myself a magnet that said Atlanta. I liked to get a magnet for my refrigerator at every place I visited; just a dorky thing I started doing when Marcus and I used to travel all the time. I also found myself a new pair of sunglasses, and Melinda a cute t-shirt. I’d call that a successful trip.

“Hey, let’s take a selfie.” I said to Taylor and Damien. We were in front of a cute, vintage building and it was a great photo opportunity.

I handed my phone to Damien. “Will you hold it? I’m not good at selfies when I have to squeeze more than just myself in it.”

We piled together and he snapped the picture, then we grabbed an iced coffee before we got back in the car and headed to the zoo.

There, we walked around and laughed for three hours. This was the most fun I’d had in a while. I didn’t want it to end. It was nice to forget everything and just live. The fact that I never did anything like this didn’t help with my depression, but my reality didn’t allow time to let loose.

By the time we finished at the zoo, we were all exhausted.

“Wow. I’m usually a lot better than this. I can usually go for hours. You older folks are rubbing off on me.” Taylor said, smiling.

“Oh, just bite me.” I replied, rolling my eyes.

“I’m offended.” Damien said.

We pulled into the hotel parking lot and I opened the backseat door. “When do you work again?” I asked.

“I’ll be there Monday night. See y’all then?”

“I’m sure I’ll come down for dinner.” I said.

“Same.” Damien added.

“Thanks for today. It was awesome.”

“Thank y’all for letting me be your guide. I had a great time.”

We climbed on the elevator, riding up to our floor.

“We have to eat dinner, you know. Want to get some Room Service and have a movie night?” Damien asked.

It sounded good, but I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. It was like he read my mind.

“Friends only,” he said. “Just hanging out.”

I let out a deep breath. What the heck? “You know, that sounds good.”

***

We’d just finished the movie and it was after eleven, but I was wide awake. I picked up my phone, only to see a message from Melinda. I’d sent her the pictures from my day, excluding the ones that included Damien. I couldn’t handle any questioning from her, although everything between us really was platonic. His voice startled me from my thoughts, and I sat my phone down, hoping to remember to reply to her later.

“You good?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“You just have that look again,” he said. “Everything okay at home?”

I sighed, hating the fact that I showed my emotions so easily. I was a wreck, and you could see it. He thought the reason for my sadness was my disastrous marriage, but there was so much more to it. So much more I could never tell.

“Just dreading going back. I don’t want to deal with everything. That’s why I haven’t yet. It’s overwhelming.”

What came out of my mouth wasn’t the entire truth. Although, yes, I was dreading dealing with my home situation, I was sad because I still hadn’t heard from Gage. I hated that I