Prologue
Sometimes life has a way of wearing you down. You realize no-one is coming to rescue you and you’re tired of being strong.
-Nicole Young.
Hayley
I keep dialing his number like a mad woman. It goes straight to voicemail. Despite the overwhelming evidence, my heart cannot comprehend what my mind is telling me to be true. That I’ve been played. That the last year of my life has been a lie. That the person that I thought loved me….doesn’t.
An hour earlier….
“Hayley, I don’t know how to tell you this but if it where me I would want to know.” Says Callie, my work colleague.
“The guys have been talking about Keith, they say he's engaged to someone else”.
“What?” I say uncomprehending.
Keith is my boyfriend of twelve months, we work for the same company in different departments. Work is where we met. We see each other almost everyday. Speak on the phone constantly when we’re apart. How could what she’s saying be true?
“Some of the guys have met her" she continues, “Look, I feel bad for you. We love you and you don’t deserve to be treated like this. No women does and I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but I just had to. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”
My heart has stopped. As if it's on pause. Like it needs a timeout.
“No, I'm glad you came to me…please tell me everything you know.” I say with a calmness I am far from feeling.
“Well…apparently they live together and ….and she's pregnant.”
You can’t be serious.
Knowing this conversation cannot wait, I ask Callie to cover for me while I try to find a quiet place to phone Keith. I end up in the store room and wedge myself between two rows of stacked boxes before I dial his number. “Hey babe" he answers.
“Hi" I reply
“What are you doing?”
“Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about. Do you think you can stop by today? It's important”.
He must hear something in my voice because he answers apprehensively “I can’t today babe. Can’t you just tell me over the phone?”
“I would rather speak to you in person"
“Well I just said I can’t make it Hayley so tell me what the matter is now?”
I’m feeling so emotional. I know I should wait until I see him but instead I burst out “Are you seeing someone else?”
The line goes silent for a minute. A minute too long.
“No. What are you talking about?”
“The guys at work say you’re engaged to someone else, that you’re living with her and she’s pregnant” I say as the first tears make their trail down my face. “Why would they say that Keith?”
“I don’t know, maybe they want to get into your pants” he says arrogantly. “Are you crying? Stop it. You’re crying for no reason, I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. I'm hanging up now. I’ll talk to you when you’re calmer. Bye.
Before I can utter a response, the line goes dead.
CHAPTER ONE
Two years later…
Hayley
Sweltering heat comes of the tarmac in waves as I pace alongside my car trying to get a signal to call a pick-up truck. My 2007 hatchback blows black smoke from its engine as motorists drive by without giving me a backwards glance. Everyone rushing with somewhere else to be.
Its times like this I wish I had a boyfriend. Someone I could call to take over while I play the part of damsel in distress. It's a part I don’t get to play… who would come to my rescue?
I finally get signal for long enough to call to my mechanic and a tow truck, before I bend at the knees and sit my ass on the sidewalk, yelping as I make contact with the heated cement. My mind is elsewhere. This is yet another expense I haven’t budgeted for. How will I pay for this.
As I sit and wait, its hard not to be sad. In this moment I feel so alone. In times like this I wish I could call my ex, but that door closed when I found out he was engaged and living with another women while “dating" me. It sucks to find out the guy you introduced to your family and thought you would build a life with, thought of you as nothing but a side chick. It’s been years, and it still hurts. He still tries to call and message on birthdays or randomly to convince me that he cares, but he wouldn’t be married to someone else right now if he did, would he? I know I had a lucky escape from that “relationship” but it doesn’t always feel like it. Most of the time I feel alone, unable to let my guard down. Unable to move on.
“Ok Hayley, enough doom and gloom. Happy thoughts now everything’s going to work out. Don’t stress it always does”, I try to give myself a pep talk, just as a yellow tow truck with black logo approaches, it’s lights flashing.
Xander
I grin to myself as I look at my latest acquisition, the Brabus rocket 900. Another beauty to add to my collection. It's one of only ten cars made in the world and can go from zero to 330km/hr in just 23.9 seconds.
This is my life. Fast cars. Fast women. More money than I know what to do with and on most days not a care in the world. I’ve worked hard to be where I am. When I made it big, I took my best friends along for the ride. They are now each CEO's of their own companies but you wouldn’t say looking at them gushing at a car they could each afford on their own. I guess it’s true what they say about boys and their toys.
Tyler, is already fiddling with the buttons inside the car and Kyle is testing the sound. “Fuck Xander, now this was so worth the wait, if you want I can drive the Brabus back and you take the range" grins Henry besides me.
“Nice try my friend", I laugh as I turn to the sales guy, “ready to finish the paperwork?”
“I’ll meet you guys at home. Get some burgers on the way, I'm starving” I say as I throw my keys to Kyle.
“Want me to stick around with you?” says Tyler as he presses a button that opens the sunroof.
“Nah I'm cool, got to stop by the office to pick up some paperwork that needs signing. I will see you guys at home".
Home is party central, the guys are there almost twenty-four seven. Playing PlayStation, fiddling with the cars, gyming…my life is pretty sweet but I've earned it.
HayleyThe paperwork is signed and I'm waiting outside the car hire place in Quarry road for the keys to my courtesy car.That's when I see him…the most gorgeous man I've ever seen. All I can do is stare. Tall and muscular with spiky black hair. In his black jeans, black t-shirt, oatmeal winter jacket and timberlands, he is a sight to behold. He turns slightly and even at this distance I can see his eyes are a piercing green. Wow. Just wow.He's in the exclusive showroom next door with a few guys I'm guessing are with him.“Mam, your courtesy car is ready"“Thanks" I say as I turn away from the view next door and take the keys the salesperson is offering me.I wish someone like Mr green eyes would notice me, fall in love me, want to have babies with me. I chuckle to myself, lost in my own dream world. I get enough attention to know I'm not ugly, but I’m also not in the same league as Mr green eyes next door.
Grandma HelenIt has been a while since I've been to the beach. I used to go all the time with my husband Peter when we were younger. We would bring our little girl Annie and watch as she had the time of her life chasing sea crabs and building sand castles. I can still hear her sweet giggle as each new wave crashed to where she was patiently waiting for them on the shore. I stare out into the waves as I reminisce about the past. Peter and I had only been blessed with one child… and then my child left her only child to me to take care of. Both my beloved Annie and Peter are gone. It's just me and Xander, Annie’s son now. A lone tear rolls down my cheek as think about the ones I have loved and the time that has passed without them. Xander, is my blessing in all the sadness. My greatest joy. I am proud of the man he has turned into but I want more for him. I want him to feel what I had with my Peter. He has good friends, a good life, but the w
Grandma HelenOver the next couple of weeks, I join Hayley and her adorable mutts on their weekly walks. I tell her about my life and ask about hers. I want to know as much about her as I can before I set my plan into motion. There’s a sadness about her at times and I can’t help but wonder what put that look in her eyes. She’s extremely loyal, that I can tell from just a few conversations. She seems to care about this old women even though she barely knows me. I can tell her work keeps her busy but every time I have asked to see her or talk to her, she has made time for me. None of my grandson’s other girlfriends had even thought to talk to me beyond a “hello" and small talk about the weather. Not to say that they were bad people. They just weren’t right for my grandson. Each time I see Hayley I am more and more convinced that she is the right woman for my Xander.But how do I get th
Hayley Grandma Helen has a specialist appointment today and asked me to come with her. I offered to pick her up but she insisted we meet there. Strange but ok. I've grown really attached to the older women. My own grandparent’s passed away a few years back and so it’s nice to have her around.I'm busy texting a whatsapp message as I enter the reception area of the doctors suite. Then I decide to delete the message altogether. It’s a message from my ex. Yes, the cheating a**hole, that’s now married. It’s just a simple “hi, how are you” message, but I refuse to respond. I am not getting dragged into that mess again.I put my phone away and plaster a bright smile on my face as I look up to greet gran.Only grans not alone. Beside her is Mr green eyes himself, in all his sexy glory. What on earth? I stand there staring at them not quite being able to putt two and two
XanderI stare at her retreating back, still grinning to myself at her blush. I notice gran smiling at me and I hug her to my side “ready to go" I say.Gran keeps the grin in her face as we get into the range rover. She’s quiet, till we enter the massive gates enclosing our property. Then she turns in her seat and faces me.“ In all seriousness Xander, I have something to ask of you and before you say anything, know I've thought long and hard about this and I need you to hear me out with an open mind"“Gran?” I ask, more than a little confused. Just a few minutes ago she was smiling at me and now she’s all serious. What could be going on.Gran holds her hand up to me to stop me from speaking, “ Just listen, my boy. I have always wanted and will always want what’s best for you. You believe that, don’t you?”“Ofcos I do gran"
HayleyMy alarm goes of at 4am and I press snooze. I do this two more times until I can’t put of getting out of bed any longer and finally pry my eyes open at around 5am, give or take a minute…or five. To say I love sleep is an understatement but unfortunately with my shifts at work, its really hard for my body to adapt to any sort of regular sleep pattern. I don’t have time to grab breakfast as I rush out the door at 6am but this isn’t anything new.I get to work and two people have called in sick with the flu. We are so short staffed. My day goes by in a blur as I handle queries and try to process as many urgent patient samples as possible.By the end of my shift , I’m mentally and physically exhausted and all I want is a hot shower, food and my bed. In that order. The last thing I’m prepared for is to see grandma Helen waiting for me outside my office building. How did she even know where I work, let
HayleyI have been living my life in the shadows for awhile now. It’s still a struggle to forget all the hurt I’ve felt from past betrayals. It feels like everything bad that could happen, happens when you let down your guard and choose to be happy, or at least that’s been my experience. So why am I agreeing to gran?Why am I feeling a little excited about this? Like life is giving me a second chance.I'm still lost in my thoughts when my phone begins to vibrate and Ava Max “On me" starts playing. I stare at the screen a little blankly not recognising the number. I'm about to put the phone back down when gran exclaims "What are you doing, answer it. It’s probably Xander! I gave him your number this morning”.“What??? No. No way!”, I say throwing the phone on the table. This is all happening way too fast.Grandma Helen promptly presses answer and puts the call on loudspeaker befo
Hayley You make a spur of the moment decision and then the next morning it hits you…like what have I done? I've already met with gran Helen again. We’ve gone over a plan of sorts. I'm to meet Xander later. Play it by ear and basically agree to whatever his proposal might be. Gran and I spoke about my family this morning and what I would say to them and we both agreed it would be best they think this marriage is real. How I'm supposed to convince them of that, I have no idea, especially after my anti social life-style these last few years. All of this is assuming Xander is even going to propose marriage! What if gran has it wrong and he has something completely different that he wants to talk to me about? That would be the biggest joke of all I think as I chuckle to myself like a lunatic. I’ve been standing in front of my white built in cupboard for the past hour and getting more depressed by the minute. Nothing looks good on me!