“P” is for “Plan”

As Abuela used to say this one quite often and it was true:

“No hay mal que por bien no venga”.

Yeah, there is no evil that doesn’t come with some good in it.

It wasn’t by accident that Dex was sitting in that coffee shop. You know, the same coffee shop where I forgave him after the barbecue incident. He was in our coffee shop that afternoon when he knew I would likely be there. He knew that Sam and I took breaks there almost every afternoon. No, it wasn’t a coincidence. It was a calculated plan.

When we first walked in, I didn’t see him but when I did, I stopped dead in my tracks. My feet were cemented to the floor, my heart racing a mile a minute and my body on high alert at the surprise of seeing him there. And that’s when I recognized the woman he was sitting with.

The pretty blue-eyed bottle blond with perky little breasts nursing her coffee mug and looking completely enthralled by Dex was from my workplace. I didn’t know her name but I had seen her around on the accounting floor. Dex didn’t look surprised when he saw me (surprise surprise) and gave me a formal nod of his head to acknowledge my presence. Too surprised to respond in any way, shape or form, I just looked at him. It took Sam a hot minute to realize why I had stopped and when she did, her finger was burning a hole in my back, poking me forward to the barista behind the counter.

“We can grab a coffee two blocks from here instead…” Sam whispered under her breath.

“No, I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he ran me out of here.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “You know that him being here is not an accident, right?”

I nodded. “I know. I’m not always a clueless idiot.”

We ordered our lattes and sat at a table where I was able to give them my back but Sam had a perfect observation point.

“I can’t believe the nerve of him! What’s he doing here at this hour when he works in the North end?” Just like Kaley had said, for all I knew, he had lined up a few spares before you even broke up with him.”

“He is probably doing her and I don’t care.” But I did and didn’t want to. I could almost feel all of the minor healing I had done unraveling inside of me.

It’s exactly what Dex wanted, wouldn’t you say?

“Uh oh, be cool. He’s coming over…”

I took a deep breath and could smell his cologne before he even got to our table.

“Hey Cara.” Dex dug both of his hands into his pockets. The way he towered over me took my mind race back to that night in the shower. “I just want to apologize about…everything. I really mean it. I’m sorry. I didn’t do right by you and I truly am sorry.”

I knew that he could read me like an open book. Not knowing what to say, I said nothing and just shook my head, my way of saying that I didn’t want to hear it.

“You know, I just met her a few days ago when…” Dex started to explain.

“I don’t care,” I cut him off but the roughness of the jealousy in my voice betrayed me.

“I’m telling you the truth. I only…”

“Don’t even try Dex.” He gave up, shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the washroom. As soon as he was gone, Sam stood up and suggested that we leave before he returned. I followed her lead, quickly realizing that staying in the first place had been a bad decision. We grabbed our coffees and headed out. But not before the blond touched my arm as we passed her table.

“I don’t know what you did to him but he keeps talking about you. And if I have my way, the only person he’ll be talking about soon is me. Finders keepers…”

Sam and I were dumbfounded by her boldness. Before I could even think about saying anything, Sam took the reigns.

“Bitch, you can fucking have him,” Sam told her and then accidentally on purpose bumped her table. Both of the coffees spilled all over her table and as the blond yelped and jumped up, Sam quickly guided me through the door.

So how does Abuela’s wisdom about evil and good fit here?

The evil was that Dex knew he could still push my buttons. But the good was that something inside of me shifted that day…for the better. I realized that all throughout my life, I had been treating everyone around me as a priority while making myself an option. I realized that it was time to have my own back.

You’ll see what I mean…

Cara

Continuation: Q is for “Question”