Unsuccessful

One Step Forward But Two Steps Back...

Hardin's Point of view...

"Hey, you reached Tessa Hardin Scott. Leave me a message and I will call you back"

I look at my phone as I pathetically leave my 50th Voicemail to Tessa in the past 20 minutes.

A smile appears on my face as I look at our wedding day picture which I have saved as my wallpaper. It's the picture I took after our wedding. Tessa was sitting with my mother and smiling about an incident from my childhood that my mother decided to tell her without my consent. God, I miss her. I am such a stupid man, I again let my insecurities get the best of me.

I should have waited. I should have let Tessa come to me about why she went to New York. But, I didn't. I again jumped to my conclusions. How can I even consider Tessa cheating on me is beyond my imagination? But, it's my rational mind to blame, my insecurities about relationships, my constant fear of losing Tessa for good to blame. I feel like one day I will wake up and Tessa will be gone. That's what I felt when I woke up 4 days ago to an empty house. I searched for Tessa the entire afternoon I woke up, only to find a note kept on our nightstand left by Tessa, informing me about her whereabouts.

I throw my phone on our bed and let my body fall on the mattress like it's the most natural thing to do in this situation. It's almost night, should I go out and search for Tessa?

I am about to leave our bedroom when my cell phone beeps, indicating a new message notification on my lock screen. I roll to the other side of our bed to grab my phone hoping to see Tessa's name. I smile as I look at the name of the sender. It's Tessa. I unlock my phone to read the text she has sent me.

"Stop Calling me. I am ok. I am with Casey and will not be coming back home. I will come back on my own, I need space from you."

The end of the text breaks my heart. Great, now she needs space from me. How am I supposed to apologize to her when she won't be coming back home. I quickly type my reply and send her, hoping for a response from her.

" I am sorry Tessa. Please forgive me and come back home. I promise I will give you space. You can take the master bedroom and I will take any one of the guest bedrooms. Please just come back. I cannot live without you. I love you, Hardin."

I stare at my phone screen hoping for a response from Tessa but she didn't reply. I wait for another 15 minutes with hope but nothing happens. I lock my phone and bury my face into the pillow's kept on Tessa's side of the bed. If I cannot have her then her smell will do. Her pillows smell like her. I look at our nightstand, it's a framed picture of me and Tessa from our Las Vegas Trip. We look so happy. I grab the frame from our nightstand and close my eyes, smelling Tessa's scent and holding our picture, I let myself into a peaceful slumber, determined to get Tessa back.

The next morning I woke up on our bed alone and rolled towards Tessa's side of the bed. Our picture frame lying underneath the pile of pillows. I wipe the drool from my face and place the picture frame back at its original position. I check my phone hoping to see a text from Tessa.

A smile captures my face as I see a message notification from Tessa.

"Good Morning. I am still mad but I will see you in the office. Love you, Tessa."

I jump out of our bed with excitement. I strip off my clothes from last night and run to the bathroom for a shower. I finish my shower in minutes and run back to my bedroom to select my outfit for work. I change into my outfit and exit my bedroom, locking the door on my way out. I don't wait for Sylvia to serve my breakfast. I enter my car and ask my driver to drive us to the office as soon as possible. I am already late and the excitement to see Tessa is eating me up.