𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓, mike schmidt

02. secret

It had been a weird couple of days for me. Luckily, Carter hadn't noticed the shift in my body language and quietness around him. I couldn't stop thinking about seeing Mike a few days ago with that brunette girl. The same one he had brought to the Thanksgiving eve party back in November. 

It had been six months since Mike and I broke up, so I really shouldn't have been feeling the way I did. But, I had gotten back together with Carter just two weeks after the breakup, so it was safe to assume I didn't have enough time to grieve. Still, I loved Carter and didn't want to start thinking about someone else when I laid beside him every night.

"Do you mind running to the pet store to grab some more toys for Bear? He keeps tearing them up." Carter asked, interrupting my thought as I kneeled down and pet our new puppy, Bear. 

I nodded, knowing he had work calls he had to be on and it was the least I could do considering I had today off, again. I put Bear on a leash and lead him into my car as I made my way down to the pet store. Unfortunately, it was the only pet store in town. I prayed on my way there that the brunette girl that I had seen with Mike wasn't working or there, and that he wasn't there either.

When I parked my car in the familiar lot, I lead Bear out of the car and took him inside the shop to find him some new toys. We scanned the toy aisles and I eventually found two new chew toys that seemed durable enough for him to not rip apart.

As I approached the counter, I saw her. The girl who had been with Mike a few days ago and a few months ago. I handed her the two toys as I held Bear's leash tight.

"Is this all?" She asked, smiling over at me with her perfect teeth and sweet smile.

I nodded at her question as she began to ring them up.

"Forgive me for saying this, but you do look super familiar." the girl said, giving me a friendly smile. She probably recognized my face from when I confronted Mike outside of the party a few months back. 

"I just have that kind of face." I responded, giving her a lighthearted laugh as I took out of my card and stuck the chip into the card reader.

She laughed and nodded, "That must be it!"

She was so damn friendly and smiley that it killed me. It's not that I wasn't friendly or smiley, it was just hard to imagine Mike being with a girl like that. He had his demons - his brother, his unhinged work environment, the sleeping pills, all of it. But, he wanted to date a girl like that? There was absolutely no way she could wrangle in his demons with her positive attitude. I could swear that girl never experienced any pain in her life by the way she floated around with smiles and optimism. The real world would hit her one day.

She bagged up Bear's toys and I quickly left the shop with what felt like a dark cloud of anxiety and confusion hanging over my head.

-

Carter had finally made a friend in Hurricane. He had been going to the gym everyday and ended up making a friend there, so the two planned to meet up for happy hour at Harry's bar.