Three Words

Chapter 6 - Four

I didn't realize I needed the change so badly. It turns out Atlanta was exactly what I needed. There is no Nita within 700 miles and work has been keeping me extremely busy. When Amar said the quality was poor, I thought he was exaggerating. It turned out to be awful. Since moving down in February, I have spent nearly every waking hour being trained to be a manger, retraining the employees that were under me, and essentially just trying to drill into them that I didn't tolerate poor performance. My hard work was finally paying off; I wasn't having to spend nearly as much time at the office and the quality had drastically improved. The long hours had also helped to keep my mind off my demons, as well as the letter.

Don't get me wrong, I needed the distraction throughout the week, but I'm so glad its Friday. I loosen my tie and lay my suit jacket on the back of the chair. I walk over to the couch and flop down, trying to decide what I'm going to do tonight.

Ever since I received that letter from Tris, it's all I've really thought about when I'm not at the gym or at work. The only thing I know about this woman is that she lost her husband over a year ago in January. I really have wanted to go find out who she is, but I've stopped myself before I made any actual plans to find her. I'm not really worried that she'll turn out to be crazy, but I think some part of me doesn't want to find out she was able to move on. I want to be able to help her as much as she helped me.

I can't think like that though, not only does it sound incredibly selfish to want someone to still be hurting, but also slightly crazy. But more than anything, I'm terrified I might fall for her if she turns out to be as incredible as her letter. I really don't want to date anyone right now. Every relationship I've ever had has ended in heartache, and I'm sure if I were to have any more they would too. At least, that has been my excuse for not finding her yet.

I've just about made up my mind to go to the gym, again, when I hear my phone buzz. I stretch, and get up to retrieve my phone. I look and see that I have a text message from Zeke.

Zeke: Want to go get a beer?

Four: I don't know. It's been a really long week. I was just about to head to the gym.

Zeke: You go there nearly every day. You can afford not to go for one day. Besides, if you keep this up, you'll start looking better than me, and we can't have that.

I give a small chuckle at the message and roll my eyes. Typical Zeke to make the situation about him.

Zeke: How about I come over to your place. I'll bring the beers and we can watch the game tonight.

I sigh. Maybe hanging out with Zeke would get my mind off everything. Besides, I really could use a laugh.

Four: Alright. I'll order a pizza.

**********

Zeke plops onto the couch, his arms up in the air. "I can't believe they lost!"

Zeke and I have been watching the game for the past three and a half hours. The problem is, I have no idea what we've been watching. My mind has wandered to the letter about every ten minutes, completely distracting me from my current surroundings.

I try to respond with some enthusiasm, "Well, at least the game was good, right?"

Zeke looks over to me, scratching his chin, "Yeah. Yeah it was. I thought you weren't watching there for a second though. You looked like you were off in your own world."

Crap. "Of course I did. It really was good." Well, it sounds vague enough to work, and with Zeke's show of frustration, it was at least entertaining.