Had To Be You (Romance/Drama) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 1 - Absence

Hello! I'm Jasmine, and this is my new story. It's one that I've been working on for a while and would like to share. But it's my baby, so I'm as scared as a motherhen putting it out there. The story is particularly close to my heart and it's not your regular love story, but it's a great one. ;) I truly hope that you like it! *Bites nails nervously.*

Oh, the songs I post on every chapter are related to the story and helped me when I was writing! They're in no particular order. Please keep in mind that there will be mature content. Anyway...

I dare you to join me in this little romantic adventure.

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The Floridian sun was merciful that Spring morning, burning only over seventy degrees. The soft sea breeze that flew over the water and cradled her cottage only added to the beauty of the morning, and to the great pleasure she reveled in as she tended to the blue hydrangeas that sat along her walls. Yellow walls that created a cheerful and cliche Miami ambiance, just as she had wanted when she painted them. The little cottage, which she had bought herself, served as an estuary. It was the place she went to when he was gone, and where she would reside in a more pleasant solitude than the one she endured when she was alone in their condominium.

Xavier favored the contemporary, and thus their condominium overlooking prestigious Miami Beach was painted, furnished and accented in polished steel and glass, with colors of gray, black, and white. Lifeless, Naomi thought, and it dulled her senses unpleasantly.

But not for lack of trying.

Xavier had tried countless times to incorporate her style into the condo, but she had never relented. Each time she had just smiled and told him to have at it, for in her mind it was his condo, since he was the one investing in it. They should have reached a compromise, just as Xavier had wanted, and given way to a condo of polished metal and warm tones, but something inside of her hadn't allowed her to compromise.

She laughed brokenly then, wiping the moisture off of her forehead with her gloved hand, and put her back into the soothing work of deadheading the flower bushes.

It should have been a sign to them, or at least to herself, that she would start to spiral downward and out of reach. That was were she currently was; out of reach. He would put his heart and body into bringing her back to the surface again, but she would feel herself slipping away each time. Then he would try again.

In her defense, it had only been like this for the past year of their two year relationship. First half lovely, the second half obstructed. Xavier had been given the full rights to the family enterprise in the past year, and his new position demanded much time away from her, and in Spain, the beautiful country of his birth, background, and the Santos empire. Naomi had been, and still was, extremely proud. The skill to conquer, persuade, and diminish ran through his blood, and it was of second nature to him to take on the family business that he had always lived on.

She had gone with him to Spain the first few times, accompanied him and met his family. But her own work in her clinic demanded her attention, and she had to stop the abrupt and too-often trips to the other side of the world if she was to keep her local organization thriving.

And of course she would. Her clinic was her life.

The small clinic in the pretty town of Coral Gables was quickly booming, as it had been ever since the first three months of its founding. Women from all over south Florida were going to her clinic for the counseling, aid, and understanding companionship promised by her clinic. A small, but state of the art center made possible and operated by women just like herself, for women just like herself. Her employees were loyal, certified, and most importantly, they could relate. They understood what it was like to wake up in the middle of the night with horrid nightmares, to feel alone and paranoid for months at a time.