*Christy's POV*
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I had not loved Hunter.
Looking back, I knew I'd said it exactly right. We were fascinated by each other. We were going through the motions of a couple, and we were pretending to have a meaningful relationships.
There had been moments of sparks and moments of potential. We'd liked each other -- a lot -- but what we had was fairly shallow.
Shallow relationships can't handle the deep and dark moments in life.
In that hospital bed, I experienced dark moments. Those dark moments exposed what we were doing wrong.
It was almost Christmas. Christmas Eve, to be more precise.
I had heard from Hunter once in the period of time since the hospital trip in October. It was one simple text, two words, in late November.
'Happy Thanksgiving'.
I responded with a "you as well!" and that was the end of it.
From dating, to me almost dying, to breaking up and hardly communicating at all.
I hadn't started seeing anyone. I was perfectly content with being free of commitment, and apparently, so was Hunter. He had recently wrapped up his Let's Be Crazy tour, and was riding into the holidays enjoying loads of the industry's attention. I had followed him via social media throughout the tour. He looked happy, and I was happy for him. In a way, I found it somewhat gratifying that the reason he'd become so busy at least worked out well for him.
I was continuing work at the veterinary office and had just gotten off of work.
My family was going to fly into Nashville a few days after Christmas to spend time with me -- my parents and living grandparents -- so in the meantime, I'd decided to hold a small party in my apartment for my close friends.
The issue was, the bad ex -- Westin -- had heard about it. He'd showed up at my door a few days before, sober, surprisingly, and begged for admission.
I denied. He didn't react too well, but I locked him out before anything happened.
However, I did have slight anxiety at the prospect of him showing up uninvited.
I told myself that if any signs were to be taken, his sobriety should at least be interpreted as a good omen, and that he'd leave me alone.
