Just Love Me

Chapter 5: Make it Easy

Chapter 5

"You better put that woman first" - Jaheim

It's hard to watch a relationship that I've cherished fall apart so effortlessly. As a young girl I can remember my mama getting frustrated with my daddy. She never yelled nor cursed, she would sternly say, "Marriage is a fight." Sometimes she'd say it to him, other times she'd say it to my siblings and me, I'd catch her mumbling it while cooking, she'd chant it softly while doing our laundry. At 10 I was completely confused, at 15 with my first boyfriend I thought I had a clue, at 19 when I married Rick, I flat out thought she was lying. But now at 22 I understand every bit of her mantra.

Rick and I haven't spoken to each other in a week. One long week. He slept in a guest room after our argument about me coming home late and has been there since. I didn't stop him. I felt he was over-reacting, so until he came to his senses I'd play his way. But I miss him. And it felt foolish not to talk to each other. And I want to apologize for coming home late. And I want him to hold me and kiss me and call me 'Sweets' and make love to me. I want it all. But I want it easy, like before. Not hard like my mama said it would be.

I leaned back in my desk chair nibbling on twizzlers; I had a sugar buffet consisting of nerds, sour patch kids, airheads and laffy taffy's spread on my desk. Stress eating. A glass of Moscato would go lovely with my candy but drinking on the job is inappropriate. I contemplated calling Rick, apologizing and asking him to grab lunch and a quickie. But a knock on my door stopped me from dialing. Dr. Robinson opened my door before I could respond and my mouth dropped open when I saw who was with her.

"Hey Elle, remember I told you about a new physician I hired?" The rest of Dr. Robinson's words faded as I stared at Mr. Chocolate from the grocery store. Damn, he looked good. He took a few steps into my office and extended his right hand. My eyes traced every beautiful feature on his face before gazing down at his muscular arm concealed under the long sleeve of his white coat. He wore bluish gray scrubs like Dr. Robinson and the way they fit against his chest had me squeezing me legs together. "Elle!" my eyes snapped back to Dr. Robinson.

Aww shit, I have to stop this.

My face heated in humiliation, I know they both saw me blatantly checking him out. Oh I could die. I finally rose from my chair and shook his hand. "I'm sorry. I was-uh, I- never mind. Hi nice to meet you. I'm the nutritional advisor, Brielle Dawson, but please call me Elle. I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?" I felt like an idiot with the way I kept apologizing and stumbling over my words like a teenage girl with her first crush.

Mr. Chocolate chuckled, "Joe. Joe Parker. Nice seeing you again." The smile he had on his face had me blushing like a fool.

"So you two know each other," Dr. Robinson asked after some time. I hadn't realized Joe and I were standing there staring at each other until she spoke. "How did you and Mrs. Dawson meet?" Joe raised one eyebrow when she emphasized the 'Mrs.'. As if I wasn't embarrassed enough.

"I bumped into him at the grocery store." I said quickly. I didn't need Dr. Robinson suspecting anything. Although if I was reading her facial expression correctly- she wasn't believing a word out my mouth. "I crashed into his cart by accident."

"Nutritional advisor?" Joe said with a smirk while eyeing all the candy on my desk. I giggled and ran my hand through my hair.

"Yes but I would never advise a patient to eat like I do. I'm hypocritical in that way." Joe swiped his tongue across his bottom lip and my eyes zero in on his full dark lips. I instantly felt guilty. I shouldn't be doing this. Am I flirting? I cleared my throat and shifted the papers on my desk around. "Well I should probably get back to...this."