Learning to Love You

Chapter 1

Naomi sighed as she walked into her apartment following a long, stressful workday. She found out first thing that morning that her director requested that the latest software update for their fellow employees be moved up by two weeks. Then, there was an outage for a system used by one of their major clients that took most of her day to triage and fix. To top it all off, she found out her ex would be at her sorority sister's wedding that she planned to attend in a week.

Naomi hated to be a bearer of bad news, but she had to find an excuse not to go to Shonda's wedding. Normally, she would've been okay showing up alone, but she didn't want to face Michael. It was bad enough that he would be there, but she was sure he would bring Nikki, the woman he cheated with and her former friend, as his date. She definitely didn't want to show up dateless since she knew she would run into them. She knew it would make her night that much worse if she were there alone. Of course, she could always ask her long-time friend Cameron, but knowing him he probably already had a date.

Deciding not to think about them anymore for the moment, she grabbed her headphones and began cleaning. There wasn't a desperate need for her to clean but she found that by straightening up her place, she was able to clear her head and keep her mind from going down a dark path of self-pity.

Since there were no dishes in the sink she started by sweeping. So what can I do instead of going to the wedding? She knew she didn't want to spend the day at home. Brooklyn was going to be out of town for a work trip, and a handful of her other friends were going to be at the wedding in question. She could always take Hunter to the dog park or even the beach so he could run around.

If they went to the beach there'd be all that sand to deal with. The park could be the better option but the ground would be covered with leaves. Also, Hunter would be sure to chase the poor squirrels trying to prepare for the winter. Switching gears, Naomi put up the broom and dustpan and grabbed the Swiffer.

Once her place was cleaned to her satisfaction, she grabbed a salad and settled on the couch. Browsing through the TV guide, she didn't find anything particularly appealing until finally deciding on HGTV's House Hunters. Naomi's dream was to custom build a house of her own someday. One with plenty of room for entertaining friends and family and plenty of yard space for Hunter.

After an hour and a half of watching other people buy houses, Naomi's thoughts wandered back to the wedding. She grabbed her Mac to browse online for a gift. I guess I should break the news to her first. Her phone rang as she picked it up. Checking the caller ID, she saw it was Cameron. Maybe she wouldn't need to come up with a lie after all.

"Hello?"

"Hey, gorgeous!" She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Hey Cam," she smiled.

"How was your day?"

"How was my day," she repeated thoughtfully. "Let's just say I'm glad it's the weekend."

"Yeah, this week has been long for sure. You okay?"

"I'm alright, work was not as peaceful as I thought it would be for a Friday. There were a lot of fires to put out, and the fact I kept getting pulled into meetings didn't make fighting the fires any easier."

"Ugh, that doesn't sound fun at all. Need me to beat anyone up?" He asked with a smirk clear in his tone.

"Easy, tiger," she chuckled lightly. "I don't need you to go all John Wick on me, I'll be fine. How was your day?"

"My day was okay. Productive. It's been a crazy week of meeting with clients, as we're trying to close a few large deals in before the quarter ends. I had quite a few contracts to review and approve before the day was over."