Exposure

EX:13

Chapter 13

PART 2

Owen's Perspective

"We are the perfect couple, we're just not in the perfect situation."-Unknown

•••••

     SOUNDS of rolling carts, crying babies, loud talking, and items being scanned kept distracting me from the task at hand. I was currently in the grocery store searching for a specific syrup brand that I preferred but it looked like it was out of stock. I was also on the phone with Matthew about a very important deal with a few clients at the dealership. There was a massive headache brewing and I just wanted to find the damn syrup and get the hell up out of this store. I settled for a common brand throwing the bottle into my cart before walking further down the aisle.

"So are all of the display cars in good shape?" Matthew asked over the phone. I could barely hear him but I could make out the sentence.

"Yeah, I checked with the other mechanics a couple of days ago," I replied barely paying attention reaching for a box of popcorn sitting it next to the jar of pickles in my grocery cart.

"I knew you had just had to make sure, you're always on top of things man."

"I stick to my word." I shrugged moving around the store.

"Alright man well, I want to sit down and talk to you tomorrow about the promotion. I think I'm going to take the deal and move on to another dealership and let you take over but I think it's better if we talk about this in person since you seem a little distracted."

"I agree."

"Alright see you tomorrow."

"No doubt," I hung up sliding my phone back into my pants pocket.

      This promotion would be a huge offer for me but I was still indecisive about my decision. Of course, there was a pay raise but everything wasn't always about money, I had to think about the workload and would the change in my schedule be good for Tiana and me, we barely got to see each other as is. Also, my goal was to be the head man in charge of my own company. This could be a step forward in that direction or the complete opposite.

       The plan was to never stay at Wilcox, the company was supposed to only be a stepping stone to greater things. I needed to talk with Tiana about this, maybe that would give me peace of mind and tonight would be the perfect time to talk. Things had been hard lately and more than anything we needed to communicate without fussing or yelling over one another.

       We weren't the type of couple to argue, but sometimes without communication and understanding each other it happened naturally. Since I was off for the day I decided to do a movie night for us so that we could just relax, and so that I could hopefully take her mind off of things and apologize for the way I had been treating her lately. Although it wasn't all my fault I needed to take accountability for the things that were so that we could move on from our small issues.

      I threw party size bags of chips into the cart standing in my thoughts. While picking up a jar of cheese dip I heard someone call my name out in a nervous manner. Before I could stop myself from turning around I did. There she was, her presence made me wish I had never even come into the store. I held back a drastic sigh of frustration observing her appearance.