A Thing Called Love - Jill Sanders Page 0,2
was it that she had a knack for dating jerks? It seemed the more she dated, the more they came out of the woodwork. It started with her very first boyfriend, Leo. Leo had been one of the most popular boys in middle school. When he’d asked Kara to dance, she’d melted inside.
She’d been the envy of every girl in her class when they’d officially started dating the following week. It hadn’t taken long to realize that Leo was a jerk. When she’d caught him kissing Lori, a girl a grade above Kara, he’d tried to explain it away, saying that Lori had come on to him. Kara hadn’t bought it and had moved on to date Tom, another popular boy and one of Leo’s friends.
Two weeks after they’d made it official, Tom had broken things off with her when he’d attended a party and hooked up with Lori. Lori again! That had caused the two friends to fall out. It was funny—they hadn’t fought over both of them dating Kara, but cheating on her with Lori had set the friends in a downward spiral.
She wondered why she wasn’t a girl that boys fought over. What did Lori have that she didn’t? Okay, so her boobs had come in a lot earlier than Kara’s had, but still, they were both B cups.
She’d avoided dating again until high school. Joe hadn’t been popular or in sports. He’d been a quiet, shy boy she’d had a crush on for almost a year before asking him to a dance.
It had taken him another year to show his true colors. The first time he pushed her, she’d thought it was an accident or that she’d somehow caused his anger. But when he’d up and slapped her after a school dance, she’d walked away for good.
The next week, Joe had started a rumor that she’d cheated on him and he’d broken things off.
Since she no longer cared about what he thought, she hadn’t fought the rumor. Her friends knew her too well to fall for his lies. Besides, she’d had the bruised cheek to prove her point with her closest friends.
It was a year later before she opened herself up to another man. Matt was her first real love. She’d run into him at a coffee house one weekend her junior year. He didn’t go to her school and, in fact, hadn’t even finished high school. He worked at an auto parts store and lived above someone’s garage.
She’d fallen hard for him. He’d been kind, caring, and funny. He played the guitar, which she’d found totally sexy. She’d been shocked when, one day, he’d informed her that he had signed up for the army and was shipping out for bootcamp the following day.
He’d admitted that he didn’t love her as much as she loved him, that he’d never felt as strongly about her as she had about him.
That was almost two years ago, and she still struggled with opening her heart again. Maybe she wasn’t destined to find love. Maybe she was only destined to help others with their joyous days.
No. She closed her eyes and shook her head. That couldn’t be what her life was all about.
Standing up suddenly, she felt the heat of the night and felt a need to cool off. She pulled her dress over her head, tossed it in the sand, and headed for the surf in nothing but her matching bra and panties.
The cool water on her feet felt wonderful. She told herself that she’d stop if she got too deep or she became too chilled. After all, she’d seen way too many movies and knew better than to go swimming in the ocean after dark.
Walking to where the water was up to her knees, she let the cold Pacific saltwater wash over her completely.
It felt as if she could cleanse herself from her past, from her bad decisions. If only she could break her string of bad luck when it came to men.
She started floating in the surf, assured that she was only in knee-deep water, as she watched the moon above her and dodged the waves lapping and tossing her around.
Should she join one of those dating apps her friends were talking about? After all, she knew the chances of meeting someone in a small town were slim. After living in Pride for a year, she practically knew everyone in town already.
Sure, there were a few with potential. But none she’d felt any sort of… pow with.
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