Tempting Karma by Jala Summers

Author:Jala Summers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: African American Literature, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction, African American Romance, Romance, Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Summers Publishing
Published: 2015-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

I SAT ON THE BENCH, searching the park for Reuben. All I could see, however, were the families occupying nearly every square inch of the expansive Westwind Falls community park. The air was filled with laughter and shouting, and the sounds of happy children at play.

I breathed in the smell of freshly cut grass and closed my eyes to enjoy the slight breeze that tickled the fine hairs of my arms and teased my face. I loved this time of the year, when the scorching heat from the summer sun subsided and the cool fall air was ushered in with the bright reds, oranges and yellows of the transitioning tree leaves. The scenery was beautiful, and being outside on a day like that had always been one of the little pleasures of life that I most enjoyed.

I was so entranced by the soothing atmosphere around me that I hadn’t heard Reuben approach until he’d already slid to sit down next to me on the bench. I jumped, startled, when I felt him touch my hand that was resting at my side on the park bench.

“Sorry,” he said with a smile. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Were you here long?”

“No, I wasn’t actually. I got here a few minutes ago. And you caught me enjoying the weather. I love this time of year.”

“I could see that. It looked like you were in a state of pure bliss.”

I nodded and noticed him eyeing me. His eyes started at the hooded jacket I wore and traveled down to the matching jogging pants. “Did I miss something? Are we going for a run?”

I laughed. “No, I just...” I tried to figure out the best way to tell him, and finally just figured it didn’t make any sense to lie about it. He knew my situation, so why should I hide anything from him? “I just told Kelvin I was going for a run. Hence, the reason for this outfit.”

“Hmph.” He was quiet for a few moments before responding. “So why are you lying to him, now? I thought your relationship was on the rocks, anyway.”

“Well, it is, I mean, for the most part, yes it is. But, we agreed to try to work on it, so...” my words drifted off into the cool autumn air, and when my eyes met his and I noticed the way he stared at me, as if evaluating the validity of my words, I looked away.

“Do you still love him?” he asked, his voice soft and hesitant.

“I...I don’t know,” I answered. And that was the truth. Though Kelvin had hurt me deeply and I wanted to hate him, I still couldn’t force myself to close my heart off to him completely. It would have been a lie if I’d said that every now and then a memory or moment we shared didn’t trigger thoughts of the happier times in our past. “But how about we not discuss that right now?”

“What would you like to talk about then?”

“How about grabbing something to eat? “

“I thought you didn’t want to do a restaurant.

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