Reyona could not believe her eyes when she opened the door. She was annoyed because after she called the other person on the other end of the door to come in, nobody answered.“Who is…” The annoyance on her face morphed into shock and excitement as she saw her sister standing on the threshold with a big, wide smile on her face.“Ta-da! Who missed me?” Victoria Dexter, mostly called Toria, squealed with her hands wide open right before she grabbed her sister in a hard, enveloping.“Euf, what have they been feeding you over there?”Reyona said with laughter as she breathed in the familiar aromatic, balsamic scents that sparked memories."Food. Of course, the Lone Star was especially known for its chicken fried steak, you know. Hmm, those darlings are to die for.” Toria said with a dreamy look on her face as he stepped back from Reyona’s embrace after a while.“Yeah, right. I am just going to take your word for it.” Reyona said as she turned her sister’s arm over, “And a lot of sunshine to

Feeling more lighthearted than she could remember ever being in the past months, Reyona drove up her driveway with her sister behind her. Toria was on the phone with her friends that came to Kayooma with her.“Yes, I will be staying with my sister today. Duh, I am not ditching...of course, it is before pals,” she said after a pause, sticking out her tongue as if the person on the other end could see her. “Yeah, say hi to Jake for me, yeah, girl! Don’t do what I wouldn’t do. On second thought, please don’t do some things that I would do!” She laughed out loud as he listened to what the person on the other end was saying before she shook her head. “No, don't..."Reyona smiled as she tuned out her sister’s conversation, and then her smile vanished when she saw that Thomas’s car was already parked in their lot. Toria saw the car simultaneously and told the person on the other end that he would get back to her.“Yes, probably tomorrow. bye” she said breezily as she disconnected the call and

“You…you made me do it!”Reyona shook her head to herself as she thought of what happened the night before. She still couldn’t believe that the man she thought she knew was so different from the man that Thomas had become.She thought of the fact that he might have been like that all along while he had successfully hidden it from her, just like everything else. She berated herself for having been a fool, all in the name of love and acceptance. She wondered how many other things she did not know about him that she was wrong about.She never believed that the Thomas that she knew would touch a woman with violence, whether under influence or not.“That shows how naive and unaware you have truly been in this marriage,” she muttered to herself in the confines of her car. Her lips curled in a bitter smile. She drew in a sharp breath as the stiff, pain-filled side of her face protested.Reyona flipped down the rearview mirror to look at her face. She was satisfied by what she saw, and she kne

The silence that followed was palpable on the other end.It was the soft gasp and continuous breathing that indicated that Toria was still on the other end.Then, “I never did like the idiot. His head is too big for his body.”Reyona couldn’t hold back the laughter that rumbled out of her chest.With it came what had been lodged in her throat.Hot tears gushed out of her eyes as she laughed loudly and long in the serene silence of the exclusive park.“I am sorry, Reyona.” Toria's empathetic voice stopped Reyona’s laughter but not the tears.The tears streamed down her face in silence as Toria continued, “I know how much your home means to you, sis. I cannot begin to imagine your pain right now. Where are you, Rey? Please tell me where you are.”Toria.Reyona would never understand how her sister could read her so well, no matter the distance between them.“I need some time to myself, Toria,” she said honestly.Toria sighed “Okay, Rey. I don’t like it, but okay. Please don’t turn off y

The process was faster than Reyona had thought it would be.As she drove up the cobblestone driveway that led to the cottage-style house, she already loved what she saw.Reyona had no intention of going home that day, and she had never been a fan of hotels.She almost called Charlotte to arrange a place for her, but then she changed her mind and checked online for a place she could rent for a month.She supposed the whole mess shouldn't take more than that to be cleared up.She still didn't trust herself not to do something she would regret later if she had to keep seeing her soon-to-be ex-husband's deceit-filled face.Ex-husband!That word snagged on her mind, and the unexplainable peace she had felt when she woke with a jolt at the park was reduced.Reyona did not know what woke her up, but she knew she was feeling better.She had also been chilled to the bone.So she quickly put the plan she had in mind into motion.She checked online for places to rent for a short time.She picked