Breaking Free: The Broken Hearts Club

by Michele Barlow

  Shit. Shit. Shit! She should have cleared her messages. That little bell in her head was now ringing, I told you so.

  “I just got a little overwhelmed. They help.”

  “I know they do, sweetie. But I can’t decide whether I’m pissed at you or not for not telling me about these messages. Luna, they have no right to talk to you this way. You’ve been taking this abuse for years, what were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that they miss you, and they’re mad. I get missing you and being mad. They needed to vent their anger at someone.”

  “No, they need to get over themselves and get on with their own damn lives. You are not their punching bag! If they have shit to say, they can say it to me. No one else. We know the truth of our relationship. We know the truth of our life together now. We don’t need their approval or their understanding to live happily. You know good and well that our marriage wasn’t the problem. My journey, for better or worse, got tangled with yours and I won’t lie, I’m happy it did. I can’t live my life without Luna Kind in it. You are my best friend and my life would be darker without you.”

  Luna still loved him. Now though, that love was different. It was friendship and camaraderie that she felt. Her heart was filling up with another man. One that she shouldn’t feel so attached to after such a short time, but she couldn’t help it. He was everything she could have hoped for and she was terrified to reach out and take it for herself.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen. I have deleted all the messages and voicemails from my family. I have deleted their contacts and blocked all their numbers. You will not accept any calls or messages from unknown numbers from now on. I will be having Toby write up cease and desist notices for all my family with threat of having them charged with harassment and stalking because I don’t know how the hell they found out about Ford. That shit is unacceptable. You, my darling, are going to answer that man’s calls and tell him that you’ve missed him and that you can’t wait to see him. I can see it even now in your eyes. You need him and from the call I had with him today, he needs you too.”

  “You talked to him?”

  “He’s a smart guy. He called Toby then called me. He likes you, sweetie. Hell, really, really likes you. Reel this hunk in, because he’s hooked.”

  Luna could feel her meds wearing off because her heart was starting to beat faster. He cared enough to call her ex-husband to get someone to stop being mean to her. They’d been on one date. Granted that date had turned into a sleep over, but still he didn’t owe her anything.

  “I like him. I do. He makes me happy,” she said quietly, tears starting to well in her eyes.

  “Then jump into those big muscular arms and let him carry you away. He’s a good one; I feel it in my bones. That man can happily handle anything that comes his way. And you are going to be the easiest one for him to take care of. Let him take care of you, and let him show you how to be happy again. Do it for yourself and no one else.”

  Luna felt a little guilt trickle in for ignoring him. He was good to her and she did miss him so much. She nodded at Alton as a single tear escaped and ran down her cheek.

  He pulled her into his arms and gave her a big hug, lifting her off the ground.

  “Put me down, you’ll break something.”

  “Hah, I’ve been working out. You’re lighter than a feather.”

  Luna made a choking noise. “Hardly. Thank you for your help, really. I have a hard time choosing between what is right and what I think others want. Your family is a bunch of… assholes,” she said proudly.

  “No, they are fucking assholes. Repeat after me please.”

  Luna gave him a look. “Fine, they are fucking assholes.”

  “Oh good, your therapist will be so proud. Now, go call your man.”

  Chapter 20

  Luna tried calling Ford and got no answer. She sent him a text message apologizing for being rude and got no answer.

  She decided she needed a grand gesture just in case he was unhappy with her. She needed to make amends for ignoring him.

  After she got the address to his station from Toby, she stopped by the store and then parked outside the station and went to the entrance on the side. She pressed a buzzer by the door and waited.

  “Yes? Can I help you?”

  Leaning closer to the speaker she said, “Hi, um, I’m looking for Ford?”

  “He’s on a call. Probably about fifteen minutes out.”

  “Okay, I’ll wait.”

  The speaker clicked dead and she went back to her car and leaned against it. She was starting to feel a little silly standing there holding a Mylar balloon in the shape of a firetruck and a box with a giant pizza cookie. It had seemed cute and funny at the time but now she was feeling awkward.

  It was almost thirty minutes later that two firetrucks pulled up to the driveway and men and women started pouring out of them all dressed in yellow bunker gear.

  Squaring her shoulders and ignoring the horrible nauseating fear in her stomach, she stepped forward and looked for Ford.

  She got some funny looks and more than a few smiles when she finally saw Ford coming around the front of one of the trucks.

  “Luna?”

  “Hey,” she said, giving him a wonky smile.

  His face, smeared with black soot and sweat broke into a grin. That feeling in her tummy lessened.

  He walked up to her and gave her a kiss without saying anything. There were some hoots and whistles from behind him and she didn’t care. He tasted like smoke and sweat and she couldn’t have been happier.

  “What are you doing here? Have you been waiting long?”

  “I came to apologize for being rude. See?” she said, gesturing to the box.

  Ford lifted the lid and started laughing. She had the cookie decorated with the words, Sorry for ignoring you after sex, in white icing. The look she got from the teenager at the cookie place nearly made her melt into a puddle of embarrassment, but she was trying to be bold.

  “Baby, you don’t need to apologize. I know you’ve had a tough run. I’m guessing Alton talked to you.”

  “Talked and yelled. But I know he did it out of love. I should have been stronger.”

  “Babe, you are strong. You just are too sweet to the wrong people.”

  “You’re right, I am. Except when it comes to you. I want to be sweet to you. I like you, a lot. And even though it scares me, I don’t want to lose you, Ford.”

  Ford took the cookie and set it on the ground so he could get closer to her. “Luna, you aren’t going to lose me. I’m the luckiest man in the world that you want to be with me. I don’t doubt how you feel and I don’t want you to doubt me for a minute. I already told Alton what you meant to me and how serious I was. Do you think I’d say that to him if I didn’t mean it? Call it what you want, but I need you, Luna. To the moon and back, I’m so happy I found you.”

  Luna wanted to hold back the tears but she couldn’t as they fell on their own and she was happy her feelings were fully back. “I really, really like you too. Isn’t that crazy? I can’t think of anything else but being with you.”

  “Then we’re both crazy, that works for me.”

  Ford kissed her and Luna soaked up all the love he put into it and gave it right back to him.

  Luna couldn’t believe that she and Ford had managed to make it to the four week mark before their first ‘I love you’s’ were also their first pseudo fight.

  “You know how I feel, Ford,” she said standing against the counter in his apartment. They were getting ready for work and she had spent the night but didn’t get much sleep.

  “Yup, babe, I do. And you know how I feel. I’m one hundred percent certain of how I feel and what my future looks like. I’m just waiting for you to catch up.”

  “Catch up? What the hell do you think I’ve been doing for the last four weeks?”

  “Stalling.”

  Luna felt a blood vessel start to pound in her forehead. “Stalling for what?” />
  “You’re stalling because you’re scared. I haven’t pushed you because I already know how you feel. You just haven’t figured it out for yourself yet.”

  “Oh, like you know me so freaking well. Well, maybe you don’t. Maybe I’ve grown to hate you and I’m thinking of an escape plan!” Luna wasn’t trying to escape, hell; she never wanted them to be apart. Even going to work was a little disappointing because it might mean that she wouldn’t see him for a day or two while he was on shift.

  Ford didn’t say anything; he just raised one of those gorgeous eyebrows of his and waited.

  “Fine, I fucking love you! Are you happy? I love you, Ford Jameson! Tell the world!” she said waving her arms around enthusiastically.

  Ford watched her for a moment while she imitated a monkey on crack. Finally, he reached out, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her to stop the monkey noises coming out of her mouth.

  Pulling away from her mouth, he kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you too, Luna Kind. I have from our first date. I just needed you to get there with me.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever really been in love with someone like this. It’s kinda scary.”

  “It is. It’s also the best feeling in the world.”

  Another month later

  Waverly: Seriously, you can stop telling us every time you have amazing sex.

  Cambry: Girl it’s two in the morning.

  Elena: Oh my god Becky, look at her butt!

  Elena: Sorry wrong chat. Luna babe, it’s been like two months.

  Evie: I swear to god my phone chimes after midnight and I know it’s a Luna fuck-update.

  Luna: Hey, I just like you to know everything is going good.

  Cambry: Bullshit you want to brag. Well I got some too, so there.

  Luna: Actually tonight isn’t about a sex brag. It’s about something else.

  Luna sent a picture of her hand sporting the ring that Ford had slid onto it a few hours before. They had been making love and Ford had rocked her world like he always did. She had collapsed on top of him afterward, which now she did regularly not worrying about if she was too heavy. She knew he happened to love it when she did it. She felt his hand come to her head and tilt it up so she could see him.

  “I love you,” he said.

  She happily and dreamily replied, “I love you too.”

  “Are you ever going to leave me, Luna?”

  “Where would I go?” she said with a laugh.

  “I don’t know, because there isn’t a spot on this earth that I wouldn’t travel to get you back.”

  “Good to know. I’d hate to go on vacation by myself.”

  “You know you’re mine, now and forever.”

  Luna was used to these bold statements now. She adored them. Every word was a stone in the wall that kept her away from all the negativity that used to be in her life. She was safe, protected, and surrounded by an impenetrable fortress made up entirely of Ford’s love.

  “Always, Ford, forever.”

  “Let’s go on vacation.”

  “Random, but okay. Where to?”

  “Somewhere warm, somewhere I can enjoy seeing you in a bikini all day.”

  “Okay, when?”

  “I’d say a few days after we are married?”

  Luna pushed herself up on his chest. Ford was holding a beautiful ring in between his fingers.

  “Luna Kind, will you marry me?”

  Luna felt the last hole in her heart cement closed. She was stronger, more confident, and so proudly in love that she couldn’t control herself.

  “Yes!” She started laughing and crying at the same time as she kissed him. Ford had to wrestle her down to get the ring on her finger as she laughed and cried.

  He made love to her again slowly and exquisitely. Luna didn’t think her heart could get any bigger but it did. It swelled to bursting with her love for the man that had shown her that she was worth everything.

  After he had slapped her on her ass and told her, “Go tell your girls.”

  He knew her so well.

  Waverly: What?!

  Elena: You had better said yes!

  Cambry: Oh, sweetheart it’s beautiful!

  Evie: Oh, he went to Jared.

  Gianna: Does he have a brother?

  Paisley: Congratulation sweetheart!

  Claire: If you didn’t say yes, we are having you committed.

  Dawn: He’s a good one, I can tell.

  Luna: He is the best. And yes, I said yes.

  Luna had so many loves in her life now that she felt spoiled, but not spoiled rotten. She said goodnight to her girls and slid back into bed with her man. Her man, who loved her for everything that she was, and everything she could be.

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  Also by Michele Barlow

  THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB

  Loving Again

  Starting Over

  Breaking Free