Many, many thanks for the positive reviews! I'm glad to know that some people are enjoying it!
Chapter Four
"There is nothing on TV, John. Why do we pay so much for satellite when there is nothing on?" They were lying in bed. It was only nine o'clock, but Natalie had already gotten accustomed to spending the evening in bed after Victoria went to sleep. She was now seven months pregnant and the 24-hour shifts were starting to tire her.
"I'm going to go check on Victoria," he called, exiting the bathroom.
"She's probably asleep by now. It took me a while to get her to bed. I think Mom or maybe Roxy gave her candy."
John laughed, walking out of their bedroom. Natalie sighed at the sight of yet another reality show. This one was about some couple testing their relationship. She turned the TV off and plopped down on the pillows. Rubbing her stomach, she smiled. "Maybe you'll grow up to be a writer and then Mommy will have something good to watch on TV when she's too old to get out of bed." It didn't take her longer than a few seconds to fall asleep.
Natalie sighed as she flipped through the TV channels. She thought TV in Pennsylvania was boring. Here it was nothing but damn health shows and reality TV crap. She clicked the TV off and looked around her apartment. Living alone wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Sure, there was no annoying roommate to put up with, but there was always the silence. If she didn't make noise, then no one did. That was the hard part. Keeping her mind from going into overdrive because of the silence. Stopping it from thinking too much. She looked at the copy of People Magazine on the table. Another cover of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. They were so in love; it was sickening, really. Natalie picked the magazine up and walked into her small kitchen with it. Dropping it into the garbage can, she muttered something about love.
Leaving the kitchen, she went over to her desk and sat down. She had never been so bored and yet so busy in her entire life. School had started six weeks ago. It was already November and there wasn't even snow yet. In fact, she could still wear shorts some days! So different than back home. Her classes weren't as hard as she'd thought. They were much harder. She felt like the odd one out at school. There was only a handful of students who hadn't been pre-med in college. Natalie had timidly included herself as one of them. She was an outcast in Llanview and once again she was the kid left out here, too. A few of the non-pre-med kids had started a study group. Natalie had gone once or twice, but she just wasn't up to being around people. They didn't seem to interested in her, either.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Natalie jumped at the break in silence. "Hello?"
"Hey, Natalie, this is Sonia … Parker. I'm in your anatomy class …" It took Natalie a second to remember her, "yep, that's me. We're having a study group in the MezzaNotte Café around 8 tonight. "It's just going to be some of us who can make it, nothing big. You know where the place is, right?"
"Yeah. I don't know if I can make it. I'll see how things go."
"Sure. Just thought I'd let ya' know. Bye!" Natalie hung up the phone. The girl was nice, but she was always so damn perky. Just as she was setting the phone down, the doorbell rang. Her apartment hadn't seen this much action since she'd moved in. It was only the UPS man at the door. Signing for the package, she saw that it was from Jessica.
Natalie thought Viki would miss her the most, but it was actually Jessica who called and e-mailed nearly every day. She was torn between Nash and Antonio and just didn't know what to do. Natalie was a bit jealous that her sister had two men fighting over her, but it was nice to listen to someone else's problems and not think about her own for a few minutes. Ripping the box open, Natalie was delighted to find it full of copies of the Llanview Banner. Jess had even thrown in a few copies of Craze Magazine. Just enough of home to lessen the tinge of being home-sick.
Sitting back on the couch, she picked up the newspaper that was on top of the stack. She was finally starting to feel good when she came across it. In the Local section. Page L6. Across from the advertisements page. Engagement announcements. They just had to put it in her mother's newspaper. Couldn't they have chosen a paper published by someone else's mom? Natalie stared at the photograph of John & Evangeline. She refused to let herself cry. "No," she told herself sternly. "You will not cry over him. He isn't worth it." But, it was a losing battle.
She was angry at herself for being upset. She was angry at Jess, too. Jessica had put that paper on top intentionally. Natalie wanted to be mad at her, but she wasn't really. She knew that Jessica did it out of love for her. They usually talked every day and while she never mentioned John, Natalie knew that Jessica could tell she was still in love with him. They never discussed the subject of Natalie's love life, but he was always in the background. Natalie looked at the announcement again. They looked happy. Damn, they looked really happy.
Taking a deep breath, she made the decision. "I have to let him go, for real this time." She took a deep breath. Deep down, she'd been hoping he would realize his mistake and come to California and take her back home to Llanview. But, he never came. Two months and he never came. He was never going to come. The paper proved it. He chose someone else. He chose Evangeline. Holding the paper in her hands, Natalie whispered, "Good-bye, McBain." She folded the paper up and took it over to the same garbage can where she'd thrown the People Magazine.
"So, this is the beginning. The beginning of the rest of my life. I don't need John McBain or any man." She was pacing the floor of her living room now. Her nerves were on high. She saw her keys on the table. Now was as good a time as ever to start, right? "MezzaNotte Café? Is that on Third or Sixth Street?" she asked herself. She couldn't remember. To hell with it, she'd find the place eventually. Reaching for her keys, she could feel her old self coming back.
