True Match Ch. 01

"What have I said that's a lie?"

"You promised me once that we would always be friends. You promised that you would never judge me, bail on me, or intentionally hurt me, and you've just done all three. As far as I'm concerned, breaking promises makes you a liar. Have a nice life, Fisher." April slammed down the phone and felt a moment of triumph for standing up for herself before she dissolved into tears.

* * * *

With Fisher out of her life, April had no one to hide behind. Even though she mourned the loss of the friendship, after her initial anger faded she realized it was for the best. She'd come to rely on Fisher far too much; she'd even fantasized a relationship with him. Now she had to do things on her own, and for once in her life she felt strong enough to try.

Even though she was angry at Fisher, she had to admit he was right about the girls. She had neglected them; she'd made sure their basic needs were met, but she'd procrastinated about things like yearly doctor check-ups and hadn't spent much time actually talking to or playing games with them.

With more time on her hands, she held weekly family meetings so the girls could talk about what they thought and felt. She also made a list of things the girls needed, which she plugged away at. And she began making a point of hugging each girl whenever she could and telling them how much she loved them. It took a while, but both of them responded to it, and after a couple months April felt that she'd undone most of the damage her focus on dating had done.

Since the girls were still with their father every weekend, and because she began to feel lonely, she started going to parties held by the members of the chat room. At the parties, she met a few men whom she dated once or twice, but more importantly, she formed friendships with some men and women. For once she felt like she belonged somewhere.

Over the next few months, dating became less important to her and she started looking for more. She had a couple of short relationships. One ended after a month and a half when the guy complained she spent too much time with her daughters, and the other tapered off because he lived too far away and had a temper that reminded April far too much of her ex-husband. She wondered whether a relationship was really best for her.

The divorce was finalized nine months after the separation. After that, her ex went from bad to worse. He started seeing a woman who had six children of her own and who told him to ignore his own children in favor of hers. He did so because "I love her and I don't want to lose her." She left him or threw him out frequently, and each time he cried for days, threatened suicide, and then hunted her down. Five months later, after a weekend visit during which he screamed at Holly that everything was her fault and he wanted to kill himself and take her with him, April filed a protection order against him. He ranted and raved, but since it was to his family and not to her, April didn't care. Especially when his family told her she'd done the right thing.

* * * *

So a year and a half after she packed up and left, April felt like she had things together. She had a good relationship with both her daughters, she'd managed to secure a full-time teaching job after working half a year at the job she'd gotten when she moved, and she and her daughters were in both individual and family counseling.

The only thing that wasn't going well was her love life.

She'd just ended a six-month relationship with a truck driver who was on the road so much they hadn't seen each other in almost three months. He accepted the break-up, but was persistent about trying to win her back. Meanwhile, the man who'd complained April spent too much time with her kids had tried to get back together with her and had been angry when she'd refused.

She wasn't interested anymore in just dating, or in hooking up. It had been a year and a half; she'd come a long way from the scared, uncertain woman who'd moved out of her in-laws' home. She was ready now, she thought, for a real relationship, for the man Oliver had told her about.

It was time to be alone for a while. Until that man entered her life, she was done with dating.