Chapter 26: LOST FRIEND 2
When Harlow arrived at the salon, she stepped inside and immediately spotted Layla waiting for her in one of the plush chairs. The sight of her best friend brought a bittersweet smile to her lips. As they embraced, Harlow’s hug lingered, her emotions threatening to spill over.
It had been years, two lifetimes, really, since she had seen Layla. In her previous life, she had abandoned their friendship in her blind devotion to Alanis. Now, standing there with her friend again, Harlow vowed never to let that happen.
"Tell me all about it, Harlow. Did that man threaten you, did he cheat on you?" Layla turned her friend around to be sure there was no injury.
"He did nothing lay," Harlow said. She couldn’t tell her friend she had reincarnated and that this was another life. It was unbelievable, people would see her as a mad woman.
"So why did you file for a divorce?" Lay was confused. "You’ve loved him for ten years, ten years Harlow, and now you had the opportunity for your dream marriage, you want a divorce? It doesn’t make sense."
"I have been stupid for ten years, I don’t want to be married to that man." Harlow shook her head. But even as she spoke, memories of Alanis haunted her. His lips brushed hers teasingly earlier, the brief moment of intimacy that was nothing more than a cruel game. She clenched her fists, anger bubbling beneath the surface. He was toying with her, just as he had in her past life.
He had made her recall their first night together in her past life. It wasn’t the best night like other ladies say. It was the worst and most painful night of her life. Alanis wasn’t at all gentle. He had been brutal to her, turning deaf ears to all of her pleas, he used her body as his playfield.
She didn’t find him the next morning, or the next year’s to come. He abandoned her after that night. Even when she got pregnant, he was nowhere to be seen, leaving her to the mercy of Garth and Jane.
The day she gave birth to Alex, he was still nowhere to be seen. Alanis Hamilton had been the worst thing that had happened to her. She cried every day but still held onto her sliver of hope.