Love Hurts — Keith Lee Johnson

Chapter 1

Transamerica Building
Downtown San Francisco
Monday, September 10, 2001


I found her silence more than disturbing. It was like the sound of a car horn blowing just before dawn, wafting down a quiet, sleeping street, making its presence felt by all who heard it. I was in my office, working late as usual. Parris Stalls, my girlfriend, had called and she sounded strange. At first, I didn't pick up on it because I was still working, shuffling papers, trying to get caught up before heading home for a few hours of much needed rest. I had asked her if she loved me, but she didn't respond. Parris is thirty-five, midnight black, vivacious, alarmingly pretty, with a wide mouth and a perfect heart-breaker smile. We've been seeing each other for four years and planned to marry. However lately, she's been evasive, quiet, hinting, never saying what's on her mind.

I had dismissed it all and continued working, attempting to take the company my father started, Kennard Janitorial Servic-es, to greater heights. I guess I had been neglecting Parris, and that's something a man with a beautiful woman can ill afford to do. I guess I got a little too comfortable, started taking her and our relationship for granted. I guess I thought I had her wrapped around my finger -- tighter than a snare drum, but oh how wrong I was. To the best of my knowledge, I was her first and only lover. Until this very moment, I had no reason to doubt her commitment to me -- to us -- to the life we've been planning.

I sensed she was out of the relationship already, but she didn't know how or didn't have the guts to tell me it was over. While we held the phone in silence…me waiting for her to answer, and her, I supposed, waiting on me to figure it out…I began to wonder if she was seeing another man. Is that what she was waiting for? Was she waiting for me to ask her if she was seeing another man?