discussed, so it didn’t bother me as much as it would have if I had missed completely new material.
After class, I tried to hurry out the door but the girl cornered me and asked me to wait for a minute.
When everyone cleared out, including the instructor, she began to speak.
Although I was initially defensive because she was so insistent on speaking with me, she immediately disarmed me with her calm, almost serene demeanor.
She had the most lovely ocean blues eyes, that sparkled with joy and I immediately felt at ease, even though I still wondered why she was so insistent about us speaking. My first thought, of course, was that she was a girl Aaron had been with at one time. Even though she was blonde, she was nothing like most of the bimbos, who usually vied for his attention.
After her sparkling eyes, the next thing I noticed was the gleaming engagement ring on her left finger. It was a huge solitaire diamond that was hard to miss.
The girl must have noticed me staring at her ring because she said, “My fiancé is doing a medical residency at the city hospital. That’s why I’m here taking this class. I already graduated a semester early, with a degree in art of all things. I’m trying to pick up a few classes so I can be a high school art teacher.”
I smiled. “I’m an art history major.”
She nodded. “I love to paint but there’s not much money in it.”
We both stood there for a moment. I knew that wasn’t what she had grabbed me to tell me so I waited for her to continue.
She put out her hand. “My name is Chloe Wendell.”
I gulped. Was it possible she was the Chloe? The girl, whose heart Aaron shattered in high school.
He did look like he had seen a ghost the first time we both saw her. But why hadn’t he told me that was Chloe?
“Has Aaron said anything about me?” she asked. Her expression was soft and kind. Everything Aaron had said about Chloe was completely accurate. But it begged the question, if he could so easily break her heart could he do the same to mine?
I nodded. “I know you were his girlfriend in high school and that he cheated on you.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you,” she said kindly. “I saw the way you were looking at him. You had so much love in your eyes. I can understand why he’s obviously so taken with you. You remind me so much of myself when I was in high school. I was head-over-heels for him. I thought he loved me but I
found out he’s not capable of truly loving another person. When a person truly loves they can’t do what he did to me. It’s not possible.”
I didn’t feel there was much comparison between the two of us. Chloe was breath-takingly beautiful with incredible elegance and obvious depth. Although I did feel I had depth, no one would mistake me for beautiful (even if Aaron said I was) and I definitely didn’t have Chloe’s elegance.
Chloe continued. “I just wanted to warn you to be careful and guard your heart. I don’t want anyone to have to endure the kind of heartbreak I endured with Aaron.”
I wanted to defend Aaron but I wondered what I could say that would make a difference to her. “I
think Aaron’s changed a lot since you knew him in high school.”
“I don’t think a person’s character can ever truly be changed,” she said and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had often thought the same thing about other people. “The only reason I’m even mentioning this is because you seem like a very sweet girl. You have kind eyes and such a warm and sunny disposition. I
know what Aaron is capable of and I don’t want what happened to me to happen to you.”
It was interesting that, just like Aaron, Chloe used the terms warm and sunny to describe me. And thinking about that seemed to be the only thing that was keeping me from crying.
Chloe patted my arm. “Please think about it.” Then she turned and left.
I was so confused. I had so many mixed emotions and turmoil spinning around inside of me, I felt like I had just been overtaken by a tornado.
I took a few seconds to compose myself before I left the classroom. As I exited the building, I noticed Aaron was waiting for me outside. I had completely