Chapter 2

When Spencer heard the news about his ex-girlfriend, Melissa being cheated by her boyfriend, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Now she knows how it feels to be cheated on,” he thought. “Karma caught up with her.”

Reaching out, Spencer picked up a nice chunk of cherry, a mature piece with good grain showing. The hunk of wood was irregular, but turning it over, he could almost imagine the tall, delicately fluted bowl inside, just waiting for him to rasp away the surrounding wood and let its true beauty emerge.

He fitted the piece into his lathe, got it spinning, and began gently, carefully cutting away pieces of the wooden block using a heavy chisel. As his hands moved over the spinning, tumbling block of wood, his mind wandered back in time.

Spencer and Melissa had grown up together. They were childhood sweethearts. By high school, they had decided that they wanted to marry one another. They were going to have their happily ever after.

When they finished high school, Spencer headed off to Portland to major in business administration as they have talked. But Melissa didn’t follow the plan. She was determined to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. She had been an enthusiastic member of the theater group in high school, but Spencer never thought she was serious about acting. He always thought Melissa’s interest in acting was just a hobby like his leisure activity was working with wood.

Her decision to go to California took Spencer by surprise.

“What happens with our plan, Mel? What about our dreams?”

“I’m still going to marry you, Spence. It’ll just take a bit more time. I need you to do this for me. Acting has always been my passion.”

“What about US?” he emphasized the last word. “You know pretty well that the vast majority of long-distance relationships are doomed to fail.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed him long and hard, and said, “We are not like the vast majority of people, Spence. What we have is real. We’ll make it work.”

They argued back and forth, till Spencer realized that his girlfriend’s mind was already made.

He went to college as planned and Melissa went to California to pursue her dream.

At first, they texted back and forth every day, and they talked on Skype. After the first six months, Spencer started to think that maybe, they would have a chance as a couple after all. He started to make plans to visit her during the summer vacation.

Then, one of his mates dropped a bomb on him.

“You should check Brandon Allen’s Facebook page, Spence,” he advised him.

“Why? I’m not into teen actors. Specially jerks like him.”

“Well, apparently, Mel is dating him,” his friend said and watched as the realization slowly took over. “It’s all over his Facebook page.”

His friend just placed a hand on Spencer’s shoulder, and mumbled, “Sorry, Man.”

That was something in his friend’s voice that made him shiver. Spencer looked for Brandon Allen’s page and checked the photos.

Then his world exploded in a rush of searing pain.

There were several photos of Melissa with Brandon. The fucker had written things like, “Me and my new girlfriend/co-star of my upcoming TV show.”

They were smiling at the camera, holding hands, cuddling, and kissing. In some photos, she was sitting on his lap. Their smiles were wide and reached their eyes. She looked happy, like real damn happy. They looked the same way Mel and Spence looked when they were together.

Tears burned in Spencer’s eyes. His heart was beating with painful violence. “What a fucking joke.”

His hands were shaking when he called Melissa.

“How come we broke up and I didn’t get the notification?” he growled.

“Spence? What are you talking about?” Melissa stuttered.