“Hi…Libby, right?” I said.
She smiled warmly and nodded. Her smile quickly faltered though, getting replaced with a look of concern. “How’s it going?” she asked. “Everything all right?”
I tried to nod, but treacherous tears began to form in my eyes against my will. I turned to face the wall, trying to take deep and steady breaths, and hoping Libby hadn’t notice my tears. But once they began falling down my cheeks, I knew hiding them was pointless.
I jumped again, feeling Libby’s hand lightly touch my shoulder.
“Joanna, what’s wrong?” she asked in a gentle voice.
I sniffed louder than I meant to, and hastily wiped my eyes. Once again, I tried to force a smile onto my face, but my cheeks wobbled in protest, my jaw muscles refusing to function. “It’s nothing, really,” I said, shaking my head.
Libby simply stared at me.
“My ex…” the words left my mouth before I could stop them.
“Ahh,” Libby said. “I’ve certainly been there before. Come on, sit down.” She guided me toward the table at the center of the room and pulled out a chair for me.
With a sigh, I took a seat and rested my head in my hands. “I don’t know why I’m letting him stress me out like this, especially at work,” I said. “It’s so unprofessional. The last thing I need is for my brother to find out.”
“I just saw your brother not long ago,” Libby said. “He’s running around here like a chicken with its head chopped off. So he’s pretty busy. I don’t think you have to worry about running into him too soon.”
“That’s good to know,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
“Well, if you want to talk about it, I’m here. I know you haven’t known me for long, but I can always sympathize with a woman going through man-trouble. My ex was a complete jerk too, so I feel your pain.”
“Mine is more than just a jerk,” I said. “He’s completely deranged.”
“What happened?” Libby said, leaning in and taking my hand.
I glanced up at her, finding something unusually comforting in her touch, almost as if this woman had been a friend of mine for my whole life. In that moment, I also realized how badly I wanted to talk to someone about Zander. He had kept me isolated for so long, I didn’t really have any friends by the end. Leaving Miami had been easy because of that. But now, I’d been holding so much in for so long, I just wanted to get it off my chest.
“My ex, his name is Zander,” I said, “and he was wonderful in the beginning, until he started hitting me.”
Libby gasped. She squeezed my hand tighter. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
I nodded. “Things got pretty bad between us. He would explode over the littlest and stupidest things. The first time he hit me, it was because he’d had a bad day at work, and I hadn’t fixed dinner for him. Never mind that I had just gotten in from work myself… Soon, I started to notice that whenever he felt something was wrong, he would take it out on me as if it was somehow my fault. After so long, I just got to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I was afraid for my safety. Afraid for my life. So I had to leave him. That’s why I’m here now. I was living with him in Miami, but after the last fight we had, I couldn’t take it anymore. I called my brother and he told me to come live with him, and that he’d give me a job working here. So here I am.”
Libby gave a reassuring smile. “Well that’s wonderful. You see, things always have a way of working out in the long run. And you should be proud of yourself for finding the strength to leave Zander. So many women never find the strength to leave their abusive relationships, until it’s way too late and they end up leaving in a body bag.”
“It’s not over though,” I said in a strained whisper, a lump forming in my throat. “He…He just called me. Here. On my office phone.”
Libby’s eyes widened. “Wait—he knows where you are?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess? I mean he found the phone number, should be pretty easy to find the office from there. Ugh I hate that he makes me feel like this. He still has such a hold on me.”
“Joanna, this sounds serious,” Libby said, her brow lowering. “You’ve got to do something. You have to say something. Zander sounds unstable. You don’t want someone like him coming back into your life. You need to tell Tobias.”
“I know, but…”
“But what?”
“Tobias, my brother has been so good to me, I don’t want him to wind up in the middle of this. I never even told Zander about Tobias and his business, and I sure as hell don’t want him to ever find out. I just don’t want Tobias ever getting caught in the middle of this insanity.”
“That’s understandable, but Joanna, your safety is at stake! This isn’t something to take lightly.”
I shook my head, knowing Libby was right, but remaining in denial. I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted it all to go away like a bad dream. “I’m probably just exaggerating,” I said, although my voice sounded lackluster.
“Joanna, do yourself a favor and please at least call the cops.”