20 Days of Love, Barbara Joe...

It's day 9 of 20 Days of Love and Barbara Joe is sharing a snippet from her novelette. We're going to learn what happens when a woman makes life changes, causing her to lose out on something special...

“How does this look?” I asked the perky sales lady. I was standing in the dressing room at Macy’s, modeling a low-cut, slinky, red dress. I had plans to attend a New Year’s Eve party later in the evening. That number would be perfect to help me bring in the new year in my new body.

“It looks great on you,” she replied. “Red is really your color, and you’re the perfect size for it. That’s the only ten that we have left.”

“Okay, I’ll take it,” I replied, smiling at my brown skin in the mirror.

I handed her my platinum Visa card and returned to the dressing room to change back into my jeans and a long gray sweater.

As I approached the checkout counter, she glanced down at my card, then looked up at me. “Okay, Mrs. Annette Green, are you ready to check out?”

“Yes, ma’am, I sure am.”

After she rang me up and placed plastic over the $200 dress, she handed it back to me, and said, “Have fun at the party. Your husband is going to love you in this.”

I returned her full smile with a half-smile. All I could muster was a soft, “Thank you.” I looked down at the wedding band on my finger and thought about it for a second. If only she’d known what I was going through, that comment would have never crossed her lips.

John, my estranged husband, moved out about two weeks ago. Said he couldn’t stand to live with me anymore after being married for six years. Apparently, he wasn’t pleased with my recent weight loss or my new outlook on life. And he had the nerve to say, “I’m not attracted to skinny ass women; especially ones with bad attitudes.”

So, I told him, “You can take your big, overweight ass and get out of my house, because I’m not attracted to you anymore, either.” He looked hurt, but I didn’t give a damn, because he’d hurt my feelings, too. I’d damn near starved myself to death all year long and almost went into cardiac arrest on more than one occasion while working out, and he had the nerve to call me names. Oh, no, I wasn’t having it.

We didn’t argue about it anymore after that night. However, a couple of days later when I returned home from work, he was gone. I mean every trace of him was moved out. He even took the dog that I didn’t care about, but it belonged to us. He didn’t leave a note or anything saying that he’d stop by later to check on me, or how we were going to manage paying the bills around the house. It was like he’d never even lived in the building.

I knew I was going to miss my fluffy man during the cold winter season, but he wasn’t worth gaining back all those pounds I’d worked so hard to lose. I was sure he’d eventually come around and appreciate my skinniness.

I’d been overweight all my life. I was always the chubby girl being teased, and the last one picked in P.E. when we had to pick teams. Everyone was mean to me, until I got smart in the fifth grade. That’s when I started spending my allowance on candy and bringing it to school to share with them. I had to bribe my fake friends with candy, but at least it got me some attention.

I made a New Year’s resolution to lose sixty pounds, and as of today, I’d lost a total of sixty-one pounds, thank you very much! It’s just sad to say that I’d also lost the love of my husband. He was the love of my life. The one whom I thought would love me forever and ever. The one who didn’t care about my weight and loved me in spite of my flaws.

Barbara Joe Williams is a bestselling author, publisher, speaker, editor, proofreader, and publishing consultant living in Tallahassee, Florida. She is a Navy veteran, a graduate of Tallahassee Community College, and Florida A & M University. She is the owner of Amani Publishing, LLC, and the co-founder of the Tallahassee Authors Network (TAN). Her Facebook group is titled: Barbara Joe Reads & Writes!
 
She has published over fifty authors and the following titles for herself:  A Night to Remember (novelette), Holiday Hotel 3, Love Never Felt So Good, A-Z Basic Editing Tips, A-Z Writing Tips, Holiday Hotel 2, A-Z Marketing Tips, A Cup of Barbara Joe, Holiday Hotel 1,, Forgive Us This Day (Anniversary Edition) featured in USA Today, First Class Love, You Don't Even Know My Name (novella), A Writer's Guide to Publishing & Marketing (Volume 2), Double Proposal, Losing My Soul, A Man of My Own, The 21 Lives of Lisette Donavan (Anthology),  Moving the Furniture: 52 Ways to Keep Your Marriage Fresh, How I Met My Sweetheart (Anthology),  Courtney's Collage, Falling for Lies, Dancing with Temptation, and Forgive Us This Day.

Barbara has also published a four-book, Young Adult series titled, Bell Bottom High, under the pen name of B.J. Williams.
 
Forgive Us This Day (Anniversary Edition) is a rewritten version of the original title released in November 2004. She added more background on the main character and more drama for your reading pleasure in 2014.
 
Barbara was also featured in the January/February 2016 edition of Tallahassee Magazine as one of the Top 5 graduates of Tallahassee Community College.
 
All of her books are available on Amazon, BN, Kindle, and Nook.

A Night to Remember: http://amzn.to/2qL3IUM
Amazon page: http://goo.gl/hCOkBb
Email:  amanipublishing@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/barbara.williams.31105674
Instagram: Barbara.joe.williams
Twitter:  @Barbarajoe22
Website:  www.Barbarajoe.webs.com

Thanks for joining us for another 20 Days of Love! Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you!
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