To her surprise Nellie answered her phone. Since she was running early anyway she pulled over and parked the moment she got a chance so she could concentrate on their conversation.

Nellie sounded a bit groggy and Veronica felt a little bad about waking her but she was so relieved to hear Nellie say she wasn’t upset with her.

“I promise I’ll keep my nose out of you and Rick’s business from here on. It’s just—”

“No, I need to hear the truth even if it hurts, Roni.” She paused but Veronica could tell she had more to say about that. “He’s gone again on a business trip—said it was a last minute change in his schedule but I checked the bank statements. His room and his plane ticket were paid weeks ago.”

Veronica held her breath silently cursing Rick and waited for Nellie to continue. “As usual he said I should try and make it out for at least a day. The trip is during the week and he thought I wouldn’t take the time off work, but I did. I’m flying out to Denver tomorrow.”

They spoke a few minutes longer with Nellie admitting that Veronica had hit it right on the nose. Nellie was afraid of what she might find if she ever surprised Rick, but she was done fooling herself. She had a very bad feeling about this and Veronica couldn’t blame her. Why else would the bastard lie about it being last minute?

After assuring her she was doing the right thing and making her promise to keep her updated Veronica hung up and continued on to work. An enormous weight had been lifted and she was suddenly feeling so much better and even more determined to get on with her plan.

By that afternoon she had to force herself to stop obsessing about that picture of Noah and Rita. She wondered how long it would before he put the text and her suddenly feeling sick, together. Obviously he hadn’t yet because she was sure he would’ve mentioned it. She didn’t even want to hear the explanation at this point. It didn’t matter anymore. Noah was free to do what he wanted just like she was. If Rita was what he wanted then so be it. The girl had temptation written all over her anyway.

As usual Derek texted her near the end of her workday to ask if she wanted to get together for an early dinner after work and as usual she almost didn’t reply. All this talk of getting her life back and needing more friends and she was doing it again. Although she knew for a fact now that she’d never survive doing the “just friends” thing with Noah she was fairly certain she could with Derek. Of course she’d have to make that very clear to him from the beginning.

What she wanted more than anything was to start rebuilding her circle of friends. She had Nellie back now and Derek would make a good addition. He’d always been great at listening to her and helping her sort out any issues that were troubling her. She had no intentions of talking to him about Noah, her biggest issue at the moment. But she needed to start feeling less dependent on Noah. If what she anticipated would eventually happen, that she’d have no choice but to distance herself from Noah. It would be so much less devastating if she didn’t feel so alone. At least that’s what she reasoned with herself.

She texted Derek back agreeing to meet him at a fast food burger joint. Normally she headed straight home after work to grab something to eat, change and get some things done around the house before heading out to the gym. But today she could skip that. She’d eat with Derek then head home and get ready for the gym.

Changes—she was already making them and she felt empowered by it. First Nellie, now this. Today was turning out even better than she’d hoped.

As tempted as she was to ask Derek to elaborate more on Noah’s “drug trafficking” she didn’t want to make this about Noah. She was after all doing this in part to break free of what was beginning to feel like a hold Noah had on her.

All in all the dinner went quite well with Derek insisting they should do this more often. Veronica agreed and Derek said he’d text her again soon. They never did get to the topic of their relationship remaining a friendly one but she intended to bring it up the second there was any mention of anything romantic. It felt too awkward to bring it up their first dinner out.

She went home, changed and took off to 5th Street. As was the case lately, she parked on the street because the parking lot was full. She walked through the parking lot feeling herself tense up with every step. Maybe it was the fact that their evening was cut short and she’d ducked out early that morning but by the time she reached the gym door the nerves in her stomach were out of control. It almost felt silly.

Like yesterday, he was in the ring with Abel when she walked in. Her heart literally sped up at the mere sight of him. This was insanity, what she’d considered a good day in her quest to make changes and get a life of her own—a life that didn’t revolve around Noah, had just flown out the door. Her body was telling her what her mind had blocked out all day. That through the whole day this was the part she most looked forward to. Her skipping up the stairs of her porch when she’d gotten home from her dinner and rushing to get ready for the gym should’ve been her first damn clue.

Noah smiled as she walked by the ring on her way to stretch and then pointed at the office. Veronica knew what that meant he’d left his phone in there for her to use while she worked out. She waved it away mouthing the words ‘not today’ and kept walking. No way would she have the willpower to not sneak a peek at his texts and see what he’d responded to Rita. She’d already had one emotional night, she couldn’t take another one like it.