Love Don't Live Here Anymore (The Love Collection Book 3)

Love Don’t Live Here Anymore

By Vy Antenette

Copyright Page

Copyright © 2016 by Vy Antenette

Love don’t Live Here Anymore

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the author/publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1523953684

ISBN-10: 1523953683

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover Design by Mario Patterson

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Praises due to God, the most high for blessing me with the gift to write. I also want to recognize the people who read, review and recommend my books to others and to my family and friends for showing unwavering love and support…THANK YOU!!

Special shout out to Fashions Unique and the owners Mrs. Charlie and Aashai for everything!!

Another hoorah to my editor, Monique and to Mario P. for this dope ass cover!!

If you haven’t already please check out book 1 and 2 from the Love Collection

“Like a bottle of fine wine…writing gets better with time”

– Mrs. Lips

At last, AJ and Summer were all moved into their new home in a quiet Atlanta suburb. At two thousand square feet, with four bedrooms and three full baths, it was a haven they had chosen together. All the furniture had been hand selected by the two of them, and nothing was purchased unless they both agreed to it. AJ had done a phenomenal job painting all the rooms the colors of their choosing and had even handled the landscaping duties while Summer tackled the tasks of making their house a home.

When he began to complain of back pain, she chucked it up as the result of doing too much in a short period of time. But when his skin turned pale, followed by rapid weight loss, Summer began to worry. But AJ, once again, ignored his symptoms and charged the changes in his body to all the work they’d been doing with the house
and
planning their wedding. It wasn’t until he started peeing blood that she finally made a doctor’s appointment and demanded that he go.

They sat in the small waiting room, looking at their phones while waiting for the doctor.

“Oh, look at this one, babe.” Summer leaned over and showed AJ her phone.

“What the heck? Where you get that from?” he asked about the hilarious meme that was circulating on social media.

“One of my old coworkers posted it on Instagram.”

“That’s crazy! That’s what that site is all about, people posting silly stuff like that?”

“No, of course not. People also post cute stuff like this …” She showed him a picture of them at the Grand Canyon. “And like this …” This time it was a photo they’d taken while vacationing in Miami. “Or this …” Next was a picture of them kissing in front of Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica.

“Aw, that’s what I’m talking about.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss. “I love you, girl. You know that?”

“Yup, I can tell.” She smiled. “I love you too, you know that?”

“Yup, I can feel it.” He smiled back.

A short brunette opened the door that connected to the waiting area. “Um, I may mispronounce this but … Ajamaal Heyward?” she asked.

AJ smiled. “That’s right. You said it correctly.”

“That’s a beautiful name. C’mon, follow me.”

When he saw that she was still looking through her phone, he turned around and asked Summer, “You not coming, babe?”

“Sure, I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”

“Come on, you about to be my wife. After all, you’re the reason I’m here.”

Once they made it behind the door, the medical assistant said, “I’ll need a urine sample. The bathroom is to your right, and when you’re done, I’ll meet you at the scale by room eight.”

After an hour, the two of them were leaving the doctor’s office. AJ had received a referral for full blood workup before the doctor would give a formal diagnosis. So they headed straight to the lab as soon as they left. Afterwards, they shared lunch.

“So what do you think of a horse-drawn carriage to take us from the church to the reception?” Summer asked him.

“I think that’s nice. Sure you don’t want one of those expensive throwback cars people be renting?”

“Nah, not really. I’m hoping that the weather will be nice so we can do the carriage. I think that’s more romantic, don’t you?”

AJ nodded while shoveling a forkful of food into his mouth. “Yeah, I think so too. Whatever makes you happy, babe.”  

A couple at the counter began bickering, causing everyone in the diner to divert their attention.

“You stay doing some bullshit! Every time we go somewhere, you always checking for other bitches. That’s why I can’t fuck with you like that!” the girl yelled at the man who was with her.

“Fuck with
me
like that? I didn’t know we were fucking around?” he said right back.

“Oh shit!” Summer whispered to AJ. “There’s nothing worse than a man trying to play you.”

“Especially in public,” AJ responded.

“Really? You wanna go there? Well, since you don’t fuck with me, the least you can do is fuck with your daughter!” the woman yelled.

“Oh, you mean the baby you raped me to have?”

“Oh, hell no!” Summer whispered again.

“Damn! She called him a deadbeat in front of all these people,” Ajamaal said.

Everyone’s ears and eyes followed the bickering couple out of the diner. She yelled that he was no good and she had done what she had to do. He yelled back that she was the trifling one who had stolen a baby from him when he’d told her he didn’t want any more kids.

“I know one thing: If God ever blesses me with a kid, the only deadbeat parent would be the mama. I’m always gonna be there for mine,” AJ boasted.

Summer looked away. She knew that AJ was joking about deadbeat mothers, but he was right. If there was one thing she could almost guarantee, it was that he would make an excellent dad. She hadn’t told him, but Summer had recently stopped taking her birth control. Up until last year, she had never wanted children. But the more she witnessed her man’s awe when interacting with other people’s kids, the more she realized that it was her duty to provide him with a child.

As soon as they were done with their meal, the next stop was the wedding venue so they could finalize their plans. The date was set for September 22
nd
, the first day of autumn, in honor of Summer’s older sister. Ever since their parents and Grammy had passed away, Autumn had been the driving force behind their successes. She had single-handedly raised Summer and made sure that they both finished school. Up until recently, Summer hadn’t been a commitment kind of girl, but her sister was a diehard romantic. So when AJ had asked for Summer’s hand in marriage and she accepted, she felt it was only fitting to have a fall wedding.

Summer took the last bite of her food, grabbed a napkin, and wiped her mouth. AJ gathered the garbage and threw it away. He walked back to the table and reached for her hand. “After you, my love.”

Ooh, I can’t wait to be Mrs. Summer Love Heyward
, Summer said to herself.

The two of them walked out of the diner with their arms interlocked.

Five days: That’s all it took for AJ’s doctor to call him and tell him to come back to the office because his test results were in. Three hours: From the time he was given a referral for a CT scan until the time he and Summer made it back to the physician’s office; that was all it took for them to learn that AJ was dying.

“I’ll give him weeks, two months at best,” the doctor respectfully stated.

Dying. Weeks.
“No, this has to be a mistake. He’s not that sick. This is bullshit. We’re getting a second opinion.” That was the last thing Summer said to that quack-ass doctor before grabbing her man’s hand and storming out of that damn office. She quickly called another physician, who was well respected in the medical field. She also requested the best goddamned urologist in all of Atlanta. And no matter where they went or who they saw, the prognosis was the same. AJ was, indeed, living his last days. 

Summer tried her best; Lord knows she did. She did all she could not to break down in that specialist’s office. Her intent was to be strong for her man, to help him get through this the best way they could. She had money, and if it meant spending it all to make him better, she would. But the more that reality set in, the more crestfallen she became. She’d practically begged for advanced treatment and immediate intervention, but the doctors were insistent. “I am so sorry, Mrs. Heyward. There is nothing we can do now. His disease has progressed too much.”

That’s when she lost it. The doctor, his nurse, and even her handsome fiancé did the best they could to comfort her, but it was futile. Nothing or no one could console her broken heart as she grieved the impending loss of the love of her life.

Hours felt like minutes and days felt like hours. Summer wanted nothing more than to reach out and pause Father Time. She wanted to stop the clock if it meant allowing her man more time on this earth. But she couldn’t. And his withering body was proof of her inability to do anything but love on him, care for him, and do the best she could to make their last days together memorable for her and pleasant for him. She was so desperate to preserve and prolong what they had that she asked if they could get married sooner.

She was shocked when he told her no. “You mean the world to me, Summer. I need you to know that I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you. But I’m also a realist. Once I’m gone, I don’t want to hold your heart hostage. You’re too young to be a widow. Eventually, you will move on and love someone else. The only thing I ask is that you never forget what we had.”

“I don’t wanna fucking remember. I want to experience it!”
she yelled once she’d made it to the upstairs bathroom. She closed the bathroom door, slammed the toilet seat down, and plopped on top of it. “God, why? Haven’t I suffered enough? Why would you do this to me, to us? AJ doesn’t deserve to die. He’s one of your good ones. I thought you protected the good ones!” she cried.

Summer dropped to her knees. “God, if you can please just spare his life, I will do anything, I mean
anything
you need or want me to do. Just please don’t let him die. I know you can formulate a miracle; I just know you can! This is my punishment, isn’t it? This is what I get for killing my twin sisters when they were babies, huh? That’s why you took my parents from me when I was only a child and then my Grammy. She was the only person Autumn and I had left. You hate me, don’t you?” she hollered.

The knock at the door brought about Summer’s silence but it did nothing for her tears. The knocking persisted, but she still said nothing.

“Summer,” her sister softly called out to her. “Summer, baby, open the door. I wanna come in.”

Hearing Autumn’s gentle voice brought Summer a modicum of ease. She wrapped a bundle of bathroom tissue around her hand and blew her nose. She then wiped her eyes and splashed some water on her face. When she opened the door, her beautiful sister was right there to hold her. The more Summer cried, the tighter Autumn squeezed.

“I can’t stop crying, sis. I’m trying to be strong for him; I really am.”

“I know, Summy. It’s okay to cry. This is hard, and even the strongest person would have a difficult time coping.” Autumn sniffled.

“I know, but I feel like I should try a little harder. He’s the one dying and he doesn’t even cry. I wonder if he’s scared.”

Autumn didn’t respond right away. “You know what I think, Blue Skies?” she said, referring to her sister by the nickname their father had given her. “I think that when God chooses his earth angels to join Him in heaven, He gives them reassurance and a spirit of calmness. Who could be scared to enter such a beautiful place? I think if he is worried, he’s worried about you. We’re the ones who should be scared. He’s going home to be with the Lord, and us … well, we’re here in this cruel, evil world that has placated us with a false sense of security. Like Grammy used to say: The only thing we have to do is ‘stay black and die.’ She basically meant that there isn’t much more we have control over. The moment we were born, we were preparing to die. AJ told Abaki that his last dying wish is that you go on living. He doesn’t want you to mourn or be depressed, unable to enjoy life.”

Summer lifted her head from her sister’s chest. She wiped the tears and snot before mustering a weak smile. “I guess, in a sense, I should consider myself lucky. I was blessed to be able to share life with such an amazing man, even if it was short lived.”

“Now, that’s my girl. We’ve been through too much and we’ve overcome. I fathom that the loss of a significant other is different from what we’ve experienced, but we’ve always made it through. With prayer and God’s guidance, you
will
get through this, Summy. I promise.”

Summer nodded. “Thanks, big sis. I needed to hear that. Thank you so much for coming, especially having to travel with the three little babies. I really don’t think I would have been able to do this alone.”

“Girl, are you kidding me? Abaki and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“What are they down there doing?”

“Abaki is cutting AJ’s hair. He just woke up, so he decided to seize the moment.” Autumn smiled.

Summer forced a smile too. But the gesture was for her sister. Deep down inside, a large part of her was dying as well. Nobody knew it but her. As of late, sleeping was all AJ had been doing. She knew that one day, he would fall asleep and never wake up.