I stared at my phone for thirty minutes before finally calling my best friend, Gracie. I was angry and heartbroken, and I felt foolish. I was silly for trusting Joe again. Gracie had warned me, but for some reason, I had hoped that Joe would prove her wrong — prove me wrong, too.
“Hello, Gracie,” I said, fighting back my tears.
“What did that fool do this time?” Gracie asked me.
“You were right. I should have gone for the trip on my own as I had initially planned,” I told Gracie.
“If I didn’t know how much this trip meant to you, I would be gloating that I was right. That idiot even took away the joy of saying I told you so,” said Gracie.
“I’m so silly for thinking he was going to follow through with his promise,” I told Gracie.
“Did he at least refund the money you spent making the transport and accommodation reservations?” Asked Gracie.
“Not yet. We didn’t get to that part of the conversation. He just called and told me he had a work emergency, so we couldn’t go,” I told Gracie. This time, I couldn’t stop myself from breaking down.
“These convenient emergencies that always come up when he’s meant to fulfil his promises to you, I cannot stand that man,” Grace remarked.
“I know! What is wrong with me for falling for his lies again?”
“Stupid in love and all those sayings?” Gracie told me.
“I could use your company, could you come over?” I asked Gracie.
“I’ll be there shortly. At least you can trust my word,” said Gracie.
“Ouch! Too soon, Gracie. Too soon,” I told her.
I went through memory lane as I waited for Gracie. I had been dating Joe for about two years. This wasn’t the first time he had broken a promise he had made to me. It hurt more because I didn’t even ask him for anything; he was just fond of making unprovoked promises but never fulfilling them. He always had an excuse for it.
My best friend, Gracie, disliked Joe early on in our relationship. I called him in her presence, and once he picked up, he asked to call back in a short while. I was with Gracie for five hours after calling him, but he hadn’t called back when we parted ways.
“You can’t trust someone who doesn’t call back or at least text you to let you know what’s going on,” Gracie told me.
“He’s probably busy. You know how business people are,” I defended him.
He never called back. He texted later at night and conversed as though we had no unfinished business. When I asked him about it, he made light of it and said that if it had been urgent, I would have texted or called him again. I didn’t tell Gracie his response because I didn’t want her to dislike him more than she already did.
I put up with him in private, promising to do small things like fix my bulb or come to my place with certain groceries, but he would always forget. I told myself he was forgetful. After all, those were minor matters. Seven months into our relationship, I decided to explore an idea I’d had for a while. I wanted to make travel content and curate travel experiences for clients.
“Baby, I will finally try my hand at the travel thing I was telling you about,” I told Joe.
“It’s about time! Where do you want to go to first?” Joe asked me.
“I’ll start with the Coast, maybe Diani or Malindi,” I told him.
“Baby, you’re thinking small. Start big with something like South Africa,” Joe told me.
“I don’t think my budget can handle that at the moment, and I don’t even have a passport ”, I told him.
“Let me worry about the budget and you take care of the passport issue,” said Joe.
“Baby, that’s going that’s going to cost much. Let me just start small before going that big,” I told Joe.
“No, baby. I insist. Get your passport ready and then I can make the arrangements,” said Joe.
I believed him and started the process of acquiring the passport. I was excited and wasted no time. Despite the hurdles of getting the passport quickly, I asked around and even ‘paid’ the relevant people to fast-track the process. Gracie was cautiously excited for me.
“What if it’s another of his empty promises?” Gracie asked me.
“He wouldn’t do that to me. This is a huge deal,” I defended Joe confidently.
I ate my words weeks later after I got the passport, and he conveniently got an emergency. One of his friends was in a tight position, so he lent him the money he would have used on me. He softened the blow with, “At least you now have a passport for future travels. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
He didn’t give details about his friend because those were sensitive matters between him and his friends. Joe even stated that he was sure Gracie wouldn’t like it if I shared her financial troubles with him. It sounded like a reasonable argument.
After the failed South African trip, I returned to my original idea a month later. I picked a date and scouted for beautiful Airbnb properties in Diani that I could stay at while creating my content. I told Joe about it throughout the planning process. I booked a bus to Mombasa and paid for accommodation.
Two days before my trip, Joe asked me to move my travel date forward to the following weekend so that he could accompany me.
“I’ve already paid,” I told him.
“I know. I’ll pay you for the losses incurred and I will pay for our transport,” Joe told me.
After a bit of persuasion, I agreed. I tried changing the dates for the accommodation, but other guests had already booked it for the following weekend. I had to pay the cancellation charges and I lost out on the bus ticket money. I didn’t make a big deal of it since Joe had promised to take care of it.
The following week, he sounded more excited about the trip than I was. I didn’t have any reason to be concerned until two days before the trip when he called me to tell me that he was having a work emergency, so taking the trip would not be possible. I hung up immediately when he said we couldn’t take the trip. While I was angry with him, I was more furious with myself for believing his promises, yet he had consistently shown me that he was unreliable.
Gracie arrived at the house and insisted on asking him for the money he had promised to refund. He made more promises of sending it as he apologized for the cancellation. I didn’t bother following up on the money because I had learnt my lesson on believing him. He asked me to forgive him several times, but I was done with him.
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