Everything changes

The morning was august 6th it was a Tuesday everything felt different with her gone. It's been 6 months since she left but he still wondered if he could have done something different. No it was meant to be this way Jake told himself as he put on his running shoes. It was 5:00 am he had ran a mile every morning since she left. It was a way for him to clear his head first thing in the morning. As he began his run he couldn't help but notice the heat already in the air and the sun hadn't even started to come up. Just another hit august day he thought to himself.

By the time he headed back towards the house he began to see people heading off to work. It was 5:30 he had took a little extra time on his run this morning because he was still alittle stiff from the previous morning workout. He had pushed himself extra hard trying to determine if he was ready to take his workout to the next level and he decided that he would increase his run to 2 miles and he would do 200 push-ups a day instead of his normal 120. He decided he would also increase his time in the sparring ring. He had recently started to hone in on his fighting skills he had always been good but it was a good workout and helped him to focus on something other than his now empty house. With the help of a couple buddy's he was now sparring a live partner 3 times a week and working on a punching bag the other two days. As he put on his work uniform he thought about the days tasks. Jake worked for a mowing company and they were at least 3 days behind due to the lack of valuable employees. Cutting grass 12 hours a day 5 days a week was hard and most people don't have what it takes to do the job. Everyone likes it at first but it is a very repetitive job and most people got bored after a few weeks and others just got plumb wore out. Riding a mower is hard on your back and swinging a weedeated is even harder. Jake enjoyed his work though he had been with the company 5 years now and the physicality of the job was good for him. He had what he knew as a blue collar soul. The harder the day was the more accomplished he felt when it was over. As he walked out the door and got in his truck he thought what a beautiful day it was and decided to stop for a minute and pray. As Jake drove down the highway he thought it's probably best I start at the cemetery it's likely to be an all day process with no help. As he pulled into the cemetery and unloaded the mower he noticed the guy that weedeated the last time had missed several spots along the front drive and he couldn't help but wonder how people could be so careless in their work. Hell they get paid to do a decent job and they can't even take time to make sure they didn't scree anything up before they leave. He decided to start with the weedeating because his mower was equipped with headlights so he could finish after dark if he needed too. As the day drug on he couldn't help but feel hungry and decided to grab some lunch. He had just finished weedeating and all he had to do was mow sow he headed to town and got a burger and fries. Jake decide to check his email while he ate and to his surprise he had an email from a ancestry website. Jake had sent off a sample of his dna out of curiosity about his ancestry and the results came in. He was about to read it when his attention shifted to a woman in the truck stop parking lot he had stopped in to eat. She was a beautiful woman about 5ft 4 dark hair light tanned skin wearing a pair of blue jeans and a t shirt he couldn't help but notice for her well. As he watched her he noticed a man about 6ft 285lbs not fat but heavy set with a bit of a gut wearing a cowboy hat and a button up shirt. He quickly noticed the man looked very familiar as did the stature of the woman but he couldn't see her face. They appeared to be arguing and the man's face became red with anger. Jake decide to step out of his truck for a better look, but as he did so the argument spun out of control and all of the sudden the man rushed towards the woman and threw her to the ground. After she hit the ground the woman grabbed a handful of gravel and threw it in the man's face. Jake rushed over to try and deescalate the situation but he could hold his anger. Jake was a more old fashioned man and the sight of a woman being treated this way made his blood boil. So jakes intent of calmly talking everyone down was just wishful thinking he instead quickly found himself throwing a right hook that landed squarely on the man's chin tumbling him on to the ground. The man was caught off guard by the hit he saw it coming but wasn't expecting so much force. Jake stood at

5ft 9 230 lbs so the man was not expecting such a heavy blow. As the man staggered to his feet Jake could see he wasn't done yet and just as the thought crossed his mind a heavy right hook headed jakes way. The man was big and quite obviously strong but his size made his punches substantially slower than smaller men meaning Jake ahead all the time he needed to duck and land two more punches of his own one to the stomach of the man doubling him over in pain and the other directly to the man's right eye laying him out in the gravel once more. As the man hit the gravel hard it knocked the breath out of him. As the man gasped for air joe turned towards the woman a froze. It was Kate an old flame from high school. They never really dated but they spent a lot of time together and got really close for a couple of months before they grew apart. Long time no see Jake said not knowing how late would feel about their odd reunion. His nervousness was broken when Kate smiled and said you always did have a way of putting on a show for everyone. It was only at this moment he noticed a crowd of people standing around with their phones out. As Jake was about to respond he heard a diesel truck fire up and turned to look and the man she was with was now back in his truck looking at her and motioning for her to get in. She took a step and Jake stopped her and said I can give you a ride home. Kate looked at him sadly and said it'll be worse if I don't go. Jakes face went cold with her words as he watched her climb in. As the drive away Jake headed for his truck all he wanted to do was go back to work and try to forget what he had just heard. As he climbed in the truck and went to drive away he remembered the email. So he decided to read it. He pulled out his phone and opened up his email and he couldn't believe his eyes. He froze in pure shock.