When her cell phone
rang she groaned, because she couldn’t believe that he was calling her again.
She stared at the phone, torn between answering it and ignoring it completely,
while the strains of her ringtone – “You’re the Best” by Joe Esposito – filled the
apartment. With a sigh, she thumbed the
“accept” button and put the phone to her ear.
“Yeah, Joe, what is it? No, you didn’t leave your toothbrush
here. I can be so certain because it was the last thing I put into the box
before I left it on the porch. Of course I remember, because I knew that would
be the thing you would ask about. I’m not being unreasonable. Well, what did
you expect? Right, understanding for the man who slept with my sister. Uh huh.
Right. Yeah, I’m sure you had absolutely no say in the matter. No, stop – you
know what? I’m done with this. I’m hanging up. Don’t call me again.”
She ended the call and, in a fit of anger, threw the device
across the room. It bounced off the carpet a couple times before landing on the
other wall, leaning at an obtuse angle against the white-painted molding. It
took a Herculean effort to not look up at the empty rectangles and ovals, the
negative space in the smoke-laden paint signifying the destruction of happy
memories. Seven years of happiness, ruined within a week. Sure they had fought
sometimes, and lately they’d been going through a dry spell, but how could he
do that to her? With the one person he knew would hurt her the most?
She sighed and poured herself another glass of wine,
absent-mindedly swirling it in the glass as she wallowed. It was bad enough
that she had put up with his smoking for so long. Now she was going to have to
paint the walls to get rid of the evidence of a life gone wrong. Figures that
even after he was gone, the bastard was still making work for her.
She took a few deep breaths, then a healthy sip of wine. As
she swallowed she heard her phone again, the vibration of the ringer amplified
by its position against the wall. She glared at the phone, and decided that she
was done pandering. She was done dealing with the asshole that had never showed
her consideration. She sipped her wine and watched the phone until it stopped
flashing, falling quiet. She was done with that part of her life.
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