The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (259 page)

How could I ever trust him again? Cheating can make people crazy with jealousy and suspicion, and I didn’t want to be the kind of person who second-guessed him all the time. Plus, I didn’t know the nature of his affair. Was it a one-time thing or a long-standing relationship? Would it matter either way? The whole thing made me sick.

Chad was waiting for me in the living room when I got back. He jumped to his feet at my entrance.

“What are you doing here?” I asked sternly, crossing my arms and trying not to cry.

“I came to see you.” He walked toward me, and I stepped back.

“I told you I don’t want see you.”

“I know you’re mad.”

“Mad? You think I’m mad? You cheated on me. You lied to me. You betrayed me. I’m not mad. I’m furious, and hurt, and confused. And more than any of that I feel like a fool that I believed you loved me.”

“I do love you.” He sounded earnest.

“You don’t do this to someone you love.”

“It’s not that simple, you should know that.”

“What I know is we’re supposed to be getting married. You asked me to be your wife. Now what am I supposed to do?”

“I know. I messed up,” he said, head down.

“Yeah, you did.”

“Once I moved in I realized what a big commitment I was making. I realized I would never be single again, and I thought I could have one last hurrah before I said forever. I didn’t want to go into this thinking,
what if
?”

He may have intended to sound sincere, but all I could hear were lies. “That doesn’t justify what you did.”

“I know, but it’s the truth.”

I shook my head. Now he wanted to tell the truth?

“Why didn’t you talk to me? We talk about everything. We could have found another way.” I wanted to understand how he could have been so deceitful. How I could have been so blind.

“I didn’t think there was another way.”

And there it was. The man I had given my heart to didn’t think there was another way to go into a marriage with me other than to do something that would break my heart. If I hadn’t come home early, then we would have gotten married, and I would have been none the wiser. But he was caught red-handed, and that situation gave me a choice. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it was for the best.

“I don’t think there’s another way either. I can’t do this.” With that affirmation, I slipped the round, one-carat diamond, Tiffany style engagement ring off of my finger and placed it in his hand.

“Please, don’t end it like this, Marin.”

“I didn’t, you did.”

I grabbed my keys and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Chad called.

I looked back at him, hoping it was the last time I would ever see him. “I’m leaving. I can’t stand to look at you. Get your stuff out before I come back.” And before he had the chance to say anything, I slammed the door.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the city, visiting the park, the coffee house, the deli for lunch, and a few shops. Considering everything, I felt okay, but I knew enough to realize that it was the calm before the storm. In an effort to stay out as long as possible, I paid my office an unexpected visit.

“Oooh, Marin, you’re back early,” Diana said, greeting me warmly.

“I’m not staying. I just need to see Katie. Is she free?” I leaned on her counter while Diana checked the calendar. After almost a minute of her repeating, “well, um,” she finally said, “Yes . . . she’s available.”

“Thanks.” I headed toward Katie’s office.

“Come in,” Katie called after I knocked on her door. Slowly, I made my way inside before shutting the door.

“I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.”

“I had a change of plans.”

She frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“No. I need to take some time off. It’s sort of a family emergency,” and by emergency I meant my wedding was off.

“What happened?” She walked over to me. As a possible patient going through a personal crisis I wanted to open up to her, but as a partner in the practice with an excellent handle on my patients’ relationships, I couldn’t admit that I had suffered a major failure. I glanced briefly into her eyes.

“I don’t really want to talk about it yet.”

“Of course,” she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I’m always here if you need to talk.”

“I know. Thank you.” I conjured a little smile.

“Take as long as you need. Don’t worry about your appointments, we’ll take care of everything.”

“Thanks, Katie. I really appreciate it.”

Smiling, she wrapped her arms around me. It was hard not to break down crying when she showed me affection. A small tear escaped, but I smiled through it.

I headed to my office for some quiet alone time. Before I made it, Andy, the not so supportive partner, caught me.

“You all right? You look like shit.” Andy chomped his gum and stared at me with obvious disdain.

“Nice, Andy. I’m fine.”

“If you say so. I can’t chat, I have another nut case to see now.” He turned toward his office.

Charming as usual. Thank God he was gone. I increased my pace down the hall avoiding every other possible run-in. I shut the door and leaned against it, then flipped the lock. So much for feeling
okay
. I hadn’t let myself cry the whole day, but I couldn’t stop it any longer. The love seat and box of tissues were all the provisions I needed for a good cry. I let it all out. Tear after tear, tissue after tissue, until I had all the symptoms of a cold—feverish skin, stuffy nose, aches and pains. Only it wasn’t a cold I was suffering, but a broken heart.

I eventually left my office and ended up at the local market to stock up on some over the counter broken heart relief. After liberating fifty bucks from my purse in exchange for wine, ice cream, and tissues, I walked back to my dark and empty apartment. Neither Chad nor any of his things remained. His key rested on the kitchen bar. It was the best decision he’d made in the past twenty-four hours. The lonely silence pushed me to call Holly and Telly. I gave them the quick version of what happened. They were shocked to say the least, and agreed to stay the night.

While I awaited their arrival, I poured a glass of white wine and walked around my empty apartment. I looked through the rooms to see what was missing. His computer was gone from the office and his toothbrush was gone from the sink. It was like he was never there.

He did put a fresh set of sheets on the bed and made it up really nice. A considerate gesture, but in light of the circumstance, it didn’t amount to much. I saw myself in the mirror that hung on the closet door. My face appeared tired and worn. I squeezed my cheeks, but was unable to get any color back into them.

Behind the closet door hung a half empty rod. A box sat just inside the closet. I sat my glass on the dresser and knelt to open it. My wedding dress. The sight of it broke my heart more as I mourned the wedding that would never be.
I will never get to wear this dress
. I felt the need to put the dress on one last time. A bad idea, but with an empty stomach I was already tipsy and didn’t care. I slipped the dress on. It was a strapless, trumpet-style wedding gown with a lace overlay, and it fit me like a glove. Admiring myself for the moment, I thought of what a beautiful bride I would be. But this would-be bride had just been jilted. My stomach sank. Would I ever get to have my special day, with a special man, in a special dress like this?

Self-pity made me feel even worse. There I was standing in my wedding gown only hours after I had called off the wedding. It was pathetic and humiliating. In that moment, I felt the magnitude of everything that Chad had taken from me: my love, my trust, my dignity, but most of all, he took the hope that I could ever love and trust again. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I dropped to the floor. Holly found me in my room and ran over to console me.

“Marin, I’m here.” Holly held me tight. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

I looked up at her, my eyes flooded with tears and buried my head in her chest.

Holly helped me out of the dress and instructed me to take a long hot shower. The water felt good on my tired, sore muscles that I forced into walking around the city all day after sleeping on the bathroom floor. I felt drained, like I had been through a war. Only the war wasn’t over. It had just begun. In all my experience dealing with broken hearts I knew this was going to take time, and I’d have to be patient.

I dressed in clean pajamas and found Telly and Holly in the kitchen. Telly wrapped her arms tightly around me. She wasn’t much for showing affection but never neglected to when it really mattered.

“I’m so sorry.” A pity-filled smile covered her mouth. I tried to mirror it, but was too sad and too tired. She smiled bigger. “I brought Chinese. Your favorite!”

The three of us sat in the living room eating pork-fried rice and spring rolls. Well, they ate and I just pushed my food around with my chopsticks. They listened intently to the full story and offered encouragement at all the right moments. Afterward, Telly put on a movie. She was trying to cheer me up, and for that I was grateful. But I was beyond cheering up now, and my mind couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact that my engagement was over.

I tossed and turned most of the night with thoughts of Chad and my ended relationship. Finally, around six in the morning, I fell asleep. An hour later, Holly came in to check on me. She shut my curtains to darken the room and kissed my forehead.

“I’ll call you later,” she whispered.

I closed my eyes again and tried to forget the unforgettable.

––––––––

M
y bed became a permanent fixture to my body. Food, communication, and even bathing were of little interest. I wanted nothing more than to be swallowed by the darkness of my room.

Lights started to flood my apartment with Holly’s arrival. I managed to open my heavy eyelids and lift my head from the pillow.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing,”

“Have you been here all day?” She settled next to me.

“Pretty much.”

“Telly and I got worried. You didn’t answer our calls.” I remained silent while my worn eyes blinked in the light. “I brought you a sandwich. Are you hungry?”

“No.”

She lay down next to me and brushed the hair out of my face. Her eyes peered steadily into mine. When she received no telepathic insight she asked, “What’s going on in your head, Mar?”

“Emptiness,” I said.

“Emptiness?”

“My head, my heart, my body, my life feels empty. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“You know that’s not true, right?” Her warm voice cooled at my ears, failing to comfort me.

“I don’t know anymore. I loved him, Holly. I thought he loved me.” My voice cracked. “I thought he was the one.”

I broke down crying, curled up on my side like a baby. Holly held me and stayed until I was silent and fell asleep again.

A pounding ache in my head forced me to stomach a few crackers and aspirin. I walked a lap around my apartment, stretching my legs to avoid possible atrophy. When I returned to bed, I summoned the television with my remote. I flipped through commercial after commercial before settling on a movie channel. Fitting, the movie was a tragic love story. As much as I wanted to change the channel to something lighter and more cheerful, I couldn’t. I was hooked. Within an hour, I was crying inconsolably for the heroine who lost the love of her life in a plane crash and never recovered after his death. My sad state was exacerbated by the prospect of being like her and living out my days in mourning. I didn’t want to believe that Chad was the only chance I would get at lasting love, but I couldn’t see myself taking a chance to be fooled again.

I thought about everything that had happened and wanted to blame something, someone. Chad was the obvious choice, but I started questioning my responsibility in all of it. Had I pressured him to get married? Was the idea of marrying me so bad that he had to have an affair to kick-start our marriage? Was there something I could have done to change things? All I could conclude was,
why me?

Then I thought of my past relationships. There were few to recall, and yet there was one common theme. I always got dumped. My first boyfriend, and high school sweetheart, was Von. Before him, I had no experience with boys. My parents kept me busy with AP classes, tennis lessons, and the track team. Von was the crush of all crushes. Not just to me, but to most of the girls in our class. I’ll never forget the first time I saw him. It was love at first sight. Really.

After a year of nothing and out of nowhere, he asked me on a date. I couldn’t believe it. To me, a seventeen-year-old girl, it was a miracle. Our romance was brief, but nonetheless magical. We ended things that summer when he went away to college, and I never saw him again. It was the first time I felt the pangs of a broken heart. My dating life was scarce in college, but that changed in medical school.

Jack Ashbury was a first year med student like me and had all the makings of a great doctor. He was smart, charismatic, and incredibly caring. For a long time I believed he was the love of my life. Our relationship took a turn when I dropped out of med school and moved to the east coast for grad school. Jack had no desire to keep up a long distance relationship and began dating someone new almost immediately. It took me years to get over that one.

Grad school and my internship kept me too busy for anything serious. My mom began to worry that I might never give her grandchildren as I was twenty-eight and still single. Then, I met Chad and subsequently lost him too. For some reason I could sense my breakups with Von and Jack before they happened. The signs were always the same. One day they started acting strange and distant. The glow in their eyes disappeared and my gut felt uneasy and nauseous. Both times it happened they convinced me that nothing was wrong, until days later when they got the courage to tell me it was over. No warning signs with Chad though. His deception came as a complete surprise.

My mind raced with memories from that night and tears wet my worn-out eyes. I studied myself in the mirror, hoping it would reflect some explanation for the sudden turn of events. Was I not pretty enough? Was my ass too fat? Were my boobs too small? What was so wrong with me?