Heartless: Episode 1

I had never planned on shortening my name, considering I most certainly didn’t look like a Liz or Lizzie, but that just reaffirmed my position on the matter.

“And you’re fucking insane if you think I’m going to dinner with you and the homewrecker.”

“I’ve had enough disrespect for one night!” He slammed his wine goblet on the table, and the contents splashed out, staining the tablecloth. “Call me when you pull your head out of your ass.”

“I dare you to hold your breath!” I shouted at his cowardice.

As I watched his retreating back, I wished the whole time that he would do what I dared and then keel over from the wait.

Asshole.

****

A too-smiley-for-this-early-in-the-morning assistant, whose name I couldn’t quite remember, popped into the kitchen. “Good morning, Barbara and Miss Lyons.” She was downright giddy.

“Good morning, Jeannie,” Barbara added her name for my benefit.

“Morning,” I said with a smile.

Jeannie reached for a coffee cup, and Barbara inhaled a sharp breath.

“Jeannie! What is on your finger?”

Jeannie half-screamed in the tiny kitchen before shooting me an apologetic look. She thrust her left hand in Barbara’s face. “I got engaged last night! Isn’t it gorgeous?”

Barbara’s face lit up. “It is. Oh, it’s so pretty. Isn’t it, Elizabeth?”

The little wench pulled Jeannie’s ring under my nose and forced me to look at it. It was stunning. There was no doubt about that.

“It’s really sparkly. Congratulations,” I offered.

“Yes! Congratulations. I want to hear all about what happened and your plans later, okay?” Barbara gave her a quick hug before exiting the room with me.

Once back in the safety cocoon of my office, Barbara started laughing. “Oh my God, you should have seen your face! It was priceless.”

“What?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“I don’t even know what the right word is.” She started snapping her fingers as if the action would help the word come to her. “Indifferent! That’s it. You’re so indifferent to all this stuff that normal girls go gaga over.”

I guessed the snapping had worked.

“I’m not indifferent. I’m happy for that girl I don’t even know who looks all of twenty-two.”

“She’s twenty-three.”

“Oh my God, why?” I fell back onto my couch, my head resting against the cushions.

“Why what?” Barbara’s face still held the giant smile that had been plastered on her face since seeing the ring.

She fell onto the couch next to me as I inhaled and tried to word my thoughts correctly. I said, “You don’t think that’s a little young to get married? I look back at when I was twenty-three, and it wasn’t even that long ago, but I’ve changed so much since then.”

Barbara lifted a shoulder and made a soft noise. “I don’t know. I would never have done it, but I think some people were just made to get married young—not us though.” She nudged her shoulder into mine for solidarity.

“Not us is right.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Her big doe eyes searched mine for understanding.

“With what? Not going out every night, searching for a husband?”