Heartless: Episode 3

I dialed Elizabeth’s cell phone three times, but she sent me to voice mail before the third ring. Calling my driver, I had him take me to her apartment before I headed to the airport. Scanning the list posted next to the front of the door, I found her last name and pressed the small button next to it. The speaker beeped an unholy sound before crackling, and my heart actually fucking leaped into my throat at the idea of her voice coming through the speaker.

Only, it didn’t.

The speaker sounded again before clicking, a dial tone replacing the otherwise silent air around me. She had hung up on me before even giving me a chance to speak.

So fucking stubborn.

There had to be something I could do. I stood there, racking my brain, as an older woman exited the building with her tiny dog in tow. She smiled at me, and I grinned back.

“Stuck outside, dear?” she asked.

“My girlfriend is pissed at me and won’t let me in. I left my keys upstairs,” I half-lied.

She giggled and eyed the single white rose in my hand. I had picked it up from the ground where Elizabeth had dropped it. “Oh, well, you’d better go make it up to her then.”

She held the door open, and I bolted up the stairs. Thank God the list outside included the apartment number, otherwise I would have had no idea which direction to head.

I reached the fifth floor and pounded on her door. “Elizabeth! Open the door, and talk to me!”

There were no sounds coming from inside, but I knew she had to be in there. When her next-door neighbor opened his door and glared at me, I apologized for being so loud and promised to keep it down.

Knocking again, I lowered my body against her door and waited for a sign, a sound, anything. Thirty minutes passed before I admitted to myself that she wouldn’t see me tonight. Placing the rose in front of her door, I walked away, accepting my current defeat.

2.

ELIZABETH

Daniel called my cell phone three times before I finally turned it off, my heart unable to deal with whatever he needed to say to me tonight. I hopped in the shower and allowed my tears to fall.

How could I have been so stupid as to think someone like Daniel would ever be a one-woman kind of guy?

He’d told me that he ended things with those other women, and I’d simply believed him, no questions asked.

Why?

I knew the answer, but it made me feel stupid inside. I wanted to be special. When we’d talked the night we met about girls wanting to be different to a guy, that was exactly what Daniel had convinced me I was, and I’d bought into it completely. It hurt. I hurt. Before Daniel, I’d shut myself off from feeling vulnerable for so long that this seemed like it might crush me from the weight.

I sucked in a raspy breath and settled into bed before reaching for my iPod and noise-canceling headphones. Music always soothed me, and tonight, I needed it more than I ever had before.

When I woke up the next morning, I was reluctant to switch on my cell. For a minute, I wondered if I could exist an entire day without it. Deciding that probably wasn’t the best idea, I turned it on and watched as it powered up. A lengthy text message from Daniel appeared, telling me that Ben had it all wrong. Daniel wanted to explain things to me, and he begged me not to jump to conclusions.

Too late.

I had already jumped headfirst into that picture Ben had shown me and into the words he had said.

When I exited my apartment door, I almost stepped on the white rose lying across my blue doormat. He had been here? When?

Apparently, my headphones had helped drown out more than just my feelings.

****

Barbara’s long legs walked into my office, and then she plopped down on my couch with a thud.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, hoping for any conversation other than the kind that revolved around Daniel.

“I had a shitty date last night. Please tell me all about how fabulous yours was with Mr. Perfect, so I can be insanely jealous.”

Avoiding all things Daniel didn’t last long. I forced a smile. “Mr. Perfect? More like Mr. I’m Still Dating Other Women.”