Chapter 10 #3
“Oh so, she’s disposable. I see,” she said as she walked away. “I don’t feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for her,” she told him, truthfully.
Robert ran after her.
“I’m out of here,” she told him as she grabbed her luggage from the walk-in closet.
“But we’re getting married, Angela. We can have kids soon, like you wanted.”
“Oh, you want children now?”
“If you want them.”
“Oh please, the engagement is off,” she said, wondering how she would fit all her stuff in Krysta’s tiny three bedroom apartment.
The phone rang. Angela wondered if this would be another telemarketer as she answered.
“What’s this about you quitting on me. I knew you wouldn’t last.” It was Dot’s unmistakable voice.
“I lasted. I lasted eight weeks. That’s a record isn’t it?” Angela joked. “I got a great job,” she added.
“Why’d you go and get a job. Now we can’t read our stories.”
“Maybe we could do it on the weekends,” Angela suggested. “Maybe you could meet me at the library. Someone could drive you,” she was quick to add.
“Oh is this about Michael now?”
“Well...no—”
“I knew something was brewing with you two. He practically forbade me to see you.”
Angela was hit hard by Dot’s words. “He forbade you to see me?”
“Yes. Listen, you kids stop being fools. Leave this Robert Angela, and come and love my Michael.”
Angela was speechless.
“He wants you.” Angela had never heard Dot speak in such a serious tone. She was not joking around.
“It’s complicated, Dot.”
“He’s too good, my Michael. I honestly don’t know where he gets it from; his father perhaps. He would never break you two up. He’s not that kind of man.”
Angela was at a loss for words.
“You need to take the initiative. Do you love this Robert?”
Angela couldn’t lie.
“I’ve gotta go, Dot.”
“Answer my question.”
“No. I don’t.”
She hung up, and didn’t answer when it rang again.
Angela had driven straight to Krysta’s, who took her and Trixie in with wide open arms. Krysta quickly tidied the toys Madison had left in the guest room, and told Angela to settle in.
Then, she made tea for her and took out some chocolates she had stashed away; Angela’s favorite.
Krysta knew they wouldn’t cure all her pain, but they possibly soothe her, if only temporarily.
“I feel like this is all my fault, Angela. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“I’m glad you told me. I needed to know. I’d rather be alone than with a man who is cheating on me.”
“But look at you, you’re miserable.”
Even Madison knew something was wrong, looking at her curiously with sad eyes.
“Why Anga sad?” Her sweet tiny voice put a smile on Angela’s face.
“Oh men,” Krysta told her “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Angela smiled a second time. Maybe her life wasn’t over after all.
“The thing is; I feel hypocritical.” Angela told Krysta, in all seriousness.
“Why?”
“Because here I am berating Robert for what he did, and I almost did the same thing.”
“You did? Do tell.” Krysta was all ears.
“Um...what do the kids say? We went to second, third, I guess. I don’t know.”
“When? Where?” Krysta was eager for the dirt.
“At the cottage… this weekend.”
“But wasn’t his whole family there? You naughty—”
“Well, we were in my cabin...” She put down her cup of tea.
“Well, exactly did you do?”
“I’m not telling.”
“Oh...you can’t do this to me,” Krysta pleaded.
“Well, we kissed,” she confessed to her friend. She was a little hesitant to tell the rest, but she couldn’t resist reliving what could very well be the most glorious moment of her life.
“He touched me...and kissed me...everywhere,” she confided, closing her eyes.
“E-very-where?” Krysta asked in a sexy sing-song.
“Almost everywhere,” Angela replied, her eyes still closed.
“You are a T-R-A-M-P,” Krysta joked, covering Madison’s ears.
“That’s enough, I’m not telling you anymore. We’re not in junior high.”
“You are so cruel.”
Krysta would have given her right arm to have heard the rest, but she knew Angela well enough to know she wouldn’t kiss-and-tell, more than she already had.
Angela spent the week with Madison, trying to forget all about Michael and Robert.
She had offered to take her off Krysta’s mother’s hands for a week.
The doting grandmother was both pleased and a little saddened.
Angela decided she was going to focus on her new job, Madison and Krysta, and not even think about men.
She debated visiting her family out West but she simply didn’t have the time to make the long trip.
She needed a good week, and her job started in a few days.
She told her father about the break-up over the phone.
Her father had been hit harder than she had.
What would his daughter do without the support of the successful Robert?
He didn’t seem deterred by the fact that Robert had cheated on his daughter, twice now.
When Angela assured him she would be fine; that she was gainfully employed, her father was not too reassured.
“I just want you to be happy, Angela,” he told her.
She spent her days playing with Madison, bringing her to various play centers, and being surrounded by kids who only made her feel worse; she wondered if she would ever have children herself.
Her dream of children involved a kind loving father.
That would involve a man, now wouldn’t it?
she thought, and remembered she had sworn off men.
Robert called her on her cell quite a few times throughout the week, and she promptly ignored him. It was over. It was over before she knew he cheated again, and it was certainly over now.
Every evening, her and Krysta made dinner together in the tiny yellow kitchen, and gossiped about their circle of friends, Krysta’s new boyfriend and the many weirdos at Krysta’s work.
They read bedtime stories to Madison, and watched romantic comedies, each taking turns choosing from Krysta’s vast DVD collection.
On Friday, she babysat so that Krysta could go out on a date with Adam.
This wasn’t so bad at all, Angela thought. Maybe she could grow to be an old maid, and live with Krysta and Madison forever.
Monday morning finally arrived. She had prepared what she was going to wear days in advance.
She had that covered; she just wasn’t sure she had the rest under control.
She hadn’t worked in an office setting for quite a while.
She knew she would be rusty. She had spent a lot of time on her home computer; she wasn’t completely ignorant, but she would sure need a refresher course.
She reassured herself that she was a quick learner, and that it wouldn’t be too bad.
Christine seemed like a wonderful person, and she was sure everyone else would be too.
Anyone who devoted their career to helping a good cause couldn’t be too bad.