AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wasn’t supposed to be back so soon.” I shake my head, grabbing my bag and then sliding my feet into my Ugg boots. “I wasn’t supposed to be back so soon. That’s all you have to say?” I yell.
“No.” He puts his hands on his hips. “It’s just that I?—”
“I want to know one thing,” I tell him. “How long?” I look at him and see him staring at me, this man who I was supposed to marry. This man who just today I picked out a wedding dress for, thinking I would be walking down the aisle and he would be at the end waiting for me. What was such a happy fun day is now one of the worst of my life. “How fucking long?”
“Zara,” he says.
“After all of this,” I snap, “the least you can do is give me an answer.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this—” he says, and I just stare at him.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I question, my voice in a monotone. “Are you actually saying that you think I could forgive you for fucking someone in my fucking bed?” I shout. “In our fucking house?” I shake my head. “You have lost your damn fucking mind if you think I could ever, ever forgive you for lying to me.” His face goes pale, and I take a step back because he actually thought if I caught him, I would look the other way. That I would forgive him. “Now, I asked you a question,” I growl through clenched teeth. “How fucking long?” He looks up at the ceiling. “If you’re praying, I can tell you right now God isn’t fucking listening to you.”
He puts his hand on the back of his neck, his brown eyes staring into mine. “A little over…” I wait for it, hoping it’s like a week, maybe a month. Maybe it just started. “Three years.” The minute he says that, it’s like the air is drained from my body.
“Three years,” I repeat in a whisper. “Three fucking years.” I swallow down the bile that is forcing its way up my throat. “We’ve been together for three years.” I’m not sure if I’m reminding him or telling myself. “Her daughter is two years old, and her son is six months old.” It’s then it dawns on me. “Oh my God.” The mere thought of standing in the same room as him makes me feel dirty. “Tell your girlfriend she has twenty-four hours to tell her husband she has been fucking you,” I tell him, and he glares at me. “After that, I’m calling to tell him myself.”
I turn to leave the house, my hand on the doorknob, when he reaches out for me, grabbing my arm. “Zara, please wait,” he pleads. “We can…”
I don’t move nor do I look back over at him. Instead, I look at his hand on my arm before I shake it off and walk out the door. “Twenty-four hours, and that’s me doing you both a fucking favor.” I finally take a look back at him. “And it’s the last thing I’ll ever fucking do for you.” I slam the door behind me before running down the steps and rushing to the corner. I stop, waiting for the light to turn green. But when it takes too long, I turn right and continue walking down the street. I walk around people, my feet moving, but my brain is stuck back in the middle of my bedroom. The cars zoom past me as I reach into my purse and pull out my phone, calling Zoey right away. “Answer the phone,” I beg as it rings and rings right before it goes to voicemail. The tears are now just streaming down my face. I call her again. “Pick up, pick up, pick up,” I chant as my hands start to shake, and I know that in a matter of minutes, I’ll be having a full-blown panic attack. The image of the two of them plays over and over in my head.
On the fifth ring, I finally hear her voice. “I left you literally in front of your house twenty minutes ago.”
“Zoey,” I wheeze as all the breaths get caught in my throat. “Zoey.” Now, it comes out in a sob. “Daniel,” I say his name and just words come out in pieces. “I,” I start to pant, “can’t.” I lean down, trying to catch my breath. “It’s…”
“Zara, I don’t understand you,” she soothes softly. “Breathe.”
I take a deep breath in and then exhale it; the sound of beeping cars is all around me as I try to focus on inhaling. “It’s over,” I say softly. “The wedding is off.”
3
ZARA
The words slip out of my mouth, almost as if my mind is outside of my body. Like, I’m here, but I’m really not here. “The wedding is off,” I repeat, this time standing up straight and looking around, feeling lost. I continue down the sidewalk to the corner and cross the street because the light is green, walking farther away from my house.
“What do you mean the wedding is off?” Zoey shrieks, but then I hear Nash.
“Hey, Zara,” he greets softly. “I need you to tell me where you are?” he asks, and I blink a couple of times, looking around for the first time.
“I don’t know,” I answer. If I wasn’t in a daze, I would be able to tell him I was two blocks from my house.
“Okay, I need you to take a second and look around you.” His voice is calming. “Look for a street name or anything like that,” he says. I pause when I get to the corner and tell him the name. “Do you see a cab anywhere near you?” he asks, and I look around.
“No.” I shake my head at the same time I tell him.
“Zara, can you see if you can get a cab? Go to the corner and hold up your hand.” I walk to the corner, feeling like a stranger in my body as I follow his instructions. “I can come get you, but it’ll be faster if you can get a cab!” Zoey shouts in the background just as a yellow cab pulls up.
“I have a cab,” I tell him, just looking at the car.
“Get in the cab and give them this address,” he urges. My hand comes up, and I open the back door.
“I’m in the car,” I tell him, then glance at the man looking over his shoulder, waiting for me to give him the address.
“Tell the man you are going to—” he says, and I repeat everything he says to the cab driver. “You’re going to stay on the phone with me, okay?” Nash says.
“Okay,” I reply absentmindedly before looking outside. The cab zigzags through traffic. “Zara, are you still there?” he asks, and I nod but don’t say anything. I’m too busy wiping the tears off my face. “I’ll be waiting for you downstairs,” he assures me.
“Okay,” I say softly, putting my hand on my lap with the phone. I see he hasn’t hung up, so I just let it stay in my lap, my arm suddenly tired. My whole body is suddenly tired, but I don’t have a chance to do anything about it because the car comes to a stop, and the door swings open.
