I Didn't Know I Could Break Your Heart

Marrietta walked into the apartment, dropped her keys on the front table and headed straight for the phone. The light was blinking, signaling that there was a message waiting for her. She held her breath. She hated all of the days when Rodger wasn't home before her and she had to go to the phone to see whether or not he had left her. It was a stupid idea, but it popped into her head every time.

With a shaking hand, she hit the play button. The first message was from some random telemarketers trying to get money and the next was from Rodger. Marrietta held her breath when she heard the familiar sound of him breathing on the other line. He had taken a deep breath before he had even greeted her.

"Hi, Mary. Sorry I'm not there, I know I'm always home on Mondays, but something came up. I'll be home for dinner though, so don't go packing up my place mat," He laughed nervously and then stopped. A silent moment passed and then he added, "We need to talk, Mary. Something happened. Please don't assume the worst."

Shit. She thought to herself, He knows. He's going to kill me. I'm going to be murdered and put under one of those little black bags and someone's going to investigate my murder like they do in all of those TV shows and then Rodgers going to get arrested but he'll win his case in court because I was always at Hooters and not at some huge skyscraper in the city and I lied to him. Oh god, oh god, oh god. Marrietta felt the need to take a huge breath even though it had all just happened inside her head.

But... hadn't he said that I shouldn't assume the worst? Marrietta's head whipped back to the phone and she stared at the blinking message light. She hit the play button again, almost violently, and listened closely to the message. She had been right. He wanted her not to assume the worst.

No thoughts came rushing through her mind this time. She stood there completely still just staring at the phone. She was doing exactly what he told her to do: not assuming the worst, not assuming anything at all.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Marrietta jumped probably seven feet in the air and landed on her butt. With a shivering hand, she reached onto the counter and grabbed the phone. Hitting talk as well as she could, she leveled out her voice and said, "Hello?"

"Is this Marrietta?" asked a sweet, gentle voice on the other line.

"Yes, it is. Who is this?"

"That's not important," The voice snapped. Marrietta had a picture of a girl with flashing red eyes pop into her head. She shivered as the voice continued, "But you better stay the f*ck away from my boyfriend if you don't want me to shave all of the pretty little red hairs from your head. He's mine and no matter how much he loves you, I will never let him go the way you did. You're a bitch, Marrietta and if you come within a hundred feet of him, I will beat the shit out of you."

"What the f*ck?" Marrietta shrieked, "Who are you? And what the hell are you doing calling me about my boyfriend! Mine! Shit, actually, no, what the f*ck are you doing calling me like this about my fiance! He is mine! So get a f*cking life!"

"Your fiance?" The girl's voice echoed. All of the fight seemed to go out of her. Her voice had gone from unbelievably angry to completely depressed in a matter of seconds. "He... he proposed to me today, too... when did he propose to you?"

"About... a month ago," Marrietta forced her reply. Tears were edging into her eyes as she said it. "I'm... I'm sorry... but I've got to call him and talk to him... umm... you understand, right?"

"Yeah... yeah," The girl swore, "I can't believe I actually thought he told me about you because he was tired of lying to me... shit... I am such an idiot."

"So am I..." Marrietta whispered, "I'll call you back after I've talked to him... okay?"

There was a pause before the other girl said, "Yeah, of course. I'm Jenifer, by the way. I'll be here all night."

"Okay," Marrietta hit the off button without saying another word. She stared at the phone for a moment and then started frantically dialing Rodger's number. Before she was able to hit talk though, the phone rang again. "Hello?" She answered shakily.

There was a slight hesitation before the reply came. "Hey, Mary," Tyler said simply, "Don't hang up. I just did something really stupid and I think... that I need to talk to you, right now. Would that be okay?"

Marrietta glanced at the clock and nodded, "Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you in ten on that little bakery that's on seventh." She hung up the phone and snatched her purse off of the table. Without even leaving a note, she left the apartment so that she could have the satisfaction of watching Rodger squirm.