One Night

Colleen’s place was practically empty. At least that’s how it felt to her without all of Doug’s things mixed in with hers. He had moved out the morning after “the incident,” and Colleen had never felt more alone. She kept busy to keep herself from thinking about her most recent failed relationship. But everywhere she looked, she noticed something missing.

There were only one set of keys hanging from the hook by the door. There weren’t nearly as many shoes lined beneath the half filled coat rack in the hall. The leather recliner given to Doug by his father, as a house-warming present no longer sat across from the plush red couch the couple had picked out together. Large and small, the differences didn’t go unnoticed. By Colleen or her friends.

“Worst of all, he took Copper,” Colleen informed them, referring to the Pit bull Terrier she and Doug had chosen six months ago. Some of the things in the house were solely his or things they had purchased together. He could have all that, but it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d take Copper.

“Bastard!” Alivia, a local model and Colleen’s oldest girl friend, swore, and sipped from her Starbucks cup.

“Did he at least apologize?” Francesca asked. Francesca was the silent partner in her vintage shop. When Colleen’s mother disapproved of her daughter opening a “commoner’s store,” as she had dubbed it, Francesca was all to happy to provide the seed that Colleen needed to get her dream off the ground.

Colleen took a deep breath and shook her head. “He cleaned the place out when I was at the shop.”

“At the risk of repeating Liv,” Francesca said as she leaned forward to place a comforting hand on Colleen’s knee, “bastard.”

Even though Colleen had seen Doug with her own eyes, she still couldn’t believe it had happened. Raw emotion burned in her veins, switching from pain to anger and back again. “I’m still in shock.”

Alivia leaned forward and set her disposable coffee cup on the table in front of the three girls. “Honey, is it really a complete shock?”

“Of course it’s a shock.” Colleen wiped an escaped tear from her cheek. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, we never trusted him.”

Her fingers stopped and she looked between her friends. “What? Both of you?” Their gazes shifted away. “For how long?”

“Since we first met him,” Alivia confessed into her coffee. “He had a reputation. And he’s always around town with that blonde secretary of his.”

“And neither of you thought to tell me?”

Francesca reached for her cell phone as it buzzed on the coffee table. “Neither of us wanted to be the one to tell you. We love you and didn’t want to cause you pain.”

Alivia added, “And we figured you must already know on some level.”

“I didn’t!”

“You never suspected?” Francesca asked. “Winston men aren’t exactly known as faithful. Just look at his father. He’s on what, his fourth wife?”

Colleen placed her hands and her gaze in her lap. “I thought he was different.”

“You told us yourself the two of you didn’t have sex all that often.”

“Some men have low sex drives.”

“Not that low!” both friends exclaimed at the same time.

“He hangs out at the Terrace Club,” Alivia added. “You knew that right?”

“Yes, but not all men who have a drink at the Terrace Club are cheating on their wives or girlfriends.”

“Who told you that?”

“Doug.”

No one said a word. They didn’t have to. Their raised eyebrows spoke volumes.

“I don’t care about Doug.” Alivia shrugged. “I care about you, and you should have told us the other day instead of holding it all inside.”

“I drank a bit too much,” Colleen confessed, and was relieved when no one questioned her further.

For a second she debated whether to tell her friends about John, but in the end, she didn’t. There were just some humiliating moments a girl should keep to herself. Getting drunk and slutty was one of them.

“Men are so evil,” she said, thinking of John’s smirk as he stood in only a towel and teased her. “All this time, I thought Doug had a low libido, and he let me think it. I thought I wasn’t attractive enough for him, and he let me think that too. How could I have fallen in love with him? What is wrong with me?”

“No, Colleen,” Alivia assured her. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“Yes,” Francesca agreed. “It was him. Not you. And someday, you’re going to find a great guy. Like one of those princes you love so much.”

But even after hours of reassurances, Colleen couldn’t quite believe there wasn’t something wrong with her. Something that made her choose men like Doug. After her friends left, she walked into her bedroom and stopped in front of the dresser she’d shared with Doug. Like in the rest of the house, his things were gone, leaving half of the dark wood top bare.

Her vision blurred but she refused to cry, fearing that once she started she wouldn’t be able to stop. Colleen looked into the mirror above the dresser and noticed dark circles beneath her eyes. Hallow. Like her home. Like her life. Everything was gone. She’d lost so much in the past two days. Her boyfriend and her dog. Her belief in soul mates and her mother’s two carat diamond earring.

She had noticed the missing earring the day before, after arriving home from the hotel two towns away. It would take some searching, but she would find a replacement. Finding something to replace the emptiness within her wouldn't be as easy.