Free New Title 1 by Gina Ranalli

PART 1
     
         The woman held the phone receiver in both hands, as if she feared dropping it, pressing it to her ear hard enough to hurt.
        “ You can’t mean that,” she said, her voice trembling. “You don’t mean that!” She paused, listening, then screamed, “Well, fuck you too, you fucking bastard! I knew as soon as you got what you wanted, you’d leave! I hate you!”
         She slammed the phone back into its cradle, then rose from the floor of her living room where she’d been sitting. She looked down at the phone and considered kicking it, but her feet were bare and she didn’t feel like breaking it. That would have only made things worse.
         Instead of screaming, which is what she really felt like doing, she burst into tears and sagged against the wall, covering her face with her hands, as though ashamed of crying. She sank into a sitting position, and curled sideways, her head against the wall, which cooled her burning cheek and forehead.
         The wall felt so good. Cool and strong and comforting. She raised a hand and ran her fingertips across the wall’s rough surface. The feel of it soothed her and before she even realized it, she was no longer crying. She felt the wall with both hands. Her palms rejoiced and she smiled, the tears not yet dry on her cheeks.
         Getting to her feet, she pressed her entire body against the wall, arms and legs spread wide and far. It was a big wall, about six feet across and easily twelve feet high, due to being in her sunken living room. The wall would have continued horizontally but for the door that lead out to the back yard.
         No matter. The wall was perfect just as it was. The woman was suddenly glad she’d never decorated this particular wall with some boring old painting or tapestry. Decoration would have only demeaned the wall, make it embarrassed and too effeminate, like a man who wears jewelry. The woman despised men who wore jewelry.
         Pressing her body to the wall made her feel strong again, made her forget all about that asshole Troy who had just dumped her. She knew she never should have fucked him, especially on the first date, but he was so masculine and irresistible.
         Well, now she was paying the price for her stupidity. Now she was wiser and next time she would make a man wait until she was ready to do the humpty hump.
         But, who knew when that would be? For now, she was perfectly content with her wall.
         Since it was Saturday, her normal cleaning day, the woman set about her chores with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. She didn’t know why this would be true, having just been dumped the previous evening, but it was true and she was not about to argue with being happy. Only a fool would do that.
         So, she went about doing the dishes and folding the laundry, both chores she normally hated but for some reason, today she didn’t mind it at all. When it came time to dust the living room, she hesitated on the threshold, one hand holding the duster, the other caressing her lower lip, like a nervous school girl. Then her smile widened and she went down. She knew why she was grinning like a fool but couldn’t help it.
         She did her best to avoid looking at the wall, but every time she saw it out of the corner of her eye, her smile grew wider still and she had to turn her face away quickly, a blush coloring her cheeks.
         Dusting as fast as she could, she finished quickly and then raced from the room, relieved to be done with that particular chore. But, of course she’d have to return to the living room to fluff the pillows on the sofa and chairs, not to mention vacuum the rug.
         She tried not to think about it. Thinking about it made her nervous, it made her palms tingle and her belly do somersaults like an excited little child, learning to tumble for the first time.
         When she had cleaned every other part of the house and could no