Free Sometime Soon by Debra Doxer Page B

want to hurt Katie.”
    “Oh my god, Bryn.”
    “I know,” she nods miserably.
    “This is why you’ve been acting
strange? Why you haven’t spoken to Katie?”
    Bryn nods again. “I didn’t know
what to do, and I couldn’t face her.”
    “But you can chat with Mike on the
phone whenever he likes? Does he talk to you about his relationship with
Katie?”
    She’s reminding me of a bobble head
doll as she continues nodding.
    I look away from Bryn, breaking the
terrible spell she’s cast, and the world comes back into focus. I stare blindly
at my surroundings. Katie is going to be devastated. I reluctantly return to
the conversation. “Why did you tell me this?”
    “I had to tell someone. I feel so
awful about everything.”
    “Not awful enough to stop talking
to Mike.” I glare at Bryn. Her eyes are red and her face is tearstained. “You
like him.”
    She seems surprised by my
statement. I think she’s not going to comment when she finally says, “I don’t
know.”
    “Is he going to call off the wedding?”
I ask, not sure I want to know the answer.
    “I know he’s been having second
thoughts. But I don’t know if he’s serious.”
    I feel queasy as I push away my
half empty frappuccino and study Bryn, her full face pale against her faded
yellow Life is Good T-shirt. “What have you been thinking?” I ask,
genuinely wanting to know. In my opinion, Mike isn’t worth even five minutes of
thought, and yet he has two women fretting and pining over him. I suddenly feel
restless. Before she can answer my question, I stand abruptly.
    Bryn jumps to her feet. “Are you
going to tell Katie?”
    The thought makes my chest feel
tight. “Maybe you ought to tell her.”
    “I can’t.” Her voice is quiet but
adamant.
    Then a terrible thought occurs to
me. I can feel the frappuccino churning in my stomach. “If you tell
Katie, you’re afraid Mike will be angry with you. But if I tell her, you might
have a chance with him.”
    Her response is
silence. No denial.
     “He’s a miserable asshole,
bad-mouthing his ex-wife all the time and now doing this to Katie. How could
you want someone like that?”
    “But he isn’t that way. You don’t
understand.”
    “What don’t I understand?”
    “It’s not his fault.”
    “What isn’t his fault?” I
challenge. “His life?”
    “He and his wife were never happy.
She never really loved him. And now Katie’s pushing him to get married, and he
isn’t ready for that again.”
    “So rather than being straight with
her, he keeps up a charade while he’s taking his consolation from you?”
    “You just don’t understand,” she
says softly.
    I walk out of the Starbucks without
looking back.
     
    “Interesting morning,” Joan
comments, back at her post again.
    “You have no idea,” I mutter, and
continue on to my desk. Nate is gone, probably uneasily continuing his
paternity leave.
    “You don’t want to miss The
Bachelor tonight,” Rob says, stopping by my cube.
“Why not?” I ask, feigning interest.
    “I saw the previews. The panty girl
gets drunk and passes out on the bed. She’s too wasted to show up to get a
rose.”
    “She sounds like quite a catch.”
    “They sure can pick ‘em for that
show. During the auditions, they must look for the wackiest, most mentally
unstable women they can find.”
    Once Rob ambles away, I settle in
at my desk and stare blindly at my computer monitor. Poor Katie. Telling her is
the right thing to do, despite the fact that Bryn has manipulated me into it.
It has to be in person. I can’t tell her something like this over the phone.
We’ve all had that hypothetical thought. If your boyfriend or husband were
cheating on you, would you want to know? It’s a big ‘yes’ for me. As appalled
as I am with Bryn, I know I’m angry for another reason, too. I’m feeling
astounded that two sensible women have allowed themselves to be hooked by this
completely despicable man. Are the pickings so slim that if any man pays