Freedom

Sean said nothing and left. I sat in the chair until I couldn’t ignore Murphy’s hungry meows any longer. I put a frozen potato casserole in the oven after I fed him and then took a hot shower while it cooked. I felt like I was floating and I barely tasted my dinner. Eventually I sent Molly, Anna, and Zoey this text:

“Karen is pregnant. I kicked him out. We’re done.”

Within seconds of each other I got three text messages, one from each friend:

“I’m coming over with raw cookie dough right now. –Z”

“I’m bringing alcohol. Be there in 20 minutes. –M”

“I’m on Skype. Sign in! –A”

I smiled sadly and signed into Skype.

“I’m sorry, I can’t leave. Theo is on-call tonight and was just called in.” Anna said. She was nursing Weatherly.

“It’s okay. Molly and Zoey are coming over with food and booze.”

“How are you feeling?” She asked gently.

“Um. I think I’m still in shock, I don’t feel anything. I don’t want to feel anything.”

“That’s understandable.”

I looked out the window near my desk and realized it had started raining at some point.

“How long has it been raining?” I asked Anna.

“About an hour, why?”

“I wouldn’t have let Molly and Zoey come over in the rain. That’s just rude.” My voice sounded hollow.

“Faith, you’re being ridiculous. A little rain isn’t a big deal. I’m sure they’d come even if you told them not to.”

“I need to call Mike.” I said getting up and looking for my phone.

“What? Who’s Mike?” Anna asked.

“Our relationship counselor. We aren’t going to need to see him anymore.” I started laughing.
Anna looked at me like I had gone crazy.

“Faith…it’s almost 8 o’clock at night. You should call him tomorrow.”

“Right…” I said slowly putting my phone down and still giggling.

“Are you going to call in to work tomorrow?” She asked.

“No. Why would I do that?” I asked.

“Well, because you’re probably going to be too sad to really get any work done.”

Just then the doorbell buzzed and I ran to let Molly and Zoey inside my building. They came up the stairs in rain coats and boots carrying bags of food and booze.

“We came as soon as we could.” Zoey said taking her raincoat off. They hung their stuff up in the shower to catch the water and then Molly handed me a huge glass of whiskey.

“I don’t really need this.” I said taking a huge gulp.

“Okay, well I have Milkyways, raw chocolate chip cookie dough, sour cream and onion potato chips, and frozen five-cheese garlic bread.” Zoey said.

“Ooooh, let’s make the garlic bread.” I said excitedly.

After popping it in the oven and letting the smell fill my apartment, I told Molly and Zoey what had happened while Anna listened on Skype, even though I already told her.

“I came home from work and he was waiting for me. I thought something really bad had happened, like Eddie died or the tour had been cancelled. Nope, he just knocked Karen up. I laughed and then told him we were over and that he needed to get out.”

“You…laughed?” Molly asked.

“Yeah.” I said a little surprised. I guess I hadn’t realized just how weird it was to laugh after being told your boyfriend got someone pregnant until Molly, Anna, and Zoey looked at me strangely. I downed my glass and refilled it.

“Faith, are you okay?” You’ve been acting…weird.”

“I think I’m okay. How are you supposed to react in these situations? I don’t watch a lot of Lifetime so I don’t really know. In hindsight, laughing probably wasn’t the best reaction.”

The garlic bread was done and Molly, Zoey, and I ate it while Anna started nursing Andrew. I had worked through another glass of whiskey and filled a third.

“Sean is out of my life guys. I feel great. No more relationship counselor. No more long distance. No more late flights or phone calls. No more turmoil or drama. I’m done! I’m free from all of it!”

Molly and Zoey shared a look.

“What? This is a good thing!” I said.

“You just seem…really happy about what happened. We…weren’t expecting this.” Zoey said.

“I’ve spent too much time being sad about my relationship. You know what I should do? Make a profile on a dating website. Let’s do it now! You guys can help me fill out my profile.”

“Are you drunk?” Molly asked.

“Maybe….” I said coyly.

I got on to my computer and found a dating site and for the next hour I had Zoey, Molly, and Anna help me answer all the questions for the profile and pick out good pictures to upload. When I woke up the next morning I had a killer headache and Molly and Zoey were snoring on my couch. I had somehow made it to my bed. I realized I was late and called in to work to tell them I was too sick to come in so Zoey, Molly, and I went and had a huge breakfast at a greasy diner about 20 minutes away. While we were eating our eggs, sausage, toast, pancakes, waffles, and other breakfast foods Molly brought up Sean again.

“How do you feel today, Faith?”

“Hungover.” I said.

“You know what I mean.” She said.

“I don’t feel anything. I think everything I felt for Sean had been badly damaged after he cheated on me and his announcement last night made all of my feelings for him completely disappear. I don’t deserve this shit!” I said slamming the fist with my fork clutched in it on the table.

“You sure don’t.” Zoey said putting a mouthful of syrupy pancake in her mouth and nodding.

“I’m free, guys. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me.”