Cutting Loose Read Free

I?”
    “Yes! That son of a bitch was with
Jasmine all along.”
    “Oh, my God. That’s a damn shame. But
you know that Carl was a dog anyways. He wasn’t good for you. Why are you
crying?”
    “Because that’s all I can do is cry! I
can’t believe he did this to me. What did I do to deserve this?”
    “Sabrina, listen. It wasn’t your fault.
Stop crying over that bastard.” She paused and said, “I got a great idea.”
    “I’m not in the mood to drive over there
and kick his ass like I want to. So you can forget about that idea.”
    “That wasn’t on my mind until you just
brought it up, but how about you get your Fuck ‘Em Dress on and we hit the
club? I haven’t been out a while and you could use a drink or two. “
    “I’d love to, but I’m a mess right now
and I really don’t want to be around any men right now.”
     “Okay,” Larissa said, finally
relenting. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
    She hung up the phone and crawled into
bed. She was so frustrated all she could do was cry herself to sleep.
    ***
    The sound of the doorbell interrupted
work on her so-called day off. She glanced at the clock that read 7:30 A.M.
Then she heard it again. She bounced out of her office chair, slipped into her
slippers and went down stairs. She peeped through the front window to find the
last person she wanted to see standing at her doorstep.
    “What do you want?” she demanded after
opening the door and stepping outside into the cool morning breeze.
    Carl was standing in front of her
looking rugged as ever; his hair unkempt, his face looking as if he hadn’t
shaved in days and his clothes were baggy and messy. He took off the sunglasses
he were wearing and said, “Hi. Um, I know it’s been a couple months since our
breakup and all but I just wanted to come by to check on you.”
    “Oh, really now?”
    “Yeah. And from our last conversation
you didn’t give me a response on whether or not you were coming to me and
Jasmine’s wedding.”
    “Are we really having this conversation,
Carl? Let’s be real for once. “She rolled her eyes, hopping he would get the
message and leave her the hell alone. Carl had never been the brightest tool in
the box and let it show as he stood there.
    “Well, believe it or not, I would not
have invited you if I wasn’t serious. Besides, I know if you were getting
married to some guy and you invited me to your wedding I would be glad to
come.” He paused and added, “I know you should be the one I should be marrying
after all the history we have together, but I can honestly say that you deserve
someone better than me.”
    For the first time in a long time she
actually believed him. Over the past few weeks it was as if Carl had been
transformed into a totally different person, in a good way. She wasn’t happy at
all to see that he had moved on and was going to be marrying the bitch he left
her for. But as he stood before her full of remorse, even if he was faking it, she
couldn’t help but take him seriously. Plus, he actually sounded like he was
genuine about inviting her to his wedding, something she never, ever thought
she’d agree to—going to an exes wedding was just weird, especially when she
hadn’t moved on with her own life.
    But she couldn’t get over the fact that
he was admitting that he believed she deserved better. No guy had ever told her
that, whether they wanted to admit it or not.
    Pulling away from her thoughts, she
turned to Carl. “That really means a lot coming from a guy like you.”
    He chuckled. And for the first time in a
long time she felt like things between them didn’t have to be as bitter as
their breakup was and she was actually beginning to see why she fell so hard
for him when they first met during freshen orientation nearly five years ago.
“Thanks,” he said coolly.
    A moment or so later she asked, “Well, it’s
cool out here. Do you want to come in and grab the rest of your shit? I was this