Say It Again-Tell Me I'm Not Just A Deal To You

ainst the glass back door, being eviscerated by her fiancé. But I could not think of any of them while stand

ms, muffled by his hand over her mouth as he fought not to wake the baby

ing frantically in the air. Alas, I could not do so. One, for the fact that my three-year-old child slept upstairs and I was in no mood to abandon her.

ter stake to thi

Kudos to you on living

o my bright red 1999 GMC Sam, giving them a break. I slammed the creaky driver's door. In

angulated the steering

ght. Great, even. You have a place to

prised the pale pink minidress cropped to moon as a napkin and spotted apron covered

ge of my best friend Timothy's face on my screen. It was a photo of her with her head thrown back, laughing

y stain on her otherwise sunny personality: she was bonking L

because everybody around me was in a couple, bubble-wrapped in their own snug

en but didn't speak. I was afraid

nd of the line. Pete growled in the background in th

ily ever aftering with her. She'd earned

o we just ran into in

tted myself out of a spon

ylor Swift? Ki

parties and Pinterest-perfect holidays

othy's fault I was a single mom. It wasn't Timothy's fault I was still living with my mother. It wasn't her fault my life

? You

after several

dl

"stand still and just take it." Good grief, wh

circle, sneaking into the car like

primanded, "I'm tr

am

ective Services step in

Dean kissing each other by t

ng tables and not harborin

God had sprinkled her with fairy dust-retorted. "I mean, go Zeta. She's owed some action, bu

d catch it in my voice. "They're also going to leave a mark,

y six years ago, I hadn't thought she would jump into love again. I was pleased one of

that lingered, I gathered that Pete had stopped attempting to grope hi

ready barfed

n nuns who have more action than you." Timoth

but the night was slow, so Jacka

ou now?" Tim

from a thick layer that had accumulated on my dashboard. "But the dr

tifully. "I'm sending cake." Stop. "And a charger for

ss and hear him defiling my childhood friend once a month since the

metallic and rusty on my tongue. "That's the only explanation fo

New York and London. Pete had two star r

ly for a good stretch of time. Pete is opening a new rest

lue eyes, her dad's wild onyx curls, and the neighboring opera singer

thy hesitated.

ttempt to fix my fucked-up life. Not that I held it against