Trophy Husband Read Online Free PDF Page A

of toughness around my heart, the wound
Todd inflicted is clearly still there. It hasn’t closed. And nobody
knows how much it still hurts as well as Hayden and my girls, who
have been here for me, taking my late-night phone calls and
rehashing every moment that led up to Todd’s treacherous voicemail.
They’ve tried to get me into yoga, they’ve sent me random hot guy
of the day pictures, and they’ve engaged in more retail therapy
than nearly anyone but a fashion blogger could handle. They’ve done
everything to buoy me up, and it’s very nearly worked.
    But this morning sent me all the way back to
start. I didn’t pass go. I didn’t collect two hundred dollars. So I
need to find another way. This has to be the other way out of the
heartbreak.
    I throw my hands up in the air. “I don’t
know! Yes. No. Maybe. I mean, Hayden. I thought I was over him but
seeing him today was a reminder that I’m not. So maybe this is what
I need for closure. To get back out there. To make it a game. To
make it fun. To even the score.”
    “Right. I get that. And I’m not saying it’s
a bad idea. It sounds completely, totally one hundred and ten
million percent fun. But in the way that a reality show is fun.
Then you’re left at the end of the day with reality.”
    “And reality is I’m the
loser, and they’re the winners, and the only way I can see getting
any sense of closure is to try to turn things around. Crying hasn’t
helped me feel better. Getting angry has helped me feel better.
Hell, even shopping hasn’t helped me feel better, and up until Todd
left me I was just about sure there was no ill shopping couldn’t
cure. But here I am. Poke me in the heart like he did –“ I say and
demonstrate by poking myself in the chest – “And I turn into
waterworks at a restaurant and camp out in the bathroom for an hour
to hide. I hid in a frigging bathroom today. That’s what I’ve been
reduced to. I have to do something different to move on.”
    She nods, and even if she might not agree
with me, she’s my friend and she’ll be there. “All right, crazy
lady. You know I’m by your side, no matter what.” She drapes an arm
around me. “If this is what you need, then let’s make it
happen.”
    * * *
    My crew is at the kitchen table. The
reluctant Hayden, tall and leggy, chestnut brown wavy hair,
librarian glasses on her face, sits next to me. Erin is to my left,
her big red plastic hoop earrings waggling back and forth as she
bounces a bit in her chair, brimming with energy as always. Her
earrings frame her small, pert face, matched with her short, sandy
brown, spiky pixie do. My sister Julia, with her
reddish-brown-almost-auburn hair, long and lush, sits next to her.
Hayden’s married, Erin lives with her boyfriend, and Julia and I
are the fully single ones.
    My straight hair falls into my face, as it
often does, so I push it behind my ears. I take a deep breath, then
begin. “So here’s why I called you all here tonight. To let you
know Todd now drinks coffee in the morning, dines at the Best
Doughnut Shop in the City, and gave up hard-boiled eggs. And, oh,
there’s one more thing. He and Amber had a baby and they named her
Charlotte.”
    “Are you serious? They took your name?”
Julia asks, her jaw dropping. “My God, sweetie, when did this
happen?”
    I don’t want to relive this story over and
over, don’t want to feel that knife again expertly slicing me into
pieces. So I recount the events of the morning as clinically as I
can, then move on to the topic of the Meter Man before my throat
hitches. There will be no more crying. Only marching forward, and
this pursuit is my new battle cry.
    “And now, my friends, we have Exhibit A.” I
grab my pirate girl purse and fish out the parking ticket from the
inside pocket. I place the ticket on the table and smooth out any
leftover wrinkles. “A solicitation for a date.”
    Erin claps. “Yay! I have been counting the
days on my calendar until McKenna was