Page 34 of Nothing But the Truth

“So, I guess...”

“I guess so too,” she said.

He gave her another nod, and that was it. It was over. It was swift and harsh, but she had gotten what she came for: the truth.

She didn’t cry until she was in the elevator. Brutal honesty was more painful than she thought, a lesson she’d learned repeatedly throughout the day. Even if breaking up was the right thing to do, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. She sniffed boiling tears and felt simultaneous rage and relief. She couldn’t tell who either emotion was directed at, but she knew Caleb wasn’t the one for her.

Does the one even exist?she wondered as she crossed the ground-floor lobby. Maybe that was a made-up concept used to trick women into thinking they needed a partner to be complete. Maybe there was no rush to get married, get a dog, pop out kids, buy a house, and live happily ever after.

Ever after.

What about living in the moment?

Why was she making herself believe lies about the future that forced her to live her life on daily terms that didn’t make her happy?

She stepped into the sunlight and walked down the stone steps. Lunchgoers crowded the small plaza, chatting on phones, waiting for cars, some sitting on the bench circling the fountain to eat. The buzz and clamor of it all made her feel alive. She was ready to move forward in the present and stop dwelling on the future, on made-up dreams and plans that weren’t even really her own.

She heard Caleb call from behind her. “Lucy!”

His voice cut through the street noise like a chiming bell, and a vulnerable, post-breakup synapse in her brain convinced her she had been too harsh. She had made a mistake. She rescinded every thought she’d had between his office and the sidewalk. He was chasing after her, coming to apologize, and she’d take him back. They’d find a way.

She whirled around to let the real-life fantasy play out, and her skirt tangled around her legs. She didn’t realize how close to the fountain she’d stopped, and when a pigeon launched itself into flight like a fat, flapping rat, she startled and felt its wing clip her chin. She flailed to swat it away, dropped her tote, stumbled, and fell headfirst into the fountain.

The splash cut off sounds of gasps and Caleb shouting her name a second time. The water was only two feet deep, but it was enough to submerge her in a sloshing bath of recycled chlorine, wishing pennies, and absolute humiliation. She almost opted to drown.

She surfaced, praying no one had pulled out their phone for a video, and pushed her sopping hair from her face. Caleb stood at the fountain’s side looking horrified.

“Are you all right?”

She climbed out, heaving a wave of fountain water with her and splashing the concrete. Her dress plastered to her skin; her hair dripped down her back. Her new scarf from Oliver was probably ruined.

Everyone was staring. The poor people lunching on the fountain’s rim grabbed their salads and jumped away from the woman in a soggy sundress. Even Caleb backed up to save his suit from getting wet.

Lucy wrung out her skirt and grasped for a speck of dignity. “Did you see that bird? It hit me in the face!”

Caleb looked over his shoulder as if searching for the guilty pigeon, but he was surely checking how many people were staring.

She squeezed water from her hair and tried for a smile because what else could she do? “Anyway. Did you need to tell me something?”

He reached in his pocket, and her heart almost burst out of her chest, thinking he really was chasing after her.

Except.

It wasn’t an emerald cut in his pocket.

It was the key to their new condo, and she realized that grand gestures were nothing but Hollywood lies.

“Can you take this back to the leasing office? I won’t have time.” He held out the gold token like a spear straight to the heart of their dying relationship.

It was already dead; she’d just been in denial.

And she realized the fountain had to be the universe intervening again. Just like her sudden sickness in her office, the fountain was a means to stop her from lying, and in this case, the lie was running back into Caleb’s arms.

“Sure.” She took the key and reached for her thrown tote. Luckily no one had run off with it while she was underwater. She stepped around Caleb to grab it and wondered why he wasn’t gathering it for her. He’d held her bag plenty of times before, but it looked like those days were officially over. All boyfriend duties relieved.

Bitterness filled her mouth like she’d swallowed the pennies from the fountain.

“Oh,” he said, “I guess I won’t be coming to your birthday party tonight. I think that would be kind of, well, awkward at this point, don’t you?”

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