And the story ends - Part 4 of 4

The next day I woke up surprisingly early before the alarm went off. I hated that god damn alarm. It was one of those alarms that go off like a freight train running through the middle of your bedroom. However, unfortunately because I am an extremely heavy sleeper that’s what it takes me to wake up.

The events from last night replayed through my head why I showered and shaved. I should have paid a little more attention while I was shaving. I decided to give Susan a call before Donna came over.

“Hey Susan, it’s me Robert.”

“Oh, hello.”

“I wanted to just tell you that I am going to tell Donna today.”

“You are?”

“Yes, I thought a lot about it on the car ride home and I want to get to know you more and go further with our relationship, do you feel the same way?”

“Well,” That’s never good. I could here the doubt in her voice. “Yes, at least I thought so before I knew you were engaged. I don’t want to ruin a marriage.”

“You’re not ruining anything. If you’re doing anything you’re saving me, saving me from a terrible marriage.”

“If that’s how you feel...”

“Okay, I’ll give you a call at lunch to tell you how it went, bye.”

Wow, that’s a sigh of relief, for a moment I thought she was going to end everything.

The doorbell rang. It was Donna and my heart began pumping at about a hundred miles per hour. My breathing became extremely irregular and I almost had an asthma attack. When I answered the door and saw Donna, I thought twice about everything. For a moment, I doubted my feelings for Susan.

“Hello, honey.” Usually when Donna said this as she stood in the doorway I would give her a kiss. However, today I didn’t.

“Hey, we need to talk Donna.”

“About what?” She was looking so beautiful on that day. It was extremely difficult for the next string of words to come out of my mouth.

“Well, I just don’t think our relationship is working out.” Oh, shit, I just said that. Donna instantaneously exploded into tears. I felt terrible.

“What did I do wrong? Is it me?”

“No, Donna, it’s not you…it’s me.” I thought it would be a great idea to not mention Susan. Donna would never forgive herself for letting another woman come between me and her. She would think for the rest of her life that she is not good enough for guys. “I have been thinking lately that I am just not looking for a relationship like this one anymore. I don’t want to marry anyone, I just want to go out and have fun.”

“How did this come up all of a sudden? I mean you aren’t the type to just go out and have fun.”

“Well, I am. You see there are some things you don’t know about me. You can’t know them when we never communicate. Everyday we go through the same old shit, you come for breakfast and then later for dinner. We give each other the same old kisses, we don’t do anything on the weekends, and our jobs don’t allow us to spend time with each other enough. So, I decided that it is in my best interest if we just ended everything.”

“But, Bobby,” Only my mother typically used that name. I hate that name. “You proposed to me, and I accepted. We are supposed to get married. Can’t we work things out?”

“No, we can’t.”

At the sound of those three words Donna stormed off out of the house. I felt two feelings at the same time. I felt guilt and happiness. I was guilty because I just destroyed a part of Donna’s life, but I was overjoyed because now I can finally be closer to Susan and closer to be happier with my life.

It was about 15 minutes later when I got the call from Donna’s father. He was furious. His voiced cracked every other word and I could picture his face all gnarled and purple. He gave me some spiel about burning bridges and my future as a journalist. For once, I wasn’t scared. He didn’t understand that by being a great journalist I could get a job anywhere. Even though he knew just about everyone in Philadelphia, he didn’t have contacts in Pittsburgh or anywhere else. After listening to him go on and on, I finally decided to just hang up the phone. I was probably the first person ever to hang up on the guy.

At 12:30 I gave Susan a call and told her everything that went on. We decided to meet together and talk some more. I reserved a room at a hotel, packed my bags, and headed to Akron.

Well, our meeting was great. Let’s just say I was able to cancel that hotel reservation, if you know what I mean.


Welcome to the now. That’s right; at the time that I am writing this it has been two years since I dumped Donna. Susan and I are married and I am a writer for the Plain-Dealer in Cleveland. Susan still teaches even though she is expecting.
So what have I learned from this little fiasco? Well, I learned that you have to live life to its fullest and not be afraid to take risks. Susan could have turned out to be a 300 pound, gay truck driver, but she wasn’t. (That would have made the story interesting.) You can learn from it, too. Make sure that when great things come by every once and a while in your life you seize the opportunity. I wasn’t the type of guy who did that two years ago and maybe you aren’t today. But, tomorrow…well it’s up to you to decide.