Lovebug by Erin Mallon

Author:Erin Mallon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Erin Mallon
Published: 2021-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“Are you serious right now?” Louise’s face is full of utter shock and disdain.

“Hundred percent,” I say with a nod.

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m setting up my Save the Bees stand at the arboretum’s Artisan Festival. I pulled some strings and got The Philadelphia Aquarium’s Touch Tank booth lined up directly next to mine so I could spend some quality time with my new friend, Louise.

It’s been almost a week since my breakup with Bert, and I’m catching her up on all the sordid details.

“How many women do you think he’s pulled this with?” she asks.

“Hard to say. But since Monday night, I’ve spoken with five women who have confirmed their… involvement with him. But I have a feeling plenty more just don’t want to talk about it. Or at least talk to me about it.”

“Ohmygod, you poor thing,” Louise croons.

“Eh,” I say with a shrug.

“Did you just say ‘eh’ and shrug over your fiancé boning his way through all of his business prospects?” Her voice pitches up in disbelief.

“I think I did, yeah.” I surprise even myself when I say this.

Seriously, if you would have told me a few weeks ago that I’d break up with my boyfriend of six years, eight months and twenty-one days after an explosive night of Ponzi scheme revelations and unrepentant confessions of infidelity, and I would barely bat an eyelash at the whole situation? That I wouldn’t shed a single tear? I would’ve told you no way José. But here I am, not caring. Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about him until Louise asked me how we’re doing. I wonder how much of that is because my mind was on a completely different man.

“His… promiscuity makes no sense to me, though.” Louise’s brow scrunches as she continues the conversation. “You told us he was terrible in bed, didn’t you?”

“I never said that!” I say, shocked she would say something so crass. Accurate, I suppose, but crass.

Oh my gosh, why am I still defending him? Looks like “Good Mabel” isn’t as easy to shake as I’d hoped.

“Mabel,” Louise says, her features very serious. “We all heard the Dick Wolf story last week. You didn’t need to explicitly say he was terrible in bed. That story was enough for me to deduce that his skills are beyond subpar. What do all these women see in him? For that matter, what did you see in him?”

It’s a fair question. What did I see in him?

“He’s a gentleman,” I say with confidence, but then I have to pause. “Or I thought he was.”

Louise stands there with a blank face, clearly expecting a solid answer. So I search for it.

“He’s kind!” I enthuse, though those words no longer feel right in my mouth either. “Or I thought he was.” I feel my voice getting softer with each attempt as if my vocal cords can’t collaborate on such blatant untruths now that I know who he’s become. Correction. Who he’s been for a while now, it seems. I make one more attempt.

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