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Jerkface arrived at the car door just as I was pushing the start button, having taken the other elevator. His white shirt was open and his feet were bare. I swear I hated him so much at that moment that if I could have driven over him and gotten away with it, I would have.
"Ella, don't do this to me!"
"You did it to yourself, Jerkface," I yelled through the window, giving him the finger. I drove off with a squeal of tires, wishing I was on gravel road so I could kick it up into his cheating face, but I wasn't.
I managed to drive back to Hanover without crashing. Once inside my dorm room, I packed a bag and made hotel reservations. For the first few days, I didn't tell anyone exactly where I was – not even Steph, my bestie and dorm mate. All I said was that Jerkface and I had split and I needed to spend some time alone with Movie Channel and a tub of Dutch Chocolate ice cream.
Then, I cried my eyes out.
As I was lying on the hotel bed, the movie Get Bill playing on the television screen, a huge chocolate fudge sundae with whipped cream for supper, I heard my cell chime for the tenth time. I would have ignored it but I decided to check, see what new excuse Jerkface had concocted. Other than more panicked texts from him, vowing undying contrition and loyalty forever and ever, there was one from her.
BUNNI: He was only marrying you because of your father. He doesn't love you. He really loves me but wanted to use your father to get ahead in politics. Be thankful you found out now before it was too late.
I stared at the text, then punched out a response.
ELLA: I don't want a cheating jerk like him anymore. He's all yours.
For the first week afterwards, I lurked around my dorm, waiting for commencement ceremony and spending time with my bestie, Steph. After commencement, I moved back to Concord with my parents and tried to figure out my life. A month passed and then two. My mother tried to talk me into giving Jerkface a second chance, but I refused, steadfast in my determination that he'd had his chance. Now that Jerkface and I weren't getting married, I was free to figure out what the hell to do with my life.
For the past year, I thought I had everything planned out but now my life was wide open.
A year earlier, I had gone to a writer's conference in Manhattan and it was there I met the woman who would change my life. Sharon Rogers, an editor with a publishing house in Manhattan, read my resume, looked at my credentials a
nd suggested that if I wanted to be an editor, I should consider doing an internship with her in Manhattan. They hired one each year for a one-year term. The next opening would be the following fall so I could keep it in mind.
One night as I sat alone in my bedroom, I got a text from her asking if I was still interested in an internship with her company. I realized that I had to do something to move on so I was ecstatic that she considered me.
She'd been without an assistant for two weeks after her last intern informed Sharon that she took a paid job and didn't even give Sharon twenty-four-hours-notice.
ELLA: How soon do you want me to start?
It took a while, but she finally responded.
SHARON: Ella! Are you serious? I can't believe my luck. I was worried you would have already found a paying job and wouldn't be interested in an unpaid internship.
ELLA: I want to move to Manhattan and get into the publishing business. I have some money saved so I could do an internship for six months.
SHARON: Well, then, come! It's perfect timing. How soon can you be here?
ELLA: As soon as I can get a place to stay and a ticket there, I'm your man. Can we say next week at the earliest?
SHARON: Oh, thank God. Call me as soon as you know when you're arriving. We'll talk about your start date and terms of employment.
ELLA: Thanks, Sharon. You're a lifesaver.
SHARON: No, the thanks are all mine. I can't believe my luck that you want to work as an unpaid intern. I was looking through the resumes of other candidates a friend of mine in the headhunting business brought me but you have the best credentials. Bachelor of Arts with an Honors in English, experience editing your school's literary magazine, your own work published. I'm so glad we met at the conference.
ELLA: I can't wait to start.
I sent the message and leaned back onto the bed, my focus now on finding a place to live in Manhattan. It wouldn't be an easy task, but if Sharon was willing to take me on as an intern, I'd do whatever I could to go to Manhattan.
I'd leave New Hampshire and all the memories of cheating Jerkface behind me and never look back.
My father wouldn't be happy about it, and my mother would weep and moan, but I had to make my own life, on my own terms. I had always wanted to move to Manhattan and get into publishing, but had postponed it all because Jerkface was so insistent we get married and settle down. He was so persuasive that I let him talk me out of going to Manhattan for a few years while he finished the term working for my father.
I'd learned my lesson well. Don't compromise on your dreams for a man.
I wouldn't make that mistake again.
