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He jumped back, dropped the paper to the floor, and grabbed for this face.
“My jaw is broken!” he screamed.
“It’s not broken if you can talk,” Bethany said.
“You hit my face,” Herbert said to me.
His chin began to quiver.
“Just shut up,” I growled at him. “Just shut your mouth. You are such a piece of a shit. And… I want to sue your ass. But I won’t. I’ll just walk away.” I stomped on the paper on the floor. “You figure it out. Leave me the fuck alone. I’m going to get my files and I’m out of here. If I see you again, Herbert, I will break your jaw. Got that?”
I made a fist and Herbert ducked down.
He hurried toward the door, knees bent, and didn’t fully stand upright until he was outside on the sidewalk.
He looked at me and rubbed his jaw.
“He looks like he’s going to cry,” Bethany said.
“Good,” I said.
I stared Herbert down as he disappeared from view.
Once he was gone, I looked at Bethany.
She nodded at me. “That had to feel good.”
“I’m out of here, Bethany.”
“Good. Go home. Go find Joe. Go do-”
“No,” I said. “I’m out of here. All of this. Everything. I’m just… done.”
“Okay,” Bethany said.
“I will make sure to pay you. Like I said I would.”
“Anna, I’m not worried about that.”
“You should start looking for another job, too. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. Or my practice. Or anything to do with me. For all I know, I might get on a plane, fly to another city and start over.”
“Promise me you’ll stay in touch if you do that?” Bethany said.
“You really are a great friend,” I said.
“Anna. Just go. Go do what whatever you have to do.”
A part of me wanted her to stop me.
Pour me another drink.
Get me drunk and we would end up on the floor, laughing and crying. We would order food. Eat. Drink some more. Sleep.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
And I wasn’t going to go back to Joe’s apartment either.
I just… I just had to leave…
