Heartbreakers Must Pay

Part 7 "Say the Name"

6:02

Dental school failed to mention the opportunity for this glorious act of complete and sweet revenge. My laugh choked a little short by my own gurgles of blood.

I look into Morice's entirely unconscious face and I'm faintly disappointed he'll miss the grande finale.

I'll have to crack the remaining teeth to show why I've pulled so many. But that's easy enough. Teeth crack. Like hearts break.

'Let him go', my friends would say to me. 'Move on,' they'd add with a few well crafted compliments or, worse--the mention of someone they think I'd like to meet.

As if a heart is a puzzle and its pieces can be neatly reassembled. My heart was shattered. Broken pieces have jagged edges. They poke and pierce. They jab like shards of thin glass. And no one ever glues back together bits of broken mirror.

The weeks after my cancelled wedding were a muddled web of glorious nights with Morice and painful conversations with family.

It was only the second time I'd seen my dad cry.

"We'll pay you back every penny," I said to him through my own tears.

He shook his head and walked away.

That night, when I felt Morice's body next to mine, I knew I had made the right decision. And Morice and I were inseparable. At least, in my mind we were. If I brought up the idea of us moving in together, he'd say I needed more time. If I asked where he was when he didn't answer the phone, he'd change the subject. If I'd press, he'd remind me he was still a single man. "Let's just have fun," he'd say. "No need to make it complicated."

"But you'll always love madly, right?" I'd tease.

"Of course," he'd reply with a kiss.

He forgot my birthday.

It hurt, but I knew soon enough he'd realize he couldn't live without me. I learned to prepare his favorite meals exactly the way he loved them. He smiled at his ironed his T-shirts and delighted in my new outfits. No little hussy out there could compete with me. I would own this man. He would love me more than any woman he's ever known.

That morning had began like any other.

With a spring in my step, I remember humming Goo Goo Doll's "Come to me my sweetest friend" as I went to the kitchen to make his favorite breakfast: two buttermilk pancakes and a scrambled eggs with honey butter. Morice headed to the shower.

As I cracked the eggs and brewed the coffee, I heard his phone buzz, but I wasn't exactly sure where it was located. It startled me because he always kept it on silent—and with him. We'd had a few little spats about passcodes, but, he was single. Still, each time he typed in the passcode, I made mental notes.

I turned off the stove and listened. Where could it be? In the bathroom?

I paused in front of the bathroom door and heard his voice singing Adele in the flowing water.

Buzz buzz. Not in there. It's coming from the bedroom.

On the nightstand, his phone lit up. A picture of young woman in a short skirt and tight blouse smiled up at me.

Buzz buzz.

Numb, but feeling fire in every nerve, I watched the phone until the call ended.

His voice sung out in the shower. "Rolln' in the deep..."

I lifted the phone. It only took three tries until I broke his code. I had his life in my hands.

And I scrolled.