Page 28 of Man Seeking Woman

"It's too late, Ella, I'm sorry." The corner of his lip curled with a weak, apologetic smile as he turned and walked away.

"But, Frank!" I called out to him. He didn't respond, getting on the elevator and disappearing behind the metal doors.

Slamming my door shut, I threw the letter across the room, watching it tumble in the air and slide across the floor, coming to a stop against the wall.

"Damn it!" I yelled to myself, raking my fingers through my hair and pulling it tight against my scalp. "What the hell am I going to do?"

Glancing at the bottle of wine, I grabbed it by the neck and took a big sip. Allowing my throat to open fully, the liquor spilled down into my belly, giving me the warm and fuzzy bubbles instantly.

My plan for the night just became clear—forget today ever happened.

Taking another big gulp of wine, I held the bottle up and cheered the air. "That I can do," I said out loud.

* * * *

Bang Bang Bang!

Picking my head up off the couch, I could barely hold my eyes open. Brushing the tuft of wild hair from my face and wiping the drool off my chin, I stared at the door.Who the hell is that now?

Bang Bang Bang!

Pushing myself up, I threw my legs off the edge of the couch and checked the time. Nine in the morning, way too early to be dealing with anymore surprises.Laying back down, I decided to pretend like I wasn't home.

I had enough, all I wanted was to time jump past this point in my life. Nothing was going how I expected it to, and to add salt to the wound, I was about to be living in a cardboard box in the alley next to my building, directly beside that aromatic blue dumpster.

"El! Ella! Answer the door, it's me!" Kay yelled loudly, slamming on the door again.

Pinching my eyes closed, I called out to her. "I'm not in the mood, Kay! Come back later."

"Open the door, El, I have something I need to show you." Her voice was more level and less frantic, but I could tell she wasn't going to just leave. "It's important."

Grunting, I dragged myself off the couch and walked to the door. Pulling the chain free, I twisted the lock and cracked the door enough to poke my face through.

"Kay, really, right now I just want to sleep. I'm not in the mood to hear about Justin or anything he did. I'm not trying to be rude, I just really had a rough night."

"Yeah, no shit," she said, opening her eyes wide. "And it's not about him." Forcing her way into my apartment, she brushed past me, going straight into my livingroom. "You need to see this."

"See what?" I asked, closing the door and reluctantly following behind her.

"Sit."

"Kayla, seriously, you have no idea the night I had. Can't this wait?"

"Sit," she said again, pointing at my chair.

"Alright," I huffed out, dropping down. "I'm sitting, what is it?"

She had something in her hand that I hadn't noticed when she came in. Her hands nervously rolled and unrolled what looked like a newspaper.

"Kay, just show me already."

Sighing loudly, she held out the paper, keeping it folded, and waving it gently for me to take. "It's on the front page."

Reaching out, I grabbed the end, but Kay didn't let go right away. Lifting my eyes to hers, she had this look on her face that had me worried.

"What's on the front page?" My lip curled to one side, not sure what the hell was happening.

"Just open it."

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