Boyfriend Drunk-Called His Ex Crying; I Let Him Go

Earl Fox came home drunk from the class reunion, hunched over the toilet, throwing up and crying while he made a phone call.

Pick up, Clementine Butler! Answer the phone!

Clementine. The name of the ex-girlfriend he'd broken up with eight years ago.

Only when his phone finally died did Earl slump against the toilet and fall into a heavy sleep.

Early the next morning, when I demanded answers, his face went stony.

"She walked out on me at the worst possible time, went overseas without a backward glance. All I feel for her is hate. I'd be glad to watch her die in front of me."

He probably didn't notice it himself.

When he said the word hate, his back drew tight, as if he were about to surrender any second.

The next moment there was a knock at the door. Outside stood a woman, her eyes red from crying.

The instant he saw her, Earl strode forward and clamped a hard grip on her chin.

"Where do you think you are? Who do you think I am? You've actually got the nerve to show up at my door?"

"Clementine, I already told you. Unless you drop dead, I will never forgive you."

I turned my face slightly and wiped the wetness from the corner of my eye.

Earl, without love, where does hate come from?

I don't want any part of your tangle of love and hate.

And my future, of course, doesn't need you in it either.

Earl demanded answers, his voice a low, uncontrolled snarl.

"What gives you the right to show your face in front of me again? Clementine, was I not clear enough last night?"

"Back then you couldn't leave me so much as a single word. What face do you have to come crawling back and beg me to forgive you?"

Clementine wept and shook her head over and over, tears spilling out in big drops with every movement.

"No, Earl, it's not like that, it really isn't."

"Just hear me out, I'm begging you, hear me out..."

Anger still burned on his face, but at the sight of her tears something flickered in his eyes, something that couldn't bear it.

The hand gripping her chin loosened on its own, as if he were afraid of hurting her.

"Fine, then talk! I'm giving you the chance! Talk!"

"What kind of magnificent reason was it, that made you willing to abandon me at a time like that?"

His words were full of fury, but his eyes were plainly begging.

Begging her for an explanation. Begging her for a reason.

But Clementine only wept and shook her head, unable to get out one complete sentence.

The look in Earl's eyes shifted from hope to something dark, until nothing was left but sheer venom.

I sat on the couch watching it all like a bystander, feeling a sting rise in my nose.

So it turned out Earl wasn't naturally calm and self-possessed.

It turned out that, for one woman, he could lose control to this degree.

Once I understood that, a dull pressure gathered in my chest, wave after wave, and the tears nearly broke loose.

But Clementine was still here, and my pride wouldn't let me cry in front of her.

Just then, Earl caught sight of me still sitting on the couch.

He turned, seized my wrist, and yanked me right up in front of Clementine.

"Eight years, Clementine. There's been nothing possible between us for a long time."

"See her? This is Faith Summers, my girlfriend. We're getting married soon."

At the sight of the crushed look on Clementine's face, Earl's own face was flush with the thrill of successful revenge.

But I was the only one who could feel it, the hand gripping my wrist trembling faintly.

Before Clementine could recover, Earl turned to me and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

"Be good. Wait at home for me, all right? I'm off to work."

With that, Earl didn't spare Clementine another glance. He grabbed his coat and walked straight out the door.

Clementine didn't even have time to wipe her tears before she scrambled after him.

"Earl! Earl!"

I walked over to the balcony and quietly watched the two of them.

The driver had long been waiting at the door.

From start to finish Earl never once looked at Clementine. He got in the car and drove off without a backward glance.

Clementine chased after him step by step, but how could a person outrun a car?

The car gradually vanished at the far end of the road, and Clementine's knees gave out. She dropped hard to the ground.

She lay sprawled there, her whole body shaking, as if she were crying.

I didn't watch any longer. I turned and walked back into the living room.

I curled up on the couch, hugging the throw pillow tight against me, just like the night before.

Yesterday Earl had gone to his college class reunion.

When he came back, he'd hunched over the toilet, throwing up and crying, dialing that number again and again.

On the other end, a mechanical prompt kept playing.

"We're sorry. The number you have dialed is not in service."

But drunk as he was, Earl kept dialing, over and over, tireless.

"Please, Clemmie, pick up. Pick up my call."

Only when his phone finally died did he slump against the toilet and fall into a heavy sleep.

And that was how I spent the whole night, sitting on the couch hugging that pillow.

I wanted to ask him.

What happened at the class reunion?

And who was Clementine?

I never expected to find out this very day.

After sitting there a long while, I called my best friend, Cindy Norris.

She was Earl's college classmate, and also my closest friend.

"Cindy, were you at the reunion yesterday?"

"What happened?"

Cindy sounded uneasy on the phone.

"I was going to call you today too. Clementine showed up yesterday. You know, Earl's childhood sweetheart. His ex."

"Last night she said the whole reason she came back to the country was to make it up to Earl. She wants to get back together with him."

"He didn't agree, but anyone could see how badly he was taking it. His face was dark the whole time, and he drank a lot..."

Cindy went on and on at the other end of the line.

I listened to every word, and said nothing.

At the end, her sigh reached my ear.

"If it weren't for me, you'd never have met Earl in the first place."

"I'm sorry, Faith..."

Only after the call ended did I walk back to the window.

At some point Clementine had gotten up. Now she was sitting on the stone steps just outside the door, staring at the direction Earl's car had driven off, not moving at all.

Night fell, and she was still sitting in the same spot, not having moved.

I stood at the balcony too, and just quietly watched her for the whole day.

Only when headlights lit up the front door did Clementine finally get to her feet.

She must have been sitting too long, because her legs had gone stiff, and she stumbled as she ran toward Earl's car.

Earl didn't so much as glance at her. He walked straight into the yard.

This time Clementine worked up her courage and wrapped her arms tight around him from behind.

"Earl, I'm begging you. Just let me explain, please?"

"Back then I really was forced into it. Your family went bankrupt, my parents made me go abroad. I was only in my early twenties. There was no way I could stand up to them."

Earl's back went ramrod straight, the hands at his sides clenched into fists, as if he were forcing something down with everything he had.

Clementine kept crying, as though waiting for an answer.

After a long moment his voice came out, rough and reluctant.

"But those legs are your own. Going abroad was your choice."

With that, he pried her arms off his waist and walked into the house without looking back.

I stood at the balcony and took in the whole thing.

He came inside looking hollowed out.

He didn't seem to notice me standing on the balcony, and went straight into the bathroom.

When he came back out, freshly showered, he finally saw me there.

He came over the way he always did, slid an arm easily around my waist, and buried his face in the curve of my neck.

"Faith. Thank god I have you."

After everything today, I didn't want to dig into what he actually meant by that.

A moment later he lifted his head, and I tipped my chin toward where Clementine was.

He followed my gaze outside.

She still hadn't left, standing frozen in place, hollow, as if she were waiting for something.

A flash of resentment crossed his eyes, and he took my hand to pull me inside.

"Don't mind her. She's insane, honestly..."

Before he could finish, fat drops of rain came slamming down.

The rain came hard and fast, as if the sky had torn open a great hole.

His feet stopped short, and he turned his head back toward Clementine.

She was still standing where she'd been, the rain soaking her through in no time, and yet she seemed not to feel it at all.

His grip on my hand tightened, harder and harder.

It was clearly my hand he was holding, but at that moment there wasn't the smallest place for me in his eyes or his heart.

"Fuck."

After a long moment he couldn't hold back anymore. With a low roar he bolted out the door.

I stayed on the balcony, watching the two of them out there in the rain.

Clementine forced out a small smile and looked up at him.

She seemed to say something, but the rain was too loud, and I couldn't make it out.

But the next second, I heard his furious shout perfectly clearly.

"Clementine! What the hell do you want!"

"Why is it, after all these years, you still can't learn to take care of yourself?!"

It wasn't long before Earl came back, Clementine with him.

She trailed in behind him, soaked through.

Earl wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Faith, the rain's coming down too hard, and it's late now. Let her stay the night."

"Don't worry. I'll send her off first thing tomorrow."

I said nothing. I just nodded and walked into the bedroom.

Maybe it was because I hadn't slept the night before, and had spent the whole day standing out on the balcony.

My mind was a mess, but even so I dropped fast into sleep.

I woke with a jolt in the middle of the night, and only then noticed the sheets beside me had gone cold.

Earl wasn't there.

I threw off the covers and got up. I'd only just reached the door of the guest room when, through the gap, I saw the two of them holding each other inside.

Earl had Clementine wrapped tight in his arms.

That grip, as if he wanted to press her all the way into his own bones.

Clementine didn't struggle at all. She only wept, letting herself sink into the embrace.

Earl's voice came, low and strained.

"Clementine, this is what you owed me eight years ago."

I forced down the trembling in my body and pushed the door open.

At the sound, the two of them broke apart with startling speed.

The instant our eyes met, something like panic flickered in Earl's.

"Faith, let me explain."

Clementine tried to speak up too.

"Miss Summers, it isn't Earl's fault, I can"

I cut her off.

"Miss Butler, this is between Earl and me."

"I don't need you explaining anything on his behalf."

Back in the master bedroom, I sat on the edge of the bed. Earl came and crouched down in front of me, and began to explain his history with Clementine.

He and Clementine had been childhood sweethearts, and after they came of age they'd simply fallen together, the natural next step.

The way Earl told it, back then Clementine had been everything to him.

Senior year, close to graduation, the Fox family went bankrupt. His father couldn't take the blow and threw himself off a high building, and creditors came pounding at the door.

At the lowest, most agonizing point of Earl's life, Clementine left without so much as a word to him, going abroad exactly as her family arranged.

That leaving lasted eight years.

Until yesterday's college reunion, when Clementine, gone for eight years, suddenly reappeared.

And by then Earl had already become one of Riverton's new elite, with my help and my family's.

At the end of it, Earl gripped fistfuls of his own hair, helpless.

"Faith, believe me, I really don't have feelings for her anymore."

"I don't want to be tangled up with her either, but I want to give some kind of closure to the person I was eight years ago."

The more he said, the more it hurt him. By the end his voice had gone thick, and tears fell in big drops onto the floor.

"Faith, thank god I have you."

"If it weren't for you, I'd never have made it through these years."

I said nothing. I offered no comfort.

Earl's quiet sobbing filled the master bedroom, and my heart sank, bit by bit, with the sound of it.

The one sitting in front of him was me.

But his tears were for another woman.

Only when Earl's emotions had settled a little did he seem to realize I hadn't said a single word.

He grabbed my hand, almost frantic.

"Faith, what I said this morning was true. I really do want to marry you."

"Faith, marry me. Please?"

A day ago, hearing this, I would surely have wept for joy.

But now, I couldn't find a trace of love in Earl's eyes.

The way he looked at me was more like a drowning man staring at a straw.

I pulled my hand back. My voice was so calm it frightened even me.

"Earl, this proposal, do you actually want to marry me?"

"Or are you just trying to prove a point to Clementine?"

Earl froze, as if the question had caught him off guard too.

I pressed down the ache rising in my chest.

"Just sleep."

When I woke the next morning, the bedroom was empty.

I didn't want to waste a thought on where Earl had gone. I was about to get up when a knock came at the door.

"Miss Summers, may I come in and talk with you?"

The moment she stepped inside, Clementine dropped straight to her knees in front of me.

"Miss Summers, I'm begging yougive me a chance to make things right."

"I know you've been with Earl for seven years, but you saw it yourself last night. What we have is something you could never come between."

"I came back to this country to make it all up to him. Please, I'm begging you, give me that chance."

I glanced at her.

"None of this is for me to hear."

"What's between me and Earl has nothing to do with you, and whatever's between the two of you is not something you need my opinion on."

"If you still want to say all this, then please leave. I don't care what goes on between you two."

Her eyes were red, swimming with pleading.

"Miss Summers, I really do mean well for you."

"Even if there's a misunderstanding between me and Earl right now, I believe he'll forgive me one day. He can't let me go."

"I don't want you to get hurt"

I couldn't stand to listen anymore. I pulled the bedroom door open.

"Please leave."

Hearing the ultimatum, Clementine scrambled to her feet and came to my side, her voice turning almost frantic when she spoke again.

"Earl doesn't love you at all. What's the point of dragging this out? It only hurts all three of us."

"He and I have known each other since we were children. No matter how much you've helped him over the years, you'll never mean as much to him as I"

She didn't get to finish before my hand cracked hard across her face.

"I don't care how earth-shattering your past was. Right now I'm Earl's girlfriend."

"Clementine, you have no right to say any of this to me."

Clementine held her cheek, ready to argue back, but Earl's furious shout exploded beside us.

"Faith Summers! What do you think you're doing!"

The instant she heard his voice, the tears came pouring out of Clementine again, in fat drops.

I looked toward the doorway and saw Earl standing there with breakfast in both hands.

From the bags, it was the soy milk and fried dough sticks from that place I loved best.

But right now his face was tight with panic, and he flung the food to the floor without a thought.

Soy milk splashed everywhere, and the fried dough sticks, already cut into little pieces, rolled off in every direction.

Earl rushed to Clementine's side, his eyes dark and cold as he took in the swollen red of her cheek.

After a moment, he turned and glared at me.

"What right do you have to raise a hand to her?"

I looked at his eyes, red with rage.

In that moment, the last taut string inside me finally snapped for good.

I lifted my head and met his gaze without flinching.

"Don't you hate her? Aren't you the one who doesn't love her anymore?"

"I only slapped her once. And already you can't bear it?"

Earl fired back almost the instant my words ended, without a second's hesitation.

"That's between me and her. You have no right to interfere!"

"I can treat her however I want, but no one else lays a finger on her."

"You included."

I'd already seen all of it laid bare yesterday.

And yet, hearing him say it now, my heart still gave a vicious throb of pain.

We were still locked in that standoff when Clementine's body swayed, as if she couldn't stay on her feet.

"Earl, my head's so dizzy. I think I caught a cold from the rain yesterday."

"Take me to the hospital? Please?"

Earl pulled his eyes away, scooped her up in his arms, and started for the door.

Watching the two of them walk away, I wanted to hold on to one last scrap of dignity.

Wasn't Earl trying to settle a debt with the boy he'd been eight years ago?

I wanted to settle one toowith the seven years I'd just spent.

"Earl. Don't go."

His steps halted, as if he were wavering.

Then, after a moment, I heard his strained voice.

"Faith, I'll give you an explanation."

"Wait for me at home."

With that, Earl didn't hesitate any longer. He walked straight out.

Without any warning, my tears fell before I could stop them.

I raised my eyes to the soy milk and dough sticks scattered across the floor.

Filthy. So filthy.

Filthy, just like Earl.

Breakfast no one could eat, and a lover who would never turn back.

Both of them garbage.

Earl Fox, goodbye.