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"Alright, son I' to bed See you next weekend"

"Okay, Dad Love you"

"I love you too, Linc"

Hanging up, I smile I hope I turn out to be at least half the man my father is

"So, have you heard fro?" Emily asks as we drive into Hoboken

I laugh easily "Language, Miss Burnham Where did you learn such a word?"

She takes her eyes off the road to grin at me mischievously "It's what Nix calls my ex It just seems appropriate"

Eht Marc cheating on ood friends since we o She's down to earth and smart as a whip She also had a sy halt

Turning inal question, I tell her, "Wellas a e"

"He wanted it back?" Emily asks with shock

I shrug my shoulders "I didn't ain"

Eht a lifetih every hot guy I came across"

I'hter that ht Too bad I already gave hi woman, I can afford my own condoms!"

"Yes," Eood orgasm to put a smile on your face It's a plan!"

Our hilarity dies down into chuckles and then Eain Her face is full of kindness "Seriouslyhow are you doing?"

"I'm fine," I say And I mean it "Haven't even shed a tear over him"

Eood, Ever You need to grieve"

"I can't," I admit frankly My heart lurches just a tiny bit, then settles back down in its casing of ice

"Can't or won't?" Ee wisdom that no twenty-one year old should have

"I can't I think I " My words come out matter-of-factly, and there is no bitterness or pity I really do think I' about it

I look at E one hand off the wheel, she reaches over and grabs rips hat happened"

Oh, if only she knew I had corips with it already This was not my first rodeo as Marc was not the first man to betray me My heart had been crushed once before, and the pain of it nearly killed rievehard

So hard, I thought about ending it all Luckily, I had the fortitude to push past it

After going through that much pain and misery, it was a miracle I had even opened myself up to Marc I had been so closed off, so remote, that I didn't think it was even possible for h those walls I had so carefully built after ht was true love

Silly me

The moment I saw Marc in bed with Kelli, I felt those walls take shape again It was like cinder blocks andthe way to my heart impenetrable And while it kept all of the external hurt away from le crack or crevice through which my tears could escape

I was definitely a broken wo

Emily and I thankfully move on to small chit-chat She tells me more about Lincoln and some of the other players that will be there I'ers fan and I actually have a Lincoln Caldwell jersey I had even thought about bringing it and asking hin it but that screamed too much dork for my comfort level Besides, it wouldn't be professional of me