But that didn't prepare her for what she found when she got back to the apartment.
She read the note at least three times before she fully comprehended it. John didn't seem to care very much one way or the other, a fact which only made Susan feel worse. In the end, he stumbled drunkenly off to bed, leaving Susan alone in the living room.
Why did she feel so bad?
Susan couldn't figure it out. It wasn't as if the fact that Sheila was gone should really make that much difference to her.
But it did.
She couldn't go to sleep, even though she practically drove herself crazy trying. She felt empty.
And alone.
And jealous.
This last surprised her, but after she thought about it for a while she began to understand better why she felt the way she did about entire thing.
Sheila at least cared for somebody. Even if Jim wouldn't have anything to do with her when she got back, which Susan sincerely doubted, she could still get some comfort from the realization that she genuinely loved him, and that someday it might work out.
Susan had nothing like that.
John was nothing more than a good friend she liked to go to bed with. And the more she thought about it, the more she began to doubt that he even qualified as a good friend.
At last she drifted off into a troubled sleep, only to be awakened by the phone ringing.
"Hello."
"Susan?"
"Sheila! Where are you!"
"I'm with Jim."
"Oh."
"Listen, ah, I'm sorry I left the way I did, but it was just something that happened inside me. I can't explain it."
"That's all right."
"Thanks."
"Are you coming back?"
"To visit. I hope soon."
"Oh. So do I."
"I've got to go now. I just wanted to let you know that things worked out with Jim. I'll write you a letter this week and tell you everything. Okay?"
"Yeah, sure. Hey, I'm happy for you, Sheila."
"I'm happy for me too. Thanks a lot, though. I'm gonna miss you."
"Yeah. Me too. I'll see you soon. Bye."
"Bye."