THE BREAK UP AND COVID-19

Frankie Weiss was frustrated. He had tried to Call, What's App, Skype, Zoom, and FaceTime with his girlfriend Marla Steimer for over an hour and she ignored all his requests.

They had been in separate quarantines for over seven weeks and the frequency of their calls was steadily dropping. They had started by talking at least three times a day and now they were communicating once every two days. In Frankie's heart he knew something was wrong and their relationship was teetering.

After looking at the clock one more time (eleven thirty) he decided to brush his teeth and go to sleep. It had become a ritual. He turned on Home & Garden Television, started watching a show about renovating and flipping a house and was just about asleep when his phone rang. He rolled over and grabbed it on the fifth ring.

He and Marla had been dating for two years, they were at the make it or break it point. Just before Covid-19 showed up they had a brief discussion about the future, marriage and family. Frankie took it as a very good sign but Marla seemed pretty non-committal. They had made love and it had been right out of the Kama Sutra but Marla remained aloof. She had said her parents were divorced and she didn't want to rush into anything.

Frankie had invited Marla to stay with him at his apartment during quarantine but she had declined. She owned a beautiful Condo in the Four Seasons Hotel. Frankie had noted that she hadn't invited him to stay with her, but just passed it off as Marla wanting her space. She had said something about using the pool and gym, but that was the only reason she gave for not moving in with him during the pandemic.

''Hi Frankie, I saw you called, but I was busy. You know the office has given me a couple of cases to work on. One is a major Real Estate transaction, it's for a proposed new Condo development downtown.'' Frankie wanted to be excited for her, but he couldn't. He knew something was off.

''That's great Marla, I actually tried to call you a few times over the last couple of days. I'm getting worried that I'm becoming a pest.'' There was a long pause. ''Well, I do have to admit, I find your torrent of calls on the clingy side, which is not comfortable. I've been giving it a lot of thought, and I think this separation has been good, because it's allowing us to realize the imperfection of our relationship.''

Frankie was now fully awake and sat up on the side of the bed. ''What do you mean?'' He was sure he heard a male voice in the condo. ''Is there someone there with you?''

Marla asked for a second and Frankie heard a door close. ''You know Frankie, you've done nothing to try and be with me. You never showed up here, you never sent flowers or chocolates. I just don't think you're all that interested in pursuing a long term relationship. I don't feel you are committed the way you should be to a relationship between us.'' Before she could go on, Frankie interrupted. ''Bullshit. What's his name Marla? Please don't put any of this on me, I know you want to end the relationship.'' There was another long pause.

''Okay, here's the reality. I go to the gym everyday. There's a lot of space and I was on the treadmill when Mike who was on the stationary bike waved at me. I waved back and left. The next day I was on the treadmill and Mike came over with a card and a bottle of wine. I read the card and he introduced himself. Mike lives in the building and we started leaving notes for each other. Last week, he wrote me a really lovely email. He's been in home isolation for eight weeks and hasn't seen a soul. he invited me up to his Condo and he served me an incredible dinner that he had made from scratch. We kept a lot of distance between us, but there was an undeniable attraction. I'm sorry Frankie, but I've fallen in love with Michael and I'm going to move in with him. I want to Thank You for understanding and wish you a Great life.''

Frankie's head was spinning. He was being dumped while in home isolation. It was probably the worst dumping he ever had. There were no words. He was speechless. Marla had justified and rationalized everything. The two years they spent together had meant nothing. Frankie hung up the phone without saying a word. He was stunned and couldn't think of anything to say, betrayal was painful. He wanted to scream but what would be the point?

The people on Home & Garden television were very upset because their reno had gone over budget, Frankie was upset because his heart was shattered.

Over the next few days Frankie tried to figure things out, had he been a bad boyfriend? Should he have broken quarantine to try and see Marla? At the end he knew it was all nonsense. Marla wanted out.

Frankie took a look at Marla's Facebook page and much to his surprise there was a picture of her and her new beau. She had written a post about how in love she was. Frankie wanted to heave. All evidence he had ever existed were scrubbed from her pages.

It was a horrible feeling to be discarded and treated like you never mattered, that you were nothing more than a seat filler. Frankie knew he would just have to deal with it. He did however decide to take action, and before long he was immersed in the world of online dating.

There was no question, Covid-19 had contributed to the end of his relationship with Marla. Maybe that was a good thing, to be with someone who doesn't really want to be with you is beyond painful. Instead, maybe his soulmate was out there waiting for him, and now he had all the time in the world to concentrate on finding her. He didn't have a lot of other things he needed to do, he'd never be Calling, Zooming, Skyping, or What's Apping Marla again.