Dumped, Actually(47)

Best of wishes,

Ahmed Rahami



From: Dominic Carter ([email protected])

How do, mate,

You lucky bastard. I read about what happened with you and that posh Charity girl. She sounds amazing. Any chance you could get in with her long term? I think she sounds much hotter and better than that Samantha. I tried the same thing when Lisa left me. I ended up shagging my sister’s best friend against a wheelie bin in Rochester. Neither of them have spoken to me since, so that went really well.

Getting over Lisa was really hard, anyway. She was my one and only, you know? I thought we’d be together forever. Especially because of our little boy, Jack. But then she left me. At half-time during the England-Portugal match at the World Cup. Talk about bad timing.

I didn’t know why she left for ages. She wouldn’t talk about it. Just upped and left with my baby boy. I started drinking when it happened. More than ever before. Got into a few fights because of it, that were all my fault. I was in a really bad place. And I don’t just mean up against that wheelie bin.

The worst thing was not knowing why. Not knowing why she’d done it. It was tearing me apart because I didn’t know what I’d done to make her leave. I always thought I was a good husband and a good father. Why would she leave me the way she did?

So I went to her work to have it out with her. At first she didn’t want to talk to me at all, but I made her talk to me, because I had to know. She’s a lovely lass, as well. She could see how bad I was. I think she felt a bit guilty about not talking to me more.

And you know what she tells me? She tells me about all the things I was doing that ruined our marriage. It wasn’t one big thing. It was just loads and loads of little things. The nights out with the boys. The drinking. I never did anything romantic with her. We never went out together. I forgot her birthday a couple of times. I didn’t show her enough attention.

You know. All that usual woman stuff. At first, I thought she was bloody mad and bang out of order. But after a while I started to realise that she probably had a point. And I thought that if I changed, I might be able to get her back.

So I did everything I could to be better. And it worked, after a while. I stopped the drinking. Stopped the big nights out. All of that. Felt a lot better about myself.

Me and Lisa still aren’t back together, but we get on well now. See each other quite a lot, mostly with Jack. It’s nice. I don’t know if she’ll ever take me back, but I know that if I hadn’t talked to her about her reasons, I would never have changed.

So that’s what you should do if you really want that Samantha back. Go and speak to her. Find out why she got rid.

I’d go off with that Charity, myself, but we’re all different.

Anyway, cheers, mate. I’m off to KFC with Jack for a bargain bucket.

Dom



From: Elizabeth Moore ([email protected])

To Ollie,

I can’t tell you how much I’ve laughed reading your article on the website, Ollie! I’m sorry you’ve had to go through so much, but if it helps to know that you’ve really put a smile on my face, then maybe that’s not so bad!

I think it’s so cool that you’ve asked to hear from other people about how they got over their break-ups. Even cooler that you’re actually trying the things they suggest. Although, I guess you probably wish you’d never gone camping, eh? ?

I just had to get in touch, because I think I have the answer to your problems. When my relationship of seven years with my boyfriend, Alfie, fell apart, I thought the world had ended. Couldn’t even get off the couch.

But then my doctor suggested I try some mindfulness exercises to see if that could help. I was really sceptical, but had a go at it anyway, as what did I have to lose? At first it didn’t do much, but as the weeks went by I really started to change. Things began to feel a lot better. Not just about Alfie, but my life in general.

Mindfulness teaches you to communicate better with yourself, and live more in the moment. Through it I discovered that I suffered quite badly with anxiety, which the mindfulness really helped with. I basically got my life back because of it.

I also got a new job, because I now teach mindfulness classes, as well as classes in meditation techniques, cognitive behavioural therapy and other methods of relaxation and self-improvement.

You would be more than welcome to come along to try some of them out, if you like!

Anyway, hope you are well, and are not doing too badly. Best wishes and lots of love,

Lizzy Moore





CHAPTER SEVEN

THE TRAUMA OF THE TINY WHITE BALLS

I’m not a great believer in serendipity these days.

It sounds like the kind of thing that only happens in badly written novels. Life may be full of coincidences, but they rarely result in a happy ending, in my experience.

I’m not saying they all happen with disastrous results either, though.

They just tend to happen. That’s the thing about coincidence. Nine times out of ten it will be completely inconsequential to your life.

You’ll try to get into a Volkswagen Polo in the car park that’s exactly the same as yours, with nearly the same number plate, parked a few bays away from where your actual car is.

Or you’ll bump into that same couple from Lancashire on holiday in Greece that you met last year on holiday in Tenerife.