Chapter 20: Picking Up the Pieces

Donna opened her apartment door and turned on the lights. She dragged her luggage with her into the room and closed the door. As she headed for her bedroom, she passed by the living room and glanced around. A wave of sadness suddenly swept through her. She remembered the times when she and Brent would hang out in her living room and just talk for hours. Sometimes they would watch movies together and snuggle in her couch. How she missed those times.

Leaving her luggage in the hallway, Donna went towards the living room and plopped herself on the sofa. Her apartment felt empty now that Brent was gone. Now that she's back in New York, she wasn't sure if she wanted tell her friends and family about the breakup so soon. At the moment, she didn't have the energy to face all their questions. She hugged a cushion and closed her eyes for a few minutes. She felt emotionally drained after spending the night before crying for hours in the guest room at Brent's condo. After she broke off her engagement with Brent, she immediately booked a flight back to New York. She left Brent's condo earlier this morning with her bags in tow.

Her cellphone started to ring suddenly. She opened her eyes and stared at the handbag beside her where she kept her cellphone. She hasn't checked her phone since she boarded the plane. She dreaded to find out who the caller was, fearing that it might be Brent. She wasn't prepared to talk with him at the moment. So she let it ring for a while until it stopped. A few minutes more and she forced herself to get up, go to her bedroom and unpack her bags. True enough, when she finally checked her phone after an hour, there were four missed calls from Brent.

Donna spent the entire Sunday afternoon cleaning up her apartment to take her mind off her former fiancé. She wanted to keep busy because she felt that if she stopped for a while, she would feel the pain again and start crying. She loved Brent and even though they spent most of their last days together fighting, he still had a special place in her heart.

Evening came. She gathered all the courage she had and called her parents to tell them the sad news. Soon, she was pouring her heart out to her mother who was very sympathetic to what happened.

The next morning, Donna received a text message from Rachel asking about her time in California. Rachel still didn't know that Donna was back in New York, and as far as she, Harvey and most of their friends at the firm knew, Donna was set to return to New York on Wednesday.

As soon as Rachel found out that Donna broke off her engagement and was back in the city, it didn't take long for her to drop by at Donna's apartment after work. She consoled her friend as Donna tearfully recounted what happened in California. Donna asked Rachel not to tell Harvey for the mean time. She didn't want him to worry or fuss over her.

Donna wanted to return to work the next day but Rachel advised her to take the time off to heal her wounds. Rachel left Donna's apartment after an hour or so, hoping that her friend would be able to recover from heartbreak soon.

It wasn't long before Harvey found out about what happened. He was buying a bagel at the hotdog stand outside their office building during lunch break when he spotted Rachel on the street.

"Rachel, what are you doing here?" asked Harvey.

"Oh hey, Harvey. I just bought something from the store…," Rachel nodded towards a nearby store.

Harvey eyed the brown paper bag on Rachel's hand. He caught a glimpse of a small tub of ice cream peeking through the open paper bag. He recognized the flavor immediately: Chunky Monkey – Donna's favorite.

"I didn't know you also love that flavor," he commented, munching on his bagel.

"Oh, it's not for me. It's for Do—" Rachel caught herself and stopped. She was planning to bring the ice cream to Donna's place later in the day to cheer her up.

In an instant, Harvey knew something was up.

"For Donna? But she won't be back til tomorrow. Unless…" he shot a questioning look at Rachel.

"Rachel, is there something going on? Is Donna back already?" he asked suspiciously.

"I, uhm…" she fidgeted, looking uncomfortable. "I'm not supposed to tell you."

"Tell me what? Rachel…" said Harvey with a warning tone.

Rachel sighed in defeat. There's something about Harvey's tone that would made anyone spill their secret.

"Yes, Donna is back. She left California early because… uhm… because…" stammered Rachel avoiding Harvey's gaze. After a few moments, she mustered the courage and looked at Harvey.

"She broke off her engagement with Brent. The wedding is off."

"What?" asked a surprised Harvey.

"When? How…?" he continued, staring at Rachel.

"Look Harvey, it's not my place to tell you the details. I think it's better that you hear it from Donna herself," said Rachel.

"She'll be back at the office tomorrow, so you can just ask her yourself," she added.

Harvey was speechless. He wasn't sure how he felt about the news.

"Listen, I gotta run…" Rachel started walking away.

"Wait! Rachel…" he said calling out to her.

Rachel looked back at Harvey.

"Thanks for telling me," said Harvey.

Rachel just nodded and walked away.

Donna was watching TV in her living room switching channels every few seconds. She wasn't particularly in the mood to watch anything on TV but just wanted to drown out the silence in her apartment. The silence made her think of the broken relationship she had with Brent. It was early evening but she didn't have the energy to cook or eat anything for dinner. She just curled up on the couch in her living room wearing a T-shirt and an old pair of comfortable sweatpants and stared blankly at the TV screen.

The sound of the doorbell ringing sort of woke her up from a stupor. But she didn't want any visitors tonight. She just wanted to be alone, so she ignored whoever it was outside her door. But the insistent ring of the doorbell grated her nerves so she got up to tell whoever it was to leave her alone.

She opened the door to see Harvey standing outside with brown paper bags in his hands. He had a grim look on his face.

"So Rachel told you, huh," she said before Harvey could say anything.

"Not everything," answered Harvey.

"I bought you dinner," he said, showing her the large paper bag in his hand.

"I'm not in the mood to eat, Harvey," she said sullenly.

"Rachel also asked me to give you this," he added, handing the smaller brown paper bag to her.

"What is it?" she asked, eyeing the paper bag.

"It's your favorite ice cream."

Donna hesitated for a few minutes then she sighed wearily.

"Fine. You can come in, I guess," opening the door wider to let him in.

Harvey let himself in Donna's apartment while she closed the door behind him.

He put the paper bags down on a coffee table in front of the couch and turned to face Donna who came up behind him. She turned the TV off and plopped down on the sofa without saying anything. She hugged a cushion and stared at the paper bags on the table. Harvey unbuttoned his gray suit, put his hands in his pockets and looked at Donna. Her hair was tied up loosely in a bun and she wore little to no makeup. She looked paler than usual.

"So what really happened?" he asked, looking down at her.

Donna told herself earlier that day that she wouldn't cry anymore but the tears still came.

"Oh, Harvey…" she began, her face crumpling in pain.

Harvey couldn't stand the hurt look on Donna's face and quickly came to her side.

"Donna…" he said softly.

Between sobs, Donna told him everything, including the early fights she had with Brent. Harvey did something he never did before to anyone. He held Donna closely to him and comforted her while she poured her heart out. He wiped away her tears with his hands and kissed her on the forehead for comfort.

He hated to see her this way – so sad, so hurt and vulnerable. He clenched his jaw as anger towards Brent slowly filled him. He couldn't believe that Donna wasn't good enough for Brent's family. But what angered him the most was that Brent wasn't even man enough to stand up for her against his family. If Brent was in New York that time, Harvey would have gone to his place and punched him.

Harvey would have stayed longer but he knew he had to let her rest eventually. He would have liked for her to take an extra day off tomorrow so she could collect her bearings but Donna was adamant to return to work. He reluctantly agreed. Harvey left Donna's apartment a few hours later. How he wished he could do more for her and take Donna's pain away. He didn't know much about relationships but he knew one thing for sure: time and space can heal wounds.