“Hmmm.” He had a point.
He stood and grabbed the pacifier from the end table. “It can’t hurt.”
I ran my hand through my hair and thought about it. “It could hurt my heart, though.”
“It’s already hurting, honey,” he said, bouncing that sweet little baby. “Just call the guy.”
Well, shit. I looked at Sara, who rolled her eyes and said, “He’s probably right.”
I went into my contacts, unblocked Colin, and started typing.
Me: Are you robot brain?
I didn’t expect him to respond immediately, but he did. Yes.
I sighed and texted: I’m sure it won’t change anything, but if you still want to talk I’ll meet you at Corbyn Coffee at 8am tomorrow.
I’d barely sent it when he responded.
I’ll be there.
I looked at Sara and Trae and my mouth fell open. “Oh, my God. He’s meeting me tomorrow morning.”
Sara let me borrow a cute fall dress before I left, and made me promise to call her the second I was done. I didn’t get much sleep that night, because I was absolutely torn on what to expect. And what I wanted. Half of me was envisioning him begging for my forgiveness and me accepting. That half imagined a day of worshipful sex, followed by his confession of undying love and our happily ever after.
But the other half of me was realistic. I imagined forgiving him, only to fall back into the precarious position of being wholeheartedly in love with him and in constant fear of it being temporary. I didn’t think I could go back to that now, so I was clueless as to what in the world I was going to do.
21
Olivia
“Hi, can I please get a refill?” I handed my card and cup to the barista and took a deep breath. I’d woken at six, anxious and nervous, so instead of trying to sleep, I’d grabbed my laptop so I could get some work done while I waited.
It was 7:50 a.m.; I still had ten minutes.
Once I got my drink, I went back to the table by the window and tried concentrating on work.
“Olivia?”
I glanced up and—
“Oh, my God! Hi, Nick.” I smiled, but the truth was that I wanted him to disappear. Colin would be there soon, and seeing those two together might make me so pissed and disgusted by their scheming that it’d ruin everything.
“How are you?” He gave me a big smile, and I wondered if he thought it was funny, the way I’d kissed him. Had he laughed about it with Colin?
“Listen, Nick, I know about the whole switcheroo thing. Colin told me.”
“Oh.” He looked shaken. “Um—”
“Don’t worry, I’m not mad.” I gave him what I hoped was a friendly smile. “I totally get why he did it.”
“Whew.” He gave a little laugh. “It’s really been bugging me, just so you know.”
“No worries.” I cleared my throat. “Let me ask you this, by the way. I totally understand Colin’s reasons, but why did you agree to the whole thing?”
He looked concerned again. “Well—”
“I’m assuming you just felt bad and wanted to protect me from feeling rejected. Like Colin.”
He nodded, happy for the lifeline. “I did. Colin was telling me how you’d been through a lot with losing your job and everything, and he said you were like a sweet, adorably klutzy little puppy and he just didn’t want you to be destroyed by getting stood up.”
“Wow.” Klutzy little puppy. I clenched my fists and simpered, “You’re so nice.”
He lowered his voice and said, “Well, he did have to buy me a bottle of scotch, so I’m not that nice.”
Did he think I’d find that funny?
He leaned down a little closer. “I actually wanted to ask you out after that, but Colin wouldn’t let me. So please don’t be mad that I didn’t call.”
“Really.” I gave an Oscar-worthy performance of a genuine laugh. “You must not have wanted to very badly, if he was able to talk you out of it.”
“Well, I’m asking now.” He looked pleased with his answer. “Can I take you out sometime?”
“Colin not stopping you anymore?”
He grinned. “Let’s just say I’ve figured him out. He claimed you were batshit crazy with a truckload of issues, but I should’ve known he was lying to keep me out of his territory.”
“You do realize that referring to any woman as someone’s territory is offensive, don’t you, Nick?” Batshit crazy. Truckload of issues. I wanted to kick stuff down all of a sudden as rage started blooming inside of me. I’d actually come to terms with my emotions and decided to consider Colin’s apology for the sake of possible true love.