Page 12 of Amethyst

“Yes!” I hold up the tan, black, and red striped scarf.

“Imitation Burberry,” He grins.

My last birthday before…

Max and I are about three months apart. He turned eighteen after the first of the year, and I turned eighteen about a month before prom.

“Of course I remember. Time has been a challenge for me. I mean, when I was on the—”

He shakes his head to quiet me. “No. You don’t have to talk about that.”

I nod. “Thank you. I’m not really ready. I talk to my therapists, but I’m not ready to discuss it with others. Not with my parents. Not you.”

“I understand.”

I touch the soft scarf to my scarred cheek. “Tell me about your fiancée. What’s her name again?”

“Mimi. Mimi Flaherty.”

“Mimi, like inRent? Or is it short for something?”

“Yeah. It’s short for Mary Margaret.”

“Mary Margaret Flaherty. Sounds like a bonny Irish lass.” I attempt an Irish accent but fail miserably.

He smiles. At my terrible accent or at the thought of Mimi, I’m not sure.

“So next summer? That’s when Mom says you’re getting married.”

“Yeah. Next summer.”

My heart breaks just a little.

I never felt that way about Max. I entertained the idea for about five minutes our senior year in high school after Lucas and I broke up. He and I’d been together freshman through junior year, but he got some other girl pregnant early senior year, so that was the end of us.

I didn’t date much senior year, which was how I found myself going to prom with Max Robinson, my best friend.

“What’s she like, Max?”

“She’s nice. Blond hair and blue eyes.”

“What does she do for a living?”

“She’s in sales. She sells electronics to seniors.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the company she works for builds things like tablets and smartphones that are easier for older people to use.”

“Oh.”

“She’s very successful at it. Her apartment is bigger than mine.”

A wave of regrets hits me. Max is all grown up, living a normal life. What did I expect? Of course he went on after I disappeared. What other choice did he have?

“What do you do? Mom said it was something in marketing?”

“Yeah. I got my degree in business with an emphasis in marketing.”

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