Page 44 of Amethyst

“Thanks for meeting me,” I say to her in our favorite coffee shop.

She sets her peppermint mocha down harshly. “What do you want, Max?”

“To apologize, mostly.”

She takes a sip of her mocha. “Damn! It’s hot!” She wipes her lips with a napkin. “I don’t accept your apology.”

“I suppose that’s your prerogative, but if you don’t want to accept my apology, why did you agree to meet with me?”

“To tell you to your face that you’re an ass.”

“You could’ve told me that when we broke up.”

She huffs. “You blindsided me, Max. I didn’t know which end was up. I didn’t know what to say, how to say it. But what I want now is closure.”

“How can I give you closure?”

“You tell me what’s really going on here. Why we can’t be together.”

“I told you.”

“Yes, that your long-lost love suddenly reappeared.” She shakes her head. “I’m trying not to be resentful. What your friend must’ve gone through… I can’t even imagine.”

“Neither can I.”

“She hasn’t told you?” She raises an eyebrow.

There goes Mimi again, looking for a train wreck. I sigh. “No, she hasn’t told me.”

“Why are we here, Max? I want closure, but what do you want?”

“I don’t know, Mimi. Because… Because you’re comforting to me.” I sink my head into my hands.

“Seriously? You asked me to have coffee so I could give you comfort? When I should be the one getting comfort? Let me guess… Jenna doesn’t feel the same way about you as you feel about her, does she?”

I raise my head and meet Mimi’s blue gaze. “No. She does not.”

“Now you want me back?”

“No. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us, Mimi.” I look down into my cup of black coffee. So dark, kind of like the abyss that is my life.

“Then what’s this about?” Mimi pulls out her phone. “Because I have better things to do than to offer comfort to the ass who broke my heart.”

Damn. Iaman ass. But no longer.

“You said you want closure, Mimi. What can I do for you?”

“You can never call me again. How’s that?” She slams her hand on the table but then looks around at the eyes staring at us in the coffee house. “Because here’s the thing, Max.” Her voice softens, and she chokes up a little. “I still have feelings for you. For me it was all real. Very real, and I knew it was a mistake to agree to have coffee with you when you called. But I couldn’t help myself because I still feel love for you. I shouldn’t, but I do. That will take time. So please, do me a favor. Don’t ever get in touch with me again.”

She rises, throws some bills on the table, and stalks out of the coffee shop.

Yeah, I had that coming. Not my finest moment. I owe Mimi a lot, and if all she wants is to never hear from me again, I can grant that wish.

I head back to work, and I try to erase Jenna Holland from my mind.

And I feel terrible. Because if Mimi feels for me what I feel for Jenna? She’s suffering, and I’m the cause of it.

As if I couldn’t feel worse than I already do.

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