“Chanel,” he greeted, a shy smile playing on his lips. “I was wondering if you’d show up.”
“I considered not coming,” I answered honestly.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.” He rubbed his hand down the side of his jeans. “Please, sit.” He pulled out a chair for me, and I obliged, but scooted farther away. I was still leery of what this was all about.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
I shook my head. Getting food made this feel too much like a date, or old friends getting together. This was not that.
“I’ll just have a smoothie.”
“I’ll get it. What kind?”
“Strawberry banana.”
I turned and watched as he went to the counter and ordered a sandwich for himself and the smoothie for me. I studied him, his mannerisms, trying to discern if I could glean anything. I still wasn’t sure of his intent, and that made me nervous.
“Here you go,” he said, handing me the smoothie. He sat down, barely making eye contact with me. Not knowing what to say, I took a sip of the smoothie, allowing it to coat my dry throat.
“Ethan, what is this about?” I finally asked.
“I wanted to apologize. For everything.” He turned, staring off into the distance before turning back to me. “I, uh, I was a terrible boyfriend and an even worst fiancé to you. You didn’t deserve any of my abuse or cheating, and I just wanted to tell you that, face-to-face. I’m sorry.”
I could’ve been knocked over with a feather. I slumped back in my chair. I looked him right in the eyes, trying to figure out if his words were sincere. Trying to figure out what his angle was, and how or why he would be trying to manipulate me.
“How am I supposed to believe you?”
“You’re right. You have no reason to believe me. I lied to you so much when we were together. But, I…I’ve been making changes in my life over the last few years. I’m trying to right my past wrongs, and I know there’s nothing I can do to make what I did right, but I can offer my apologies and continue to work on myself so that I never treat anyone like I treated you.”
“You came all the way to Houston to apologize?”
“Nah, I don’t live in D.C. anymore.”
“Oh.” I didn’t bother asking him where he lived now, because in all honesty, I didn’t have the energy to care.
“How did you know I was in Houston and where I worked?” I’d been curious and alarmed that he was able to find me.
He gave a small smile. This Ethan I wasn’t familiar with, the bashful one. The Ethan I’d been with was so full of arrogance, it bordered on hubris.
“You told me.”
I tilted my head and gave him a confused look.
“While you were in law school, you’d said that one day you’d like to go back to Houston to practice law and when you did, you’d practice under your mother’s maiden name, so no one would think you only got to be successful because of who your father was.”
“And you told me it didn’t matter, because no wife of yours would be working anyway,” I added, remembering those conversations.
He lowered his eyes to the table. “I did. I’m sorry about that too. I said a lot of bullshit that shouldn’t have been said. I’m glad you didn’t let me stop your plans.”
I was shocked.
“Yeah, I know, but it’s true. Leaving was probably the best thing you did. For the both of us. You’ve been able to accomplish a lot of your dreams and me, well, I was in a bad place for a while afterward. But it ended up being the best thing for me.”
Something inside me told me he was sincere. This demure person wasn’t the braggadocious Ethan that needed to be the center of attention. This was closer to the person I’d thought I’d once fallen in love with. The one whom I’d spent talking with all hours of the night when we were just friends, getting to know one another. The person who’d let his guard down. I don’t know what’d happened to Ethan over the last few years, but I believed him.
I reached across the table, squeezing his hand, “Thank you.”
His larger hand covered mine, patting hit.
