“Take your time,” he said. “It’s slow tonight, and we don’t close for another hour.”
“Thanks,” Bryson and Evie said at the same time.
She took a sip of her coffee, then set the mug on the table.
“So,” Bryson said. “Now that you know why I left, how does it affect us going forward? Does it put us even remaining friends in jeopardy?”
“No.” She didn’t even have to think on it. “It was a long time ago. You said you were messed up then, but you’re not the same person you were eight years ago.”
“I’m not.” He shook his head. “The man I am today would never have left you that way.”
“The woman I am today wouldn’t allow it,” Evie said. “I would find you and demand answers instead of wondering for nearly a decade.”
“Damn, Ev.” He ran a hand down his face again. When he looked at her, the contrition in his expression washed away some of her hard feelings.
“The thing is, I don’t know if I’m ready for a relationship so soon after ending things with Cameron,” Evie said. “I know I am not getting back together with him, so don’t even go there. But that doesn’t change the fact that I just ended a ten-year relationship with a man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. Yes, it was on again/off again, but this just feels too soon. You understand that, right?”
He sucked in a long, audible breath.
“I don’t like it, but I understand it,” Bryson said. He spread his hands flat on the table, then balled them into fists. “This feels like Cameron’s winning. I really hate that son of a bitch.”
“Stop looking at it that way,” Evie said. “It was never a competition.”
“No, but if I thought that I had a real chance with you back then, I would have made it one. You have no idea howhard it was to accept that the girl I’d fallen for was the girlfriend of the lab partner I hated to the very core,” he said. “Life can be funny. Brutal, but funny.”
“It’s the weirdest coincidence that the two of you were lab partners. Cam had never mentioned you to me before,” Evie said. “He’d talked about his lab partner, but he never called you by your actual name. It was always some kind of insult.”
Bryson snorted. “I did the same.”
“There was no love lost between the two of you. That was obvious.” Evie paused, unsure if she should continue. But they were airing things out, so she did. “I’ve asked myself so many times what I would have done if you hadn’t left,” Evie said. “If I’d returned to campus to find you still there, as Cameron’s lab partner.
“I got back together with him because there was pressure from my family to do so, and you were gone, so I just…” She hunched her shoulders. “I did what everyone thought I should do and forgave Cameron.”
“Do you want to know just how pathetic I was eight years ago?” Bryson asked.
“You were not pathetic.”
“Yes, Ev, I was. Because if I’d known I had even theslightestchance, I would have happily taken any crumbs you threw my way. If you had been willing, I would have snuck around with you behind Cameron’s back. Hell, I would have poisoned that motherfucker if you’d asked me to.”
Evie let out a surprised laugh. “Is that still an option?” She put her hands up. “Just kidding.”
“I’ve got a little more to lose these days,” he said with a wry grin. Bryson shook his head. “If I’d thought I had a chance to win you away from Cameron back then, I would have tried.”
“Stop saying that. I was not then, nor am I now, a prize to be won,” she said.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said. “I blame your ex. He’s the one who always made things into a competition when we were in class.”
Evie rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised.”
A weighty silence fell over them as they stared at each other across the table.
“Why can’t we start over, Ev?” he asked.
“Bryson…” She shook her head.
“Why not?” He slid from the bench on his side of the table and walked over to where she sat, sliding in next to her. He took her hands in both of his and gave them a gentle but firm squeeze. “Why not? You said you wanted to leave the past behind and start fresh. We can still do that.”
Evie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “I just don’t know, Bryson.”
