I fell back against the seat, my eyes wide.
“You’re kidding me,” I whispered.
“Oh yes,” she said with a slow nod. “I had been researching how to apply to one of the local community colleges until I could get into a four-year school maybe the next semester. I hadn’t filled out any applications for any schools other than the ones that I was trying to get a scholarship to.”
She nodded a thank-you to the waitress after she set our cups of coffee on the table.
“Before you came to my house and told me that we were over and needed to move on with our lives, I was planning to call the admissions office and rescind my acceptance.”
“Wow,” I breathed out. “Your mother would have killed me. I escaped certain death that night.”
A laugh bubbled out of her as she stirred cream into her coffee.
“Honestly, what you just told me? Thatreallyconfirms that I did the right thing.”
“Jesse,” she said on a long sigh. “Again, I could have gotten a communications degree anywhere. I didn’t pursue soccer?—”
“Butagain, you had the option to. You went to a great school on a full ride. I ran because I was a jealous asshole, but I’d like to think staying out of your way helped give you a great future. I never wanted you to hate me, but I understand if you did.”
“Here you go,” the waitress sang as she set our cake plates down in front of us. “This is my favorite, so it was a good choice. Enjoy,” she said before leaving the table.
“Well, I don’t know about you,” Emily said as she picked up her fork. “But I have never needed a big slab of cake more than I do right now.”
She sliced into the icing along the side and slid her fork into her mouth, my dick twitching when she let out a moan.
“I didn’t hate you. Trust me, I tried.” She bit into another mouthful of cake. “I would have given up everything to stay with you.”
“So, maybe I was right?”
She glared at me and lifted a shoulder.
“Maybe you were a little right.”
A tiny smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.
“I just wish you would have talked to me instead of yelling at me and driving away.”
“I had to make it stick.” I shrugged and picked up my fork.
“So you’ve said. We at least could have had one more night. Or a couple of weeks.” She set down her fork and picked up her coffee.
“And what would a couple of weeks have done? I almost caved when you’d asked me to come inside. I wouldn’t have been strong enough to resist more time with you if I had. I thought doing it early in the summer would give us a chance to…get used to it.”
“Get used to it?” She arched a brow.
“I still missed you. I missed you for longer than I should probably tell you. But at least when you left, it wasn’t so raw.”
“Maybe for you. Did you think I just stopped thinking about you? That everything was erased about us after one night?”
“No, I didn’t. At least, I hoped not. I was a little worried when you were too nice to me tonight.”
“You’re serious?” Emily squinted at me.
“While, like I said, I didn’t want you to hate me, I wanted to think you missed me enough to be pissed at me. At least a little.”
“So, what did you want me to do? Try to stab you with my butter knife when I saw you?”
“Maybe,” I said, bunching my shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. “Would have been nice.”
