I shook my head.
"I'm so sorry about your coffee," a low, female voice interjected.
I glanced over and noticed for the first time that Brian was with someone. A very pretty woman with a sleek blonde haircut and a sharp suit. They were holding hands.
"How about I go order you two more while you and Brian catch up?" she offered.
I opened my mouth to tell her not to bother and make a bad excuse for needing to leave immediately, but Brian beat me to it.
"Thanks, Alicia. She likes caramel macchiatos."
Alicia smiled at Brian and she went from just pretty to beautiful. She squeezed his hand. "I'll be back in a minute."
I watched, bemused, as she disappeared into the coffee shop. Brian hadn't introduced us but she seemed to know exactly who I was.
"That wasn't necessary," I murmured to Brian. "It was my fault."
He shook his head, his eyes locked on Alicia through the glass for a moment longer before he looked at me. I braced myself to be faced with hurt feelings and accusations, but that wasn't what I saw.
He looked...relaxed. Happy.
"She knew that I would want to talk to you," he replied.
People clumped together and tried to pass us to get into the shop. Brian and I stepped to the side, which put us much closer together.
"Why would you want to talk to me?" I asked. The last time I'd seen him, I'd hurt him. Broken his heart.
He inhaled, his eyes moving back to the window of the coffee shop and Alicia inside. Then, his gaze came back to me. "She knows I want to apologize to you for the way I treated you the last time we were together."
I blinked in shock. "Um, sorry?"
Brian huffed out a quiet laugh and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. His expression was sheepish, but he no longer looked humiliated as he had that night.
"You were right in what you said. We hadn't talked about the future. You never led me on or said anything about marriage. It was something I built up in my head. Once I met Alicia, I realized that you and I barely knew each other, except in a basic way. I had no idea what your goals and dreams were or if you had friends other than Cam. We talked, but it was always about work or mutual acquaintances, never anything with depth. I reacted poorly when you did nothing more than tell me the truth as gently as possible and I'm sorry for that. I made a difficult situation even harder."
I blinked again, unsure if I was hallucinating because of a lack of caffeine.
"Sierra?" Brian asked.
"Um, sorry. I just didn't expect—" I cleared my throat. "I mean, I never thought you should be the one to apologize. I'm the one who should be, whois, sorry for hurting you. You deserved more than that."
He tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "The thing is— you were right. And I'm grateful you had the courage to tell me the truth and turn me down. If you hadn't, I never would have met Alicia."
His words hit me right in the chest, creating an ache.
Brian had found her, the woman who would love him the way he should be loved. The one I'd told him was out there.
It hurt because I'd had the same chance and I was pretty sure I'd blown it all to hell.
My throat tightened almost unbearably and my eyes burned. Shit, shit, shit. I would not cry right now. Not on the sidewalk with people walking by. And definitely not in front of Brian. He would misunderstand the reason for my tears and immediately think he'd caused them.
I was saved by Alicia's reappearance with two drink carriers. She handed one to me, which held two cups of coffee.
"Thank you," I said to her. I took a moment to think before I spoke and I met Brian's eyes. "I'll accept your apology if you accept mine. We both made mistakes but I'm glad that you found what you were looking for."
I glanced at Alicia and she was smiling at me. She didn't seem tense or upset at all that Brian had wanted to speak to me privately. It made me like her. She understood there was no reason to be jealous.
"I wish you both the best," I said to Brian. "Be happy. You deserve it."
