12
Hayden
I’m probably too late with this, but I need to try. I thought some time apart might let her cool down and then be more open and forgiving when I came to apologize. But the more I left it, the more I doubted myself for not just running after her in the first place.
It doesn’t matter now, I’m here and ready to try my hardest to win back her heart. Even if I make an ass out of myself, Veronica needs to know the truth.
I release a tense breath as Veronica answers the door. Thank the Lord for small mercies.
“Hayden.” She gives me a tight smile and wraps her cardigan tight around her body. It’s cold out, the snow covering the ground like an undisturbed sheet. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize. I’m sorry about what happened, I really didn’t mean to ruin everything. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.”
She takes a moment, seemingly in thought. Her resolve doesn’t change one bit, I have a feeling she’s going to make me work for her forgiveness. “You were wrong, by the way.”
What?
“About Lane?” I couldn’t have been wrong. All the signs were there. Plus, he’s a grade-A asshole.
“Yeah. He was trying to wind you up on purpose, he really doesn’t like you.” She laughs at the blunt truth. I’m still not sure if I buy it but I skate past it without comment.
“Will you forgive me?”
“You were forgiven the moment I stormed out, but that doesn’t change things.”
“Why? We could go back to the way things were…” She starts shaking her head as I talk and that only confuses me more. I don’t understand what’s going on. If she forgives me, then we’re all good.
“I...I’ve had a job offer from a big marketing firm in Chicago.” Oh. The sinking feeling in my gut is back and growing worse than before.
Veronica’s head tilts to avoid looking me in the eye. At least she has the decency to look upset when she says, “I’ve accepted. I’ll be moving into my new apartment by the end of next week.”
But…
For fuck’s sake.
“But, I mean, Chicago’s not that far away…?”
Quick, quick, think!
Surely there must be some way for this to work out, for us to have our happily ever after.
“I wouldn’t mind commuting back and forth. It’s not even that long a distance but we could try long distance - it’s been done before.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Her eyes tell me a different story, so I don’t know what to believe.
Just my luck. I finally found the girl of my dreams, more than that, someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, and she’s leaving. Where the hell did that leave us? Well, she’ll be in Chicago and I’ll be left here sitting in the gutter.
“So, that’s it?”
“Thanks for coming to apologize.” She shrugs as if there’s nothing else to be said or done. Maybe she was right, but I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. “I’m in the middle of packing, I should get back to it.”
“Right,” not having anything else to say, I turn my back to her. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, which is saying something. It’s even a struggle to walk back to the car, it almost feels as if I’m pushing against gravity. Pushing against every instinct that my body has.
I could’ve stood on her doorstep all day trying to come up with a solution, but deep down I know there’s only one that I find acceptable.
