“I can’t believe this. We basically had a one night stand—twice! This feels surreal!”
He nodded. “I spent the whole plane ride processing it.”
My lip started to quiver. I felt his hand on my hip. “That night in college, you said you loved me. All I could think was, ‘how on earth can this crazy man say that and mean it?’”
He shrugged and took a deep breath. “When I think about that night, it’s almost likeIwasn’t the one saying those words. It was just something I felt. I know it’s crazy, but I’ve always had great gut instincts, and that night I went with my gut. Iknewyou were the one.”
I wiped a tear away from my cheek and ran my hand down the front of his shirt, feeling his chest.
“You came all this way for me, the girl who ghosted you—twice?
And that’s when it hit me.
He came here to tell me off, in person.
My heart was going down in flames, and it was totally justified.
Then I felt him take me by the hips. I protested, but he picked me up with his big palms, opened a door, and sat me down.
“Hello? Kit Cat?” he boomed. “Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”
“No,” I said, crossing my arms. “We’re in the confessional. We can’t be in here, you know.”
He was blocking the only door out.
“Cat. Just listen to me for two seconds! What’s gotten into you?”
I closed my eyes and a silent tear rolled down my cheek. He reached out with a finger and caught it.
“What are you still doing here?” I babbled. “Now you know I’m a bad person. I mean who ghosts a guy like that, right? But I swear, I didn’t remember it was you. I blocked your face out of my mind.” I looked him in the eye. “Duke had a crazy beard.”
“Yes, I did. Those college years were fun.”
I tried to force my way out one more time, but he just chuckled, holding his arm out like a bar in front of me.
“Why are you keeping me here?” I went on. “Now you know I’m—in spite of my doctor credentials—not a good person.”
He just stood there. Well, ‘stood’ was an overstatement. In the confessional, he had to crouch down and keep his head turned to one side to fit.
“Why do you keep staring at me like that? What’s gotten into you? Don’t you get it?”
“I thinkyou’rethe one who doesn’t get it.”
“What more is there to get?”
“It was always you.”
“What was always me?”
“The one I was in love with. I’ve never been in love with another woman, besides you. And it’s still you. Don’t you see? It’salwaysbeen you.”
A giant lump crept up in my throat, and my voice came out a hoarse whisper. “You’re not going to run away?”
He didn’t budge, and the slightest hint of a grin tugged at his lips. “But you’re the one who runs, Cat. Not me. Don’t you see? We don’t have to run. We can go back to the United States now, and we’ll win. Wewillwin.”
I shrugged, unable to bring myself to look him in the eye. “I don’t know. Wouldn’t you want to be with some sane girl who doesn’t make up names? And who makes you wait a month to fuck, like the rules say?”
“Fuck the rules.”
