“What did she say?” he asks.
I force myself to fold the note up and slide it carefully into my bag. “She says she hates me and that I should bolt away from you as fast as humanly possible.”
Liam looks away with a smile before quickly turning back to me. “I should have known she’d try to turn you against me now that she has you back in her clutches.”
“And how do you know I’m back in her clutches?”
“Because the way you looked down at that napkin prompted a whimsical violin melody to be carried in on the breeze.”
“That’s a spot-on description,” I tell him.
“Well, if you’re reacting now, I’m very curious to see how you’ll be faring in a few seconds when I tell you my next bit of news.”
“And what news is that?” I ask.
“That Juliette is waiting in the lobby.”
For a second, I think I heard him wrong. I mean to ask him to repeat himself but only manage to watch him as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone. A swipe and few taps later, he’s holding it to his ear as I continue to stare at him with jumpy eyes.
“It’s alright, you can come in now,” he says, then puts the phone away as quickly as it appeared. He’s watching me as if he’s trying to gauge whether I’m going to fight or flee, and I hardly know myself. I’m about to ask him what the hell is going on when I hear the theater door open and close. My face whips towards the sound, and there’s Juliette. In the flesh. In New York. In the theater—the two of us once again existing in the same world after more than a year apart.
I’d like to say that I stand there—that I patiently wait for her to approach me, but I don’t. I keep my eyes trained on hers as I quickly step forward, then sit, lowering myself off the stage. I walk steadily through the center left aisle. She’s been walking this whole time too, and we end up meeting halfway.
Standing across from her, three feet away, I’m at a loss. I don’t know what to do or think. Luckily, she’s the first one to speak.
“Hi, Winnie,” she says.
Her voice is jarring, but I somehow manage to keep mine calm.
“Hi, Juliette.”
That’s it. Those simple words hang between us for several moments until Juliette speaks again.
“Your play was brilliant. I was mesmerized from start to finish.”
I nod almost absently. After dreaming of her approval for so long, I don’t quite know what to make of it now that I have it. It feels nice, but not as necessary as I once thought it was. I’m getting what I wished for, only to realize that I never needed it at all. My silence sparks Juliette to go on.
“I should have read it,” she says. “I should have read it the first time you asked me. My reasons for avoiding it were so self-serving and stupid, and if I could go back and do it all again, I would in a heartbeat. I should have been the mentor you needed. I held you back when I could have been pushing you forward, and I regret it so much. I need you to know that I regret it.”
Tears slip out from under her glasses and down her cheeks, and it’s difficult for me to see through my own tears that I refuse to let fall.
“I know that, Juliette. And I believe that you regret it.”
She nods her head quickly, wiping her face even though her tears haven’t fully stopped. “I hate everything I did to you when we were back in London. I hate that I asked you to go out on those stupid dates, that I asked Phillip to spend time with you, that I told you to stay away from Liam. I was so lonely and so desperate, but neither of those things excuses how I treated you. I took advantage of your loyalty, and I tried to control you for my own personal gain, and when I think of it now, it makes me sick. I just...” Her words trail off, and I can’t stop a tear of my own from breaking free.
We both take a few seconds, and when Juliette inhales a big breath to speak, I find myself holding mine.
“I’m so sorry, Winnie. I am so deeply, deeply sorry. You said I was your best friend, and you were mine, too, and not a day has gone by where I don’t miss you to a physically painful degree. Whether or not you ever decide to forgive me, I understand, but I want you to know, please know that I love you. You are vibrant and talented and endlessly, endlessly special. And I promise that I will always support you from here on out, whether it be as your friend or just as some maniac lady you used to know. I’ll accept either one as long as it’s what you want and it makes you happy.”
Her words wash over me and through me. An absolute flood after so much drought. I’m terrified but elated. Devastated but hopeful.
“I’m not going to pretend that what happened between us last year was okay,” I tell her, “because we both know that it wasn’t. I idolized you when I shouldn’t have. I cowered when I should have stood up for myself, and you took advantage of that.”
She tenses and nods, bracing herself for whatever’s about to come next.
“But I’m also not going to pretend that I haven’t missed you every single day.” Her eyes fly up to mine then, only just brightening with a familiar light. “We both made mistakes, Juliette. I’m not giving myself a free pass either. Our dynamic was deeply flawed, but there was good there, too. And if we can both get back to the parts of our relationship that made us great, then I don’t see why our friendship can’t get back on track.”
Juliette takes a healing breath, sounding like she just broke the surface after being held underwater.
