I glanced toward the parking lot, hoping none of my neighbors were witnessing this conversation. The last thing I needed was more complications in my already tangled life. "Marcus, I really don't have time for this."
"Five minutes." He held up his hand. "Just give me five minutes. Please."
Something in his voice made me pause. It wasn't the cocky confidence I remembered from our relationship. There was a vulnerability there, a genuine plea that caught me off guard.
"Fine. Five minutes."
His face lit up like I'd given him the world. "I've been in Chicago for the past six years. Corporate law, making good money, and doing all the things I thought would make me happy." He laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Turns out, success isn't all it's cracked up to be when you're alone."
"You're not alone. You've probably dated dozens of women since me."
"I have," he admitted without shame. "None of them were you."
My stomach twisted. This was not the conversation I needed to be having. Not with Noah's smile still fresh in my mind, not with Jack's presence looming over everything, not withBlake's intensity making my heart race in ways I didn't want to examine.
"Marcus, whatever you think you remember about us, it's not real. We were kids. We wanted different things."
"We wanted each other." He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell his cologne. Expensive, sophisticated, nothing like the cheap body spray he used to wear in college. "At least, I wanted you. I was just too stupid and immature to show it properly."
"And now you're older and wiser?" I couldn't keep the skepticism out of my voice.
"Now I know what I lost." His hand reached out, fingers brushing against my arm. "I know that I let the best thing that ever happened to me walk away because I was too focused on my career, too selfish to see what was right in front of me."
I pulled my arm back. "You're romanticizing the past. We fought constantly." I'm not the same person you dated in college," I said carefully. "A lot has changed."
"I can see that." His eyes traveled over me again, appreciative but not leering. "You're more confident. More beautiful. More... everything."
"Marcus." I sighed, exhaustion suddenly weighing on me. "I appreciate the trip down memory lane, but I have a lot going on right now. My life is complicated in ways you can't imagine."
"Then uncomplicate it." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. "Have dinner with me. Let me takeyou somewhere nice, somewhere we can actually talk without standing outside your apartment."
I stared at the card without taking it. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not? Are you seeing someone?"
The question should have been simple to answer. But how could I explain that I was technically not seeing anyone, but also somehow entangled with three different men, each representing a different part of my past and present?
"It's complicated," I repeated.
"Life is always complicated." He tucked the card into my hand, his fingers lingering against mine. "But that doesn't mean we can't try. Think about it, okay? No pressure. Just ... think about it."
He started to walk away, then turned back. "Oh, and Mia? I'm not giving up that easily this time. I let you go once. I'm not making that mistake again."
I watched him disappear into the parking lot, his confident stride never faltering. The business card felt heavy in my hand, like it weighed more than simple paper and ink.
That had been hours ago, before dinner at Noah's. Now, sitting in the quiet apartment with my children finally asleep, I pull out Marcus's business card from the back pocket of my jeans and stare at it. I should throw it away.
My phone buzzes in my hand, making me jump.Momflashes across the screen.
My throat tightens as I answer. "Hello?"
"Mia." My mother's voice sounds strained, stretched thin like a wire about to snap. "I need you to come to dinner tomorrow night."
"Mom, I don't know if that's--"
"Please." The word comes out as almost a sob. "It's important. Your father ... he's been asking about you. And I think it's time."
Time. The word settles in my stomach like a stone. Time for what we've both been avoiding. Time to tell him about Rory and Corey.
