“Hi,” he says, and I have a flashback to our last conversation — the video chat where he broke up with me.
I clear my throat and force a smile. “Hi, yourself.”
“Thank you for meeting me.”
I nod.
“Shall we?” Jarrett gestures toward the bar, and when we reach it, he pulls out my stool first before taking the one next to me.
It’s been about a year and a half since Jarrett left his job at this bar and took the internship in New York, but still, he’s like a celebrity when he sits down. The manager comes out and tells the bartender to put our tab on the house, an older woman who worked with Jarrett when he was here comes over to give him a big hug, and even a few patrons pay their respects. When it’s finally just the two of us again, he sighs, smiling sheepishly at me.
“So,” he says. “My brother has threatened to castrate me if I so much as touch you, but for the record, I really wanted to give you a hug.”
I chuckle. “Better not, just to keep the balls safe.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Jarrett pauses, lifting his beer to his lips for a sip. It makes me happy that even after so long in the city and obviously graduating to better clothing, he still likes an ice-cold Pabst Blue Ribbon. “I will say, I’m glad you didn’t pass out when you saw me this time.”
My cheeks heat, but I don’t really know what to say. Oh, yeah, that. Sorry. Just wasn’t prepared to see my ex-boyfriend whom I had barely gotten over standing next to my current boyfriend’s car. Oh, and double whammy, you two end up being brothers!
I sip my margarita, instead.
Jarrett watches me for a long time, and I feel his eyes crawling over me like they’re a laser beam sparking every cell inside me to life. Those warm brown eyes still know just how to make me feel naked as the day I was born.
I sigh, shaking my head and pushing my drink away before I turn to face him head on. “Jarrett, what are we doing here?”
“Having a drink,” he says, holding up his beer. “Talking. Catching up.”
“Catching up,” I deadpan.
Jarrett lets out a sigh of his own, taking a big gulp of his beer before he says, “I don’t know, Jess. I wanted to see you. I needed to see you.”
My heart squeezes in my chest.
“The way things ended between us… I hated it. I still hate it. I’ve thought about it so much since then. I even tried to reach out to you a few times, but… well… I guess you blocked my number. And I don’t blame you, I just…”
He doesn’t continue for a long while, just stares at where his hand is wrapped around the PBR can.
“I had to block you,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Jarrett, I loved you. Fiercely. And I was broken after… after…” I swallow, unable to finish my sentence. “I just wanted to move on, and I knew you enough to know there was no changing your mind — not once you’d made it up the way you had.”
He nods in understanding, scratching the scruff on his jaw. “We’re opening a branch here in Miami,” he says. “For the nonprofit. And since I used to live here, they picked me to head the expansion.”
I smile genuinely. “That’s amazing. Congratulations.”
He gives me another weak smile. “Thanks.” A swallow. “It’s weird. When they told me, I wasn’t really excited about leaving New York. I wasn’t really able to get excited about anything after dealing with my father this summer,” he adds with a shake of his head. “But that’s a story for another time. What I’m trying to say is that I have sort of been… numb. But when they said they were sending me here, there was one little glimpse of light.” His eyes find mine then, the depths of them endless. “I knew you’d be here.”
I frown, tearing my eyes from his to look at my margarita. I hate the way my stomach tightens at his words, the way my skin heats under his gaze.
“Can I ask you something?”
I nod, still not looking at him.
“What’s going on with you and my brother?”
A little laugh escapes me at that. “It’s a long story.” I pause. “Kind of a humorous one, actually. But… long story short?” I turn to meet his gaze. “We’re dating. And I really, really like him.”
I can see the flash of pain that hits Jarrett at my words, but he swallows it down, smiling. “I’m glad you’re happy. You deserve to be happy.”
“Thank you.”
“For the record,” he says, sipping his beer. “He really, really likes you, too.”
I chuckle, and my hair falls in front of my face a little before I tuck it behind one ear. When I look back at Jarrett, I can see there are a million things he wants to say.