"Tonight was a special case. Tiffany bamboozled us. This wasn't a date."
"What the hell was it if it wasn't a date?"
"Dinner," she said shrugging her shoulders, "between old acquaintances." I laughed at that. All the years of history we had and she thought that made us acquaintances?
"Do you really think anyone in there with us tonight would believe that we hardly know each other?" I asked sarcastically.
"A lot can change in a year, Roman."
"You don't just stop being yourself. It doesn't work that way."
"You haven't been here, Roman. You wouldn't know."
"I know you."
"No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't have done what you did. You would have talked to me so we could figure something out together," she said. Her face was drawn with anger. That cool, relaxed vibe we had had going through dinner was dead.
"I knew what would have happened if I did, that's why I didn't. I was deployed. I didn't want you to worry. I didn't want it to be your problem, too."
"Yeah, Tiffany told me. You were deployed, not dead. Why didn't you think I could deal with that? Why didn't you at least fucking talk to me before cutting me loose and making sure I didn't try and come back?"
"You wanted me to make you wait for me when there was no guarantee I was even coming back?"
"It wasn't a good enough reason to dump me. You made me think you hated me. That I was this thing holding you back. That fucked me up, Roman." I shook my head.
"I couldn't do it to you. You'd be getting nothing when I was gone. I was protecting you."
"That's bullshit. You were wrong, Roman. You didn't protect me from anything. You hurt me. You destroyed almost three years together and for what? Nothing." I didn’t stop her as she walked to her car without another word and got inside, fuming mad. This was the last step she got to before she would cry from frustration. I hadn't meant to make her upset, but I'd be a liar if I said it didn't get to me that she was so mad about what had happened.
That meant she still cared. That meant it wasn't just me – the feeling was mutual. I'd also be a liar if I said I didn't find it cute when she got mad. More than a few of our fights had ended in hot, angry sex, and I wasn't sorry for taking it there. I hadn’t seen passion like that in her for a year and it took me back. I couldn’t help smiling.
Damn. I had missed the shit out of that girl.
Chapter Ten
Veronica
I held the necklace above my face,
lying on my back. The crystal swung back and forth. The little light in the room warmed the pink and reflected off its edges. The gold chain shone, concentrating and reflecting little rays of light.
I would have worn it the night before, but I didn't think the pink would be good with the dress. No, that wasn't it, not the whole reason. I also didn't feel right wearing this thing that my ex gave me to see another man. I sighed and put it back on my nightstand. Tiff had gotten me good, both of us.
The worst part was that he looked so great. And that he was still so funny, and handsome, and I still felt warm and happy around him. I could still see the guy who I had been crazy in love with in him after all this time and after what he did. I threw my covers off and went to the bathroom, washing my face and brushing my teeth. I had gone to sleep thinking about dinner and going to bed hadn't hit the reset button in my brain last night.
It was like this past year hadn't even happened. The more I thought about it, the more I went round in circles.
It had been a shock seeing him. I had been nervous and honestly, had had half a mind not to go back to the table after going into the ladies' room. I hadn't called Tiffany when I had been in there. I had wanted to – I had almost done it, too – but then I thought about what was happening and how it was the thing I had longed for so much when he was gone: just for him to come back and for everything to be normal.
He had broken my heart, and after feeling sad and hurt, I had been angry at him. But then a month had passed, then two, then six. I had gotten my shit together and rallied. I couldn't turn my love for him off as easily as he seemed to have been able to, but I had gotten on with my life.
I’d thought I was over him, and now that I had seen him and spent time with him again, gotten to get back a piece of what had been an incredible relationship, I was all over the place again. When it had happened, I had thought that I never wanted to see him again. Now I had and it didn't feel that simple anymore.
I heard my phone ringing and got back into my room too late to pick it up. It was Sean. He called again right away, but I silenced the phone and let it keep ringing. He had wanted me to call him after the date, but I wasn't really in the mood to deal with him and his bullshit right now. What the hell did he want, anyway? He shouldn't have cared since he had basically pushed me to do it in the first place. Did that mean I could blame seeing Roman again on him?
I went to the kitchen and made coffee. There was a knock on the door, and I hesitated before going to answer it because of the person who had ended up on the other side of it last time I had had a visitor this early. Would he really show up here after I ignored his phone calls? If Sean was anything, it was lazy, and I was counting on that, unlocking my door and swinging it open.
"Thank God it's you," I sighed, leaning against the door.