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I swallowed hard. Tried to put on my game face.
“Really?”
I saw the hope in his eyes. It flooded in all at once, lighting his face up. His phone was on the table. I wanted to grab it. Erase everything…
But that wasn’t part of the plan.
“Yes really,” Garrett said. “Claudia, I love you. Those other girls… they meant nothing. The longer I spent with them, the more I realized they weren’t you.”
I sat quietly, looking back at him. Giving him a moment. Opening the door for him, just a tiny sliver.
“W—Why would you want me back?” I asked. “You must hate me.”
Garrett took my hand and brought it to his side of the table. He kissed it gently, and I tried not to wince.
“I don’t hate you at all,” he said placatingly. “I love you. That’s why I took these photos. Not to show other people. I wanted to show you how you looked, what you’ve become…”
I saw the waiter coming our way so I drained my glass. By the time he arrived, I’d recomposed myself.
“Appetizers?” the waiter asked hesitantly.
I looked back at my ex, trying not to be glum. But also not trying to be too eager, either. “Yes. That’d be great.”
Garrett’s chest swelled. He smiled his best smile.
“And another round of drinks,” I told the waiter. “Please.”
Thirty-Nine
CLAUDIA
As difficult as it was, I slow-played it. The hardest part was keeping a straight face the whole time.
Garrett ordered us coconut shrimp and calamari, the same things we ate the night we got engaged. As much as I wanted to punch him in the face, I had to admit he was really trying. Of course all the trying in the world wouldn’t get him anywhere. But he didn’t know that.
I made him talk a lot, and that part was easy. I asked him a bunch of questions, tentatively, about how things would be if I came back. His growing optimism was palpable. I could feel it swelling from across the table, like a physical presence.
Two beers in, when his defenses were lowered, I changed direction.
“And you’ll delete all those filthy pictures?”
Rather than answer, he took a long pull from his beer. When he set the glass back down he stared at me harshly.
“Eventually,” he said.
I pretended to cry again, though it was getting a little harder. Garrett waited a moment or two before trying to appease me.
“Look,” he said, “this is tough for me too. You think I wanted to see this?” He tapped his phone again. “This broke my heart, Claudia. I had no idea you were even capable of this.”
Neither did I, I thought smartly.
“It’s going to take a while,” he said, “to forgive you.”
I nearly spat out my drink. It took everything in the world just to keep it in.
“F—Forgive me?”
Garrett frowned. It was more of a scowl.
