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“I decided to swing by on my lunch break,” he said. “For an apology.”
The tightness in my chest faded away. Hewashere to apologize, rather than stubbornly ignoring me all week.
“I’m really glad,” I said with a smile.
Trip hugged me, and for a few brief seconds it was comforting to be in his arms. Then he pulled away and said, “Okay. Go ahead.”
I blinked. “Huh?”
“You can apologize now.”
“Me?” I blurted out. “Why would I apologize?”
“For your behavior at the hockey game,” he said, as if it were obvious. “Why else did you think I came here?”
“I thought you were going to apologize tome.”
He chuckled. “Is this a joke?”
“You owe me an apology for the way you demeaned me at the game. You were rude to me. You belittled my business in front of strangers. Honestly, you haven’t been even theleastbit supportive since I quit my job and started this business.”
“Look around, Beth,” he shot back. “You’ve only had one customer since you opened.”
I glanced to where he was looking. Princess was sitting in the middle of the field a hundred feet away, staring at us. The wide expanse of open field made her seem even smaller than she already was.
“How much are you getting?” Trip demanded. “Twenty bucks a day? That’s a whopping six hundred dollars a month! Almost enough to pay for one fourth of the mortgage on this place.”
It was actually fifteen dollars a day, and Princess was only boarding on weekdays when her owner was at work. But Trip didn’t need to know that.
“I’ve been open less than two weeks. These things take time to grow. I’m taking an online class on Facebook advertising this afternoon.”
Trip shrugged. “Whatever. I didn’t come here to argue about your poor life choices. Are you going to apologize, or not?”
I struggled not to laugh in his face. “I don’t have anything to apologize for. I barely chatted with the other fans at the game, and it was mostly about business.”
Trip set his jaw in that stubborn way of his. “If you don’t apologize…”
“What?” I demanded. “If I don’t apologize, then what?”
“Then I don’t even know if we should be together.”
The unexpected words hit me like a sledgehammer. We had been together two months. Long enough that I thought we had potential. Trip had his faults, but overall I was happy with him.
But if this was the kind of person he truly was…
I had never been afraid of being single. I could take care of myself in between relationships. Some of the happiest times of my life were when I was single. And now, standing on the edge of a major life decision, the thought of losing Trip didn’t scare me at all. He had been emotionally manipulative like this before. And if he was acting this way after just two months together…
“You know,” I said, “maybe that’s for the best.”
Trip recoiled in surprise. “Um, what?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be together,” I said, my certainty growing with every word. “You aren’t supportive of me. You’re throwing a temper tantrum about a freaking hockey game.”
“The tickets were expensive.”
“I told you I didn’t care where we sat,” I said through gritted teeth. “Youinsisted on spending way too much money on those seats. I would have been happy sitting in the nosebleed section.”
“I wouldn’t have taken you at all if I’d known you would spend the whole game ignoring me.”
