Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
The coffee shop was surprisingly crowded for a Sunday afternoon. Patrons crowded around worn wooden tables and sat in mismatched chairs. Some worked on laptops while others engaged in quiet conversation.
Maxwell hadn’t picked this location. Trisha had. She lived a few blocks away.
He ordered a black coffee and sat on one of the stools in front of the window. From there, he had a clear view of the entrance and the street outside. Luckily, the person next to him got up, and he edged the stool closer, placing his foot on the bottom rung to reserve it for Trisha.
Yesterday’s conversation with Brittany hadn’t gone well, so he was a bit anxious about this meeting but determined to express remorse for his behavior. Brittany had agreed to meet him at the dog park, where she was letting her German Shepherd run free with all the other dogs.
He walked up, and before he could get a word out, she slapped him, in front of all the dogs and their owners. Their interaction went downhill from there. She cursed him out using colorful language while people hovering nearby watched and listened.
He took the verbal beatdown, letting her release all her anger. When she finished, he apologized—quietly, clearly, looking her in the eyes so she’d know he was sincere.
The apology not only shocked her, it seemed to have a cathartic effect. She burst into tears and spent the next few minutes sobbing on his chest. When they parted ways, she was much calmer and had even accepted his apology—which was more than he’d hoped for.
He had two more apologies to go.
He saw Trisha outside. She paused with her hand on the door, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with the meeting.
She looked composed in jeans and a short-sleeve fitted blazer thrown over a pink blouse.
Tall, with a close-cropped natural like his sister, she was a statuesque woman who turned heads as soon as she walked through the door.
She saw him immediately, and he stood to greet her.
“Hi, Trisha. Thanks for coming.”
“Hi, Max.” She sounded guarded.
They shook hands. Briefly, businesslike.
Trisha had attended his sister Monica’s engagement party with him last year. Unfortunately, he had been seeing another woman at the same time, and she had shown up at the party unexpectedly. It had been a mess.
She sat down in front of him and folded her hands together on her thighs.
“Can I buy you a coffee?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t plan to stay long. Can we get this over with, please?”
Fair enough.
Maxwell hadn’t planned a speech. On the ride over, he had made the decision to be in the moment and speak from the heart.
“I want to apologize in person for what happened at Monica’s engagement party.
” He held eye contact with her. “I invited you to the event and then spent the evening trying to manage the fact that someone else was there who I hadn’t invited.
I handled the whole situation badly. I was dismissive and made a joke out of the whole thing and made you feel like you were an inconvenience.
That was wrong, and I’m sorry.” He should have told her what had happened, but instead, he’d tried to hide the mix-up because Trisha hadn’t known he was seeing other people.
She didn’t respond, and he held back from his inclination to fill the silence with more words.
“Is that it?” Trisha asked.
Maxwell nodded. “I’m not making any excuses for what I did and how I treated you. What happened, happened because I wasn’t thinking about you when I should have been. My behavior was shitty, and I’m sorry.” He stopped talking and waited.
She looked down at her hands and squeezed them together. Finally, she spoke again. “I want to tell you something, if that’s okay.” She lifted her gaze.
“Of course. Say whatever is on your mind.” Maxwell braced himself for the worst.
Trisha unfolded her hands and spread her fingers flat on her thighs.
“I really liked you a lot, Max. Not the way you probably figure most women like you, because you send over expensive champagne or because you’re good-looking and have an easy-going smile.
I liked you because when we talked, you were interesting.
You asked questions and listened to the answers, which is not as common as it should be.
” She inhaled deeply. “I thought we were working towards something, building a relationship. I’m not saying we were working toward marriage necessarily, but I thought what we had was real.
I thought we were moving in a specific direction.
Then I walked into the party and spent the better part of two hours watching you try to manage two women in the same room—poorly, I might add.
The fact that you invited me to your sister’s engagement party made me believe I was special.
I had no idea you were seeing other people.
“What’s worse, you seemed to think the whole thing was a big joke.
And it dawned on me that I had misread every interaction that we had.
I assigned significance to events and gifts that you clearly never intended to be significant.
” Her voice remained level, but he heard an undercurrent of pain.
“I was humiliated. Not only because I was there in that specific situation, but because I had been wrong about everything that had happened between us.”
Maxwell didn’t look away. True enough, he had handled the engagement party fiasco poorly, but he hadn’t truly appreciated that she’d had lofty expectations about the direction of their relationship.
“I didn’t know that,” he said.
“I know you didn’t. I realized that afterward,” she said quietly, without bitterness, which was more than he deserved. “That’s the whole point. You were playing a game I wasn’t privy to.”
“I shouldn’t have led you on. You deserved better.”
Her expression shifted, and he saw—not warmth, exactly—but perhaps a release from the bondage of regret and doubt about herself. “You’re right. I did. So why am I here? What do you want from me? Forgiveness?”
“I don’t want anything from you. I only wanted to apologize. I want to apologize for everything.”
Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
She bit the corner of her mouth, still looking confused. “Well... thank you for saying all of this in person.”
“I appreciate you being willing to meet me and listening to what I had to say.”
“What prompted you to do this all of a sudden?”
Maxwell hesitated, and she must have read the truth on his face.
“Oh.” She pressed her lips together. “She must be really special.”
He remained silent. It would be in poor taste to tell a woman he treated badly how exceptional he thought the next woman was.
“Can I give you a bit of advice?” Trisha asked.
“Sure.”
“You came here to apologize, so let this be the beginning of true change. If she’s important enough for you to do all this, then stay the course.
Don’t screw this up. This is gonna sound crazy, but you’re not just hurting her, you’re hurting yourself.
” A faint smile touched her lips. “Think of how many amazing women you missed out on—like me. Don’t miss out on your next blessing. ”
He allowed himself a smile. “Thanks. I won’t.”
They talked for a few more minutes, the conversation cordial.
Trisha told him about her promotion a couple of weeks ago, and he told her how much he was enjoying being a doctor.
She left first, and he watched her walk away through the window, her long legs taking her in a leisurely stride down the sidewalk.
He stayed in his seat, sipping his coffee.
A burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Some of the shame and guilt he’d unknowingly carried was gone, and he revisited the words his father had said to him on Friday night.
The man you were does not have to determine the man you become.
Energized and optimistic, he left the coffee shop and drove home, knowing something fundamental had changed inside him.
Jasmine’s challenge no longer seemed daunting.
He looked forward to calling the next woman.
She deserved his apology. And after the next conversation, he would be able to collect his prize. Dinner with Jasmine.
Maxwell picked up his second phone—the one he’d be getting rid of after he passed Jasmine’s test—and searched for the next number.
Brinka was a waitress he’d hooked up with a few times and then fell off when she started expecting more than he was willing to give. He’d be lucky if she answered, but he was willing to try reaching her.
As he paced the living room, he listened to the phone ring several times before she answered.
“Maxwell?” Surprise filled her voice.
“Hey, Brinka, I need to talk to you. Is now a good time?”