Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 29029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
“I understand.”
I touch the soft scarf to my scarred cheek. “Tell me about your fiancée. What’s her name again?”
“Mimi. Mimi Flaherty.”
“Mimi, like in Rent? Or is it short for something?”
“Yeah. It’s short for Mary Margaret.”
“Mary Margaret Flaherty. Sounds like a bonny Irish lass.” I attempt an Irish accent but fail miserably.
He smiles. At my terrible accent or at the thought of Mimi, I’m not sure.
“So next summer? That’s when Mom says you’re getting married.”
“Yeah. Next summer.”
My heart breaks just a little.
I never felt that way about Max. I entertained the idea for about five minutes our senior year in high school after Lucas and I broke up. He and I’d been together freshman through junior year, but he got some other girl pregnant early senior year, so that was the end of us.
I didn’t date much senior year, which was how I found myself going to prom with Max Robinson, my best friend.
“What’s she like, Max?”
“She’s nice. Blond hair and blue eyes.”
“What does she do for a living?”
“She’s in sales. She sells electronics to seniors.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, the company she works for builds things like tablets and smartphones that are easier for older people to use.”
“Oh.”
“She’s very successful at it. Her apartment is bigger than mine.”
A wave of regrets hits me. Max is all grown up, living a normal life. What did I expect? Of course he went on after I disappeared. What other choice did he have?
“What do you do? Mom said it was something in marketing?”
“Yeah. I got my degree in business with an emphasis in marketing.”
“Did you keep your scholarship all four years?”
He nods. “I did. So no student debt for me.”
Right. He was going to go to Ohio State, while I went off to Dartmouth.
At least things worked out the way he planned.
“I… I’d like to meet her sometime,” I say.
I regret the words as soon as they leave my lips. I don’t want to meet Mimi, though I’m not sure why. But I should. Max is my best friend, after all.
But is he really?
Eighteen-year-old Max and Jenna were best friends.
Twenty-six-year-old Max and Jenna?
I don’t know this man.
And he certainly doesn’t know me.
He’s gazing at me, though.
Not at my eyes, where his gaze used to fall.
Max and I were never anything more than friends, but my eyes always mesmerized him. He said I had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
But he’s not looking at those eyes now.
He’s looking at the scar, the one that slices across my right cheek.
“Max…”
He meets my gaze then. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s a scar, Max. It’s part of me now.”
“I should go.”
“All right.” I nod. “I understand.”
He leaves my room, walks through the hallway, and down the stairs until he’s out of my sight.
Normally I would’ve gone with him, but normal doesn’t exist for me anymore.
Part of me will always be Amethyst.
And Max?
Max now belongs to Mimi.
5
MAX
Once I’m home, I take the box out of my pocket and toss it in the trash.
Amethyst.
The stone that looked perfect on her—indeed had been created for her—and now Jenna can’t stand the sight of it.
And all I did was…
“Damn it!” I say out loud. “Damn it all!”
God, she looked beautiful today. More beautiful even than I remember. The scar? It didn’t mar her face as she thought. It only made her more beautiful.
And I still love her, scars and all.
Damn.
After all these years, those feelings came ramming back into me like a steam engine.
And I’m engaged to marry someone else.
I don’t want to hurt Mimi. I don’t want to—
The lock on my door clicks, and in comes Mimi as if she materialized right out of my thoughts. We’ve had keys to each other’s places for a while now.
She looks around, her hands on her hips and her pump-clad foot tapping. “Just as I suspected. You haven’t even started packing.”
Packing. Right. I’m moving in with her.
“I’ve been busy. Work and all.”
“I know that, which is why I’m here. I knew that if I didn’t spearhead this, it wouldn’t get done. So I hired movers.”
I glance around the apartment. “They’re not going to be able to move anything until I pack.”
Though packing won’t take long. I’m a bare bones kind of guy, whereas Mimi has knickknacks everywhere, the kind that collect dust. Of course she has a weekly housecleaner to keep everything spotless. That’s another thing. I hate the idea of someone in my living space messing with my stuff.
“Wrong,” Mimi says. “They’re movers and packers. They will do it all for you, and they’ll make sure everything is wrapped securely so nothing gets broken. It’s their company’s guarantee.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“I just got my fourth-quarter bonus,” she says. “It’s way bigger than I anticipated, so this is part of your Christmas gift, Maxie. No packing for you. I’m taking care of all of it.”