“Okay, look.” He set down his coffee, keeping his eyes on mine. “I haven’t been able to sleep since I saw you in Pittsburgh. Have you?”
“I have. My sleep has never been better.”
He ignored my lies. “I can’t stop thinking about you, and I think you owe it to me, to tell me why you left me senior year without any explanation.” He pressed his finger against my lips before I could interrupt. “You owe it to us. I’m spending my offseason here in New York and I would like it if we could meet up a few times to go over some things. Can you give me that?”
“No.” I pushed his hand away from my mouth and shook my head. “No, I can’t do that for you.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I don’t owe you anything, and you can’t walk back into my life and think that things can go back to how they used to be when you’re the one who messed them up in the first place. You, Grayson. Not me. I guess now that you’re tired of screwing A-list actresses and supermodels, you want to go on a self-redemption tour? Can you hear how insane you sound right now?” My chest heaved up and down and hot tears fell down my cheeks.
He stepped closer and wiped them away with his fingertips. “Since when do you believe what people write in the tabloids?”
“Two minutes.” I looked away from him. “I hope whatever else you have to say is short because I’ve heard enough.”
He gently cupped my face and tilted my chin so I was facing him again. “We both know I’m not going to stop pursuing you, so even if I leave today, I’ll be right back here tomorrow.”
I let out a breath, remembering just how long he pursued me our senior year. "What do you want from me, Grayson?"
“To see you again, maybe just for a few times this week so I can—” He paused. “I would prefer not to let you go again, but if that’s not possible, I would like to finally know what I did to you so I can have definite answers about why we ended. I’m sure you would like some final closure, too.”
I would. “I can’t meet you multiple times in one week.”
“Is it because of your job?” He looked around my living room. “Did you end up going into art or law?”
“None of your business.” My heart ached. “It’s not because of my job, though. It’s because I don’t think I can handle seeing you that often. How about once every six months?”
“How about, I don’t think so.” He narrowed his eyes at me, but his expression slowly softened. “Once a week.”
“Once a month.” I felt my heart begging me to accept ‘once a week’ but she’d failed me in the past when it came to Grayson and I wasn’t going to let her steer me down a path of pain again. “I can do once a month.”
“For how many months?”
“Four.”
“Fine.” He looked upset, but he didn’t push it any further. “Can I trust you not to stand me up?”
“If I do, you know where I live.”
A faint smile crossed his lips, but he didn’t let it stay. “Where would you prefer to meet?”
“Rosy-gan Café near Central Park. The first week of every month.”
“In the morning?”
“Evening,” I said. “The owner will let us pay in advance to keep it open late if need be.”
“Okay.” He stepped back. “Is my time up now?”
I hesitated to answer. By the way he was looking at me, I almost gave in and told him that I was having problems sleeping as well. That we should just catch up right here, right now. But the second I remembered how wounded and raw he left me at the end of our relationship, I couldn’t bring myself to say that.
I opened the front door. “So, we’ll meet once a month, four months only, and we'll both get the much-needed closure and leave each other alone?"
He didn’t answer that.
“That’s the agreement, right, Grayson?” I repeated, but he still didn’t answer. I stepped back so he could walk past me.
“Wait,” I touched his arm before he walked into the rain. “On what day are we meeting?”
He tilted his head to the side, and the sexy smile that still invaded my dreams at night spread across his face. “I’m sure you already know the answer to that.”
GRAYSON: NOW
Present Day
New York City
OUR FIRST NEW TUESDAY came weeks later, and I wasn't the slightest bit surprised that Charlotte never showed.
CHARLOTTE: THEN
Seven years ago
Pittsburgh
THREE THINGS SET HIGHLAND Coffee apart from all the other coffee shops on campus. For one, they allowed customers to have unlimited mochas on their slower days. Two, they made all their famous sweets from scratch. And three, they had a second level that they opened on rainy days like today so we could take advantage of the view.