Present Day

New York City

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I UNLOCKED THE DOOR to my gallery at five o’clock in the morning and hit the lights. I didn’t normally come to work this early, but my latest collection was drawing record attention and I was struggling to keep up with all the orders.

Determined to finish my current work-in-progress, I turned on a pot of coffee and set up my easel near the windows. I rinsed my favorite brushes and set out my newest range of reds. 

Checking my emails, I noticed there was a new one from Nadira.

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SUBJECT: LAST TUESDAY.

How did it go?

—Dira

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SUBJECT: RE: LAST TUESDAY.

It didn’t. I didn’t show up.

—C. Taylor

CEO and Founder, Rosy-gan Cafes & Galleries

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I BRACED MYSELF FOR a “Why the hell not?” message, but I didn’t need to explain myself.

The morning I was supposed to meet Grayson, I felt dread and anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I’d written all the things I wanted to say, and most of those things were a mix of “You’re a douchebag,” “I never want to see you again,” and “I can’t believe I’m even speaking to you after what you did to me.”

I’d managed to get dressed and make it halfway to the cafe, but I broke down in tears in the middle of Fifth Avenue, so I returned home and hoped he wouldn’t show up at my place. I hoped he would get the message and do his best to move on like I had.

Nadira’s name popped onto my screen via phone call and I hit the speaker button.

“Good morning,” I said.

“Don’t ‘good morning’ me.” Her voice was terse. “Why didn’t you show up to meet him, Charlotte?”

“I told you,” I said. “I’ll never forgive him for what he did, so there’s no point in catching up or rehashing old memories. I’m over him.”

“You’re over him?”

“Beyond over him.” I slumped in a chair. “I mean, he’s still attractive and sexy to me, but there are no feelings there. I wish I’d known he was going to be at the reunion, though. I would’ve never showed up.”

She sighed. “I told him you were going to be there.”

“What?”

“I didn’t stutter.”

“Nadira, you know what he did.” I felt my blood boiling. “How could you do something like that to me?”

She didn’t answer.

“You know how much pain he caused me. How he literally dropped me like some type of used toy at the end of our relationship. Yet, you told him I was going to be there? I can’t believe my so-called best friend would—”

“Shut the hell up, Charlotte.” She interrupted me, sounding as if she’d been wanting to say those words to me for a long time. “Just shut up.”

Silence.

“I told him you were coming because I think the two of you need to talk,” she said. “Because seven years have gone by and all you’ve done is live in the shadows of a relationship that was probably one of the best things that ever happened to you.”

“Yes, being treated like crap at the end was definitely one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

“Do you know that he’s called me six times a year since you broke up just to ask if I’ve heard anything from you?” she asked. “That he begged me, time and time again, for your fake overseas address because he wanted to find you?”

I was silent. In the years since college, Nadira had never mentioned Grayson in any of our correspondence.

“So, yes.” She continued. “Yes, I told him you would be there. I did it in hopes that you would finally get over yourself and maybe get some much-deserved closure. As much as you like to lie to yourself, you are not over him. If you ask me, you never will be.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Tears were falling down my face. “I didn’t ask you anything because you’re beyond wrong on this.”

“Am I?” She scoffed. “Why do you think all of your relationships end in failure before they can even begin?”

“Because I have an affinity for douchebags.”

“Or you can’t help but compare everyone to the man you’re still in love with,” she said. “Why do you think your latest art collection is doing better than anything you’ve ever done?”

“Because it’s my best work.”

“You don’t think the fact that it’s inspired by your college years has anything to do with it?”

“Nothing at all.” I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t going to let her change the subject. “Nadira, I can’t believe—”

“Especially the picture of that couple kissing in the middle of a football field,” she said, not stopping. “I really like that one.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“That may not, but Rosy-gan Cafes & Galleries does.”

“Excuse me?”

“Who the hell do you think you’re fooling, Charlotte?” She sounded exasperated. “You couldn’t bring yourself to name your business under your own name because you knew he would find you.”

“That’s not true.” It was more than true.

“And if you think for one minute that I never figured out that the name ‘Rosy-gan’ is a goddamn anagram for Grayson, you’re in even more denial than I thought.”

I hung up in her face and tossed my phone across the room.