Can’t wait to chat about your interview. Call me when you get a chance.

I cleared Cayden’s text before I walked into the restaurant. I felt torn. I ignored his phone call and now was going to ignore his text, but I couldn’t talk to him at the moment. Brad was inside waiting for me.

I replayed my conversation with Brad over and over in my head. I couldn’t believe that he had called me and wanted to get back together. I was right. He and Jessica had broken up. I wasn’t losing my mind when I thought I’d seen her at the mall and him at the grocery store. I’d wanted to call Mandy to tell her that I was right, but I didn’t want the lecture. She would not be happy about this.

I walked inside but didn’t see Brad.

“Good evening,” a young, thin brunette hostess greeted me.

“Hi,” I said. “I am meeting someone here.”

Suddenly, the hostess blushed. She must have known that I was talking about Brad.

“Yes,” she said. “I sat him right over here.”

She led me inside the restaurant to a table near the window. Dusk was falling outside, and the last rays of the sun were illuminating the restaurant with a sexy glow. I saw Brad before he saw me. He looked exactly as I’d remembered. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body that was out of this world. As the hostess and I approached him, he looked up and smiled.

“Thank you,” I said as we stopped at the table. I sat down, and she handed me a menu. Brad watched her as she walked away. I wanted to feel jealous, but I strangely didn’t feel anything at all. Maybe it was because I was used to him checking out other women in front of me. Or maybe it was because I knew that he was here for me.

“Hi,” I said, setting my menu down and looking at him.

“Hi,” he said, smiling at me. It felt so weird to be looking at him in person again. Part of me felt like no time had passed, while the other part of me felt like years had passed by.

“Thank you for meeting me,” he said. He genuinely seemed happy to see me. Maybe things had changed. Maybe he did realize his mistake and felt like an asshole for breaking up with me. Stranger things had happened.

“I was surprised that you called,” I admitted to him. He shrugged.

“I finally decided to call you,” he said. “I have been in town for a couple of weeks, but I wasn’t sure how you would react to a phone call from me. I thought about stopping by your work. I was actually near there this morning, but I didn’t want to cause a scene.”

“Thanks,” I said. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I would have reacted to seeing you in person. I’m not sure how I feel right now.”

Brad looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“You should be happy,” he said. “I’m back.”

The way he spoke irritated me. While I’d missed him and had taken our breakup extremely hard, he acted as if he was doing me a favor by coming back to me. Maybe I was taking things the wrong way. Even if I was angry, I needed to give him a fair chance, right? Everyone deserved a second chance.

“I am happy,” I said. “It’s just…”

“You’re going to love my gym,” Brad interrupted me. “It’s seriously going to be the best gym in Miami. It’s only the beginning, Tiffany. I’m going to have a bunch of Brad’s Gyms worldwide.”

“Brad’s Gym?” I questioned. The name was tacky. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he included his own name in the gym’s name. It was a very Brad thing to do.

“Do you like the name?” he asked. “Jessica wasn’t a fan of it but screw her. She doesn’t realize greatness. Little bitch.”

His demeanor suddenly changed. He was no longer happy and carefree. He was bitter and hurt.

“What happened between you two?” I asked. He rolled his eyes.

“I’m not talking about her, Tiffany,” he said. “She doesn’t matter. She was a mistake.”

I wrinkled my nose. For someone who was a mistake, he sure seemed to care a lot about her. I began to wonder who broke up with who. Before I could ask any further questions, the waiter arrived with two drinks. He placed an iced water in front of me and a beer in front of Brad.

“Is iced water okay for you, ma’am?” he asked. I opened my mouth to tell him that I wanted a glass of wine, but Brad stopped me.

“She is good with iced water,” Brad said. “And, remember, we don’t want that free bread.”

No bread? I wanted to protest. The bread was one of the only reasons that I’d agreed to come to dinner. And was he really not allowing me to have a glass of wine when he was drinking beer?

“Yes, sir,” the waiter responded. “Are you two ready to order?”

Brad nodded.

“I’ll have the steak, medium, with roasted red potatoes and she will have a side salad with dressing on the side,” Brad told the waiter. He picked up the menus and gave them to the waiter. The waiter looked at me. I could tell that he was questioning Brad’s decision on my meal.

“Actually, I’m not in the mood for salad,” I told the waiter. “I’ll have the shrimp scampi and you can bring bread for me.”

I watched as a smirk formed on the waiter’s face. He was already visibly irked by Brad’s attitude.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Steak, medium, with potatoes, shrimp scampi, and bread. I’ll put the order in right away.”

The waiter walked away, and Brad looked at me.

“Babe,” he said, “You have been doing so well lately with your weight loss. You have to continue to make healthy choices. If we’re going to be together, I need you to look good. I can’t own a chain of gyms and have a fat girlfriend. It would look bad for my business.”

I felt my mood suddenly shift. Brad hadn’t changed a bit. He was still egotistical and only cared about appearances, especially my appearance.

“I am not fat,” I said quietly. I did not want to make a scene, but I also did not want him to think that it was okay to use that word to describe me. It was offensive. I knew that I wasn’t stick thin, but I didn’t completely let myself go. I was healthy.

“I know that you aren’t anymore,” Brad said. “But it’s so easy to relax, especially around the holidays. I just don’t want you to lose any of this progress. It would be shame for you to come this far and then gain your weight back, plus some.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to him. I used to just let him say whatever he wanted to, but I didn’t want to let him get away this easily.

“You can’t dictate what I eat or when,” I told him. “I’m a grown up. I know how to take care of my body.”

Brad scoffed.

“Forget I mentioned it,” he said. “I am serious, though. It looks bad for me if you are overweight.”

“Well,” I said, “I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not officially your girlfriend, huh?”

Brad raised his eyebrows at me.

“I’m not sure why you are so upset, babe,” he said. “Let’s just forget I mentioned this. I didn’t want tonight to start off this way.”

“Fine,” I said. I agreed to drop the conversation only because I didn’t want to fight in the middle of the restaurant. Inside, I was fuming about his comments. If he was trying to win me back, this wasn’t the way.

The waiter brought over our bread. I grabbed a piece from the bread basket and buttered it. I was tempted to eat the whole damn thing just to spite Brad, but I didn’t.

We had small talk until our dinner arrived. Mostly Brad talked about his gym in Tampa and compared it to the new one in Miami.

“It’s going to be a billion times better,” he said. “Especially without Jessica around.” I could tell by the way that he spoke about her that they ended things on a sour note. I deducted that she probably broke up with him. If only I could have been a fly on the wall for that.

The waiter brought out our dinner. My shrimp scampi looked amazing, with big, plump shrimp served upon a bed of angel hair pasta. Brad began to cut his steak. He stopped and threw his hands up in the air.

“Goddammit,” he said. “I said medium and this is medium rare!” His voice boomed throughout the restaurant. I looked around and sure enough, the other patrons were staring at our table. My cheeks flushed pink. I was completely embarrassed by his outburst.

“Brad,” I hissed. “Lower your voice.”

He looked at me in surprise. I’d never spoken to him in that tone before, but I’d had enough. Between his comments about my weight and his attitude, I was beginning to think it was a mistake to come here. The waiter scurried back to our table. I could tell by the look on his face that he was uncomfortable and worried about Brad’s inevitable confrontation.

“Sir, is there a problem?” the waiter asked politely.

“Yes, there is,” Brad said. His voice was still heated. Despite my attempts to quiet him down, he would not listen to me.

“This is medium rare,” Brad said, emphasizing the word “rare”. “I ordered medium. You told them medium, right? I assume you’re not that incompetent.”

“Brad!” I exclaimed. It was one thing if he talked down to me, but another if he talked that way to a stranger in public.

“Sir, I did order your steak medium,” the waiter said. “I apologize. I can take this back into the kitchen and have them cook it further.”

Brad shook his head.

“No way,” he said. “I know what they do to food when people complain. I’m not about to have any of your cooks spit on my steak.”

I threw my napkin on the table and rose from my chair.

“That is enough,” I told him. “I’m done with this dinner.”

Both Brad and the waiter looked at me.

“Tiffany,” Brad said, “Sit down. You are making a scene.”

I laughed as I picked up my purse from the chair next to me.

“I am making a scene?” I questioned, laughing a bit. “I don’t think so. You know what, Brad? It was a mistake coming here to meet you. I should have known better.”

“Tiffany!” Brad stood up. “Please, don’t leave. I’m sorry about getting pissed off about my steak, but it wasn’t my fault. It’s these assholes who can’t cook a steak correctly. How about we just leave here together and go somewhere else?”

I shook my head.

“It’s not these people, Brad,” I told him. “It’s you.”

I turned to the waiter next.

“I apologize on his behalf for being such an asshole,” I said.

“Whatever, Tiffany,” Brad said. “Leave, I don’t care. Good luck finding someone who will fall in love with a whale like you.”

The words pierced my heart, but I refused to let Brad know that he had hurt me again. I turned on my heel and began to leave the restaurant. The people at the other tables were still looking at me, but I didn’t care. I held my head high as I walked through the restaurant. I would not let Brad’s behavior rub off on me. We were two completely different people. While part of me wanted to cry, the other part of me was celebrating inside. I did something that I never thought that I would do. I’d finally stood my ground when it came to Brad. He no longer had power over me. I was free.