“Check it again.”

I run the pile of cash through the automatic counter for the third time. “Four thousand dollars exactly.”

The woman on the other side of the glass purses her lips and drums her fingers on the counter. “There should be four thousand, thirty-five.”

I take a deep breath and glance at the clock. I was supposed to leave ten minutes ago, but as usual, the final customer is the most difficult of the day. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It comes to four thousand, exactly.”

“Count it again.”

I pick up the wad of bills again and hold them above the slot. The woman holds up her hand to stop me.

“Not with that thing. It’s obviously busted.”

I hold my tongue and count out the bills one at a time. “One hundred, two hundred, three hundred—” I place down the final bill, totaling four thousand.

The customer sucks in through her teeth and shrugs. “There was four thousand, thirty-five earlier.”

I wonder if she notices the daggers I’m staring at her. I force a smile. “Would you like me to deposit that for you?”

“I guess.” She leaves without so much as a thank you or apology, but I don’t care.

All I want to do is go home. I quickly close my counter, pick up my purse and speed out the door before anyone else can demand my attention.

I rush out the door so quickly that my body slams into Cole’s. He’s waiting for me on the sidewalk, holding the biggest bunch of flowers I’ve ever seen. A spray of petals float to the ground. At least, I think he’s waiting for me.

Cole lets out a little “oomph” sound when I run into him. I take a step back and look up at him, my face flushed, my mouth forming a little “oh” of surprise.

He looks good. He’s wearing a pair of gray pants and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His blond hair is swept back slightly, his eyes fixed on me. The sight of his chiseled jaw and ice-blue eyes stops me in my tracks. Those eyes haven’t aged a day.

The way my heart skips a beat reminds me of the very first day I saw him standing there in Pisa when he drew my attention through crowds of tourists. Even then, he stood out by a mile.

I take a closer look at the flowers. The bouquet is bursting with purple blooms and sprays of soft white flowers. Purple is my favorite. The bouquet is a little squished after I’ve run into it, but Cole holds out the flowers to me anyway.

I don’t take them. “Cole—what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to apologize. The flowers are a peace offering.” He holds my gaze intently. He takes half a step forward, leaning in slightly. “I wanted to give you something else as well.”

My eyes widen. “What?”

“An invitation to dinner.”

I let out a surprised laugh. “Are you kidding me?”

“I know; it seems crazy, but hear me out—” He holds out his hands in a gesture of conviction. “We met too soon. Think about it—we were both so young and still figuring out which direction we were headed in, but things are different now. We’re both settled. There are no surprises headed our way. We have the chance to make it happen for real.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Are you nuts, Cole? A few saucy messages aren’t a reason to open old wounds. I accept your apology, but I don’t want to take it any further than that. I’ve moved on.”

“Have you? It looks to me like you’re exactly where I left you.”

His words sting. Tears rise behind my eyes. It seems to me like Cole has a pretty short memory. I was headed for more before he came along.

“How dare you!” I seethe. “I was going to go to college, but we had a plan: you, then me. Except, once you got yours, you were gone. You left me.”

“That’s not how it went.”

“Isn’t it?” My voice rises in anger. “Because I remember someone who couldn’t wait to run off to a third-world country instead of settling down.”

“Who said I ever wanted to settle down?” Now Cole’s voice grows angry. “I thought I married a traveler; someone with a free spirit. But as soon as there was a ring on your finger, you had visions of us becoming some old married couple, rocking in our chairs on the porch, with four grown kids and a dog.”

“I didn’t even get as much as a ring, did I? You proposed on a whim, making a huge decision without any thought—the same as always.”

“You didn’t say no, Sophie.”

“I loved you.”

“And I thought I loved you.”

The tears spill. I’m furious. My throat and face feel flushed with emotion. My skin is prickling with angry heat. “That’s what it came down to, isn’t it? You thought you loved me, but you made a mistake. You only loved the adventure and having some poor, naïve girl who would follow you anywhere. I put my education on hold for you, and you left me.”

“What education? You didn’t even know what you wanted to study. You hadn’t made any college applications. Taking that job at the bank was probably the best decision you ever made.”

“No, the best decision I ever made was giving you that ultimatum.”

Cole shakes his head and throws the bouquet down. The flowers bounce on the ground, leaves and petals flying into the air, then floating down morosely. “You’re the one who changed when we got back to the US.”

“I thought we had a plan.”

“You had a plan. I never understood why you thought I’d give up my career because we got together.”

“’Got together’? We got married, Cole!”

“We eloped.”

I hold up my hands. “Here we go again. It wasn’t a real marriage. You never saw it as a marriage. For you, it was always a fling that went too far. And now our paths happen to cross again, and because I’m still in the same town, working in the same bank, you think it means I’m still waiting for you. Get over yourself.” I’m shaking with anger. “I could have been someone if I hadn’t fallen for you.”

“It’s not fair to act like I’m the reason you’re still working at that bank. We haven’t seen each other in ten years. So maybe you put your plans on hold when we started, but what’s your excuse for the decade since? It’s time to stop blaming me and take some responsibility for the choices you’ve made.”

“That’s rich!” I retort. “You’re acting like I’ve done nothing with my life, but weren’t you supposed to have won a Pulitzer by now? Maybe I’m ‘just’ working in a bank, but you’re ‘just’ a wedding photographer.”

* * *

Cole bursts into the apartment, picks me up, and spins me around.

“I got it!”

My eyes widen, and I squeal with delight. “Really?”

“Yes!” He pulls me close, squeezes me tight, and presses his lips down over mine, holding me in a passionate, deep kiss. When he pulls back, I can see the stars in his eyes. “A permanent position. You know what this means, right?”

Fewer moments like these.

“I’m going to be on the frontline. I’m going to be out there in the action, making a real difference. The pictures I take have the chance to be iconic. I’m going to be more than some B-rate amateur.”

“Your pictures were never B-rate, Cole.”

“Now they’re going to be world-class. Finally, all that hard work is paying off.”

“I’m happy for you.”

I’m pleased for Cole, but his self-satisfaction is a little hard to swallow. While he’s been out working for free and networking, I’ve been keeping a roof over our heads and working a dead-end job. It feels like I’m the one doing all the hard work while Cole gets to chase fame and glory. There’s no glory for the woman behind the man.

* * *

Cole frowns. “You always hated my career. Seeing me fail must make you feel really satisfied.”

“Satisfied? Our whole relationship was about you and your photos. Your career destroyed us, and if you’ve failed, all that means is that the whole thing was one huge waste of time. A whole lot of heartbreak over nothing.”

“Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Finally, something we can agree on.”

“I’ll be seeing you, Sophie.”

“Goodbye.”

Cole turns and walks away. My heart is thumping. I look down at the trampled flowers on the ground, and my heart breaks all over again. Cole has a habit of leaving a trail of broken gestures behind him. That’s all they are—meaningless gestures.

My car is parked further up the street where Cole is headed, but I don’t want to walk in the same direction, so I stride purposefully away. Funny—we always end up going the opposite way, even if we’re meant to travel together.