I have a headache from running through the events of yesterday over and over in my mind. I have no idea how I managed to screw things up so badly. In my head, I’d had it all planned. I’d show Sophie the flowers. Then, she’d forgive me instantly, and we’d pick up where we left off like nothing had ever changed.

But things have changed, Cole.

Dennis is looking at me from across the table in the diner. He’s been silent since we arrived, letting me wallow, but three bites into his double-decker burger later, he’s finding it hard to manage his curiosity. “You know I’m going to ask eventually.”

I pick at my fries. “It was a disaster.”

“What happened?”

“I had it all figured out—what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. Then something completely different came out of my mouth.”

Dennis chuckles. “Welcome to the world the rest of us live in. Finally, a woman who gets Cole Tanner tongue-tied.”

“I don’t know why I thought she’d simply say ‘yes.’”

“I know why.” Dennis swallows another mouthful of beef and lettuce, dabbing at the ketchup on his bottom lip with a paper towel. “You’re cocky.”

“Cocky?”

“You have an ego, and don’t pretend you don’t know it. You think you’re too good for this job, and you obviously think you’re too good for Sophie.”

I raise my eyebrows. I’m taken aback to hear Dennis say it so straight. “Wow. Tell me what you really think, why don’t you?”

Dennis chuckles again and shrugs. “Maybe someone needs to say it. You were a big shot once, and you’ve never forgotten it. From what you’ve told me, you chose your career over your girl and then vanished from her life for the next ten years. Yet the second you return, you think she should drop everything and take you back. Are you really that big a deal?”

I draw in a sharp breath and roll my tongue around my mouth, chewing over his words. “I wouldn’t say it’s quite like that.”

“No. I don’t suppose you would.” He raises his eyebrows and shrugs. “You don’t have to listen to me, though. I wasn’t there.”

I recall the moment my conversation with Sophie went south. It looks to me like you’re just where I left you. A swell of shame stirs in my gut. I nod. “Maybe you’re right.”

“You can’t win them all, buddy. Maybe there’s still time to make things right with Fifi.”

“I don’t want to get back with Fifi—or any of those women online.”

“I’ll be honest. I don’t know what’s gotten into you. If Sophie was that special, you wouldn’t have left her in the first place, or waited ten years to win her back. I think you’re letting old memories cloud your vision. You don’t divorce someone if everything’s all sunshine and roses. Memory’s a funny thing. Things weren’t amazing then, and there’s no reason they should be amazing now.”

* * *

She stands under the cherry blossoms. I shake a branch to make the petals fall. Sophie holds out her hands palms upward, her face bright and enraptured. I lift my camera to my eye and take pictures of her dancing under the pink rain.

This very moment, she is too beautiful for words. The lens has always been more important than the subject, but when Sophie is in the frame, she’s all I see. Thoughts of contrast and composition fade away; I only want an excuse to keep staring.

She comes toward me. Her hands close around my lens and draw it down as she rises on her tiptoes to catch me in a kiss.

She threads her arms around my neck and leans back slightly, looking up into my face. She closes her eyes and lets out a soft sigh of contentment. “Today has been a perfect day.”

* * *

“You’re wrong. Things were amazing—until they weren’t.”

“What do I know?” Dennis shrugs. “I’ve yet to get to a third date, let alone travel the world, get married, divorce, and then reunite with the same woman.”

“I don’t want us to walk away from each other on bad terms again.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Try again.”

Dennis raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re not pushing this too far?”

“Ever since seeing Sophie again, I can’t stop thinking about her. I was so blinded by my ambition at the time that I took her for granted. I won’t do that again.”

“Really? It seems like it’s already headed for disaster.”

I place down my cutlery and rise from my chair. “I’m going to make this right.” I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s almost five, and I’m only a few blocks away from the bank where Sophie works. “I’m going to see her now.”

I throw down a twenty on the table and leave the diner, then stride quickly toward the bank. I have no idea what I’m going to say to Sophie when I see her, but I can’t let it end like this. I’m convinced that fate has brought us back together for a reason.

She steps outside the building, her jacket folded over her arm. She sees me and her face creases in anger. She turns on her heel to stride away, but I take hold of her arm to stop her. “Please, Sophie, hear me out.”

“Don’t touch me! Jesus, Cole—who do you think you are?”

My hand drops and I step back, bowing my head in apology. “I’m sorry.”

“You need to stop this. I don’t know what you want. First, you trick me into seeing you. Then, you show up and make me feel small by judging what I’ve done with my life. Now, you’re here to stir things up again. Leave me alone, Cole.”

I keep hold of her arm and pull her toward me. She stumbles slightly, her body pressing against mine. Her head twists and tilts upward toward me. Her eyes are full of so many emotions; I see regret and longing.

“Let go.”

“Listen to me: I was wrong. I should never have let you meet me without knowing who it was you’d been talking to. I should never have said that nothing had changed for you when I came by yesterday. I never meant to make you feel small. I made so many mistakes when we were young, and now I’m making them all again.”

I stroke the back of her hand with my thumb. Her hand feels small in my palm. Her body leans away from me, but she doesn’t pull away her hand. She looks back at me over her shoulder, her eyebrows drawn together and her chin trembling. I release her, and she quickly steps back. Her face is flushed.

I continue. “My assistant tells me I have an ego, and I think he’s right. It’s not fair of me to assume that you’re going to want me simply because I’m here. I know that you have your own life that doesn’t involve me, and I have no right to any of your time or your feelings anymore. But I’d like the chance to try again. This time, we would be equal. It wouldn’t be a rerun of ‘The Cole Show.’ So much has changed.

“Since you’ve come back into my life, all I can think about is how things used to be before I got the job at the paper and let you become my last priority. I was an idiot. Please, give me a chance to show you that I’m different now.

“I should never have taken it for granted that you’d want to pick up where we left off, but I got so caught up in the idea that fate brought us back together. I broke up with my girlfriend as soon as we saw each other again. Nobody compares, Soph. Please, please, let me take you to dinner tonight.”

Finally, Sophie turns her body toward me, her anger dissipating. “Why do you want to start this again? We made each other miserable.”

“Not at first. Getting married was the mistake we made. Before we started setting all those expectations for each other, we were happy. You can’t say we were never good together. You can’t say that our adventures weren’t out of this world. Those memories are the best of my life.”

She bows her head and nods. “Mine too.”

“It could be like that again. Maybe our time for globetrotting is over, but we could still make each other laugh like we used to.”

Sophie bites down on her lip. I can see how excruciating the decision is.

I won’t give up.

“I don’t want all those good memories marred by some stupid things I said because my ego was bruised. If nothing else, I want to walk away on good terms. Let’s go to dinner, maybe see what’s left. If there’s nothing there, I’ll walk away for good. I swear.”

Her resolve weakens. She nods and folds her arms sternly across her chest. “Fine. I’ll go to dinner, but it’s not a date. It’s a reunion.”

“A reunion.” I grin. “Let’s meet at Monty’s at eight.”

“Okay.”

I step back and gesture that she’s free to go. “Then I’ll see you later.”

She steps across my path to pass me with an awkward smile. “I’m actually parked this way.” She presses her key fob and the headlights of a nearby compact car blink with a beep.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Eight o’clock.”