Page 105 of You, Me, and Forever

“Oh boy,” Blakely said under her breath. “Look who just walked in.”

I turned to see Phillip standing in the front office, and I internally groaned. He’d texted me so many times, and I just didn’t have the energy to deal with him.

Nor should I have to.

I walked out to the front office and crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you doing here, Phillip?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said, glancing over at Violet and Blakely, who’d followed me out to the front.

“Oh, it’s my favorite narcissist,” Violet said. “Let me guess, you want Montana to plan your wedding to the woman you cheated on her with? That would be very on brand for you.”

He sighed and then looked over at me with pleading eyes. “Can you just give me five minutes?”

I shook my head and motioned for him to follow me to my office. I moved to sit behind my desk, and he took the seat across from me.

“You have to stop texting me, Phillip. We aren’t together anymore, and you’re engaged to another woman. It’s inappropriate, even for you.”

“Oh, so now I’m the devil, huh? I made some mistakes, Montana. I’m not perfect.”

“Why are you doing this? I’m not upset with you at this point. I’m over it. I don’t think about it at all. So why are you pushing this so hard?” My words were harsh, but I didn’t want to hear his bullshit anymore.

“Because I miss you,” he whispered. “I think I really fucked up, Montana. I think about you all the time. I’m engaged to another woman, but it’s you who I think about when I close my eyes at the end of the day.”

“Then perhaps you should open them and look at your fiancée,” I said, suddenly overcome with anger. “You’re never happy, Phillip. That’s your problem. You always want what you can’t have. When you were with me, you were thinking about her. Figure your shit out, and leave me out of it.”

“So you’re saying you can’t forgive me?” he asked, acting completely wounded.

A maniacal laugh escaped my lips. “I’m saying I have no desire to forgive you.”

“Because you’re angry.”

“No, that’s not it. Listen, Phillip, our relationship ran its course. You weren’t wrong for ending things. I know that, because I now know what it means to love someone deeply. We didn’t have that. We had a history, and it’s the reason that we both hung on for so long. Too long. But that’s not love. And I think we could have remained friends after everything was all said and done, but you ruined that because we both know that you were unfaithful. And now you have the audacity to come to me and see if I’ll take you back while you’reengaged to another woman? So, listen to me when I say this to you.” I paused, waiting for his gaze to meet mine as I folded my hands on my desk. “You can fuck off, Phillip. Because I deserve better. And you don’t deserve my friendship.”

He just sat there gaping at me. “Wow. You’ve changed a lot, Montana.”

“Thank God for that. If you were looking for a doormat, I believe you came to the wrong place.”

“I didn’t mean that in a negative way.” He held his hands up. “You’ve changed a lot, but I admire it. And I’m happy for you, if you’re happy. I’m happy that you know what it means to love someone now, even if it stings to hear it. Are you still with that rich guy?”

What part of “I don’t want to be friends with you” did you miss?

“Phillip,” I said as I pushed to my feet. “I do know what it means to love someone. And to be loved by someone in a way that makes you love yourself even more. And that’s as much as I’m going to share with you. I wish you the best, and I hope you figure things out. But I need to get back to work now.”

I walked out of the office, and Violet and Blakely were both watching as he walked past me and moved toward the door.

“Thanks for hearing me out.” He shrugged. “I’m happy for you, Montana. You deserve the best, and it sounds like you’ve found it.”

I did. I just couldn’t hold on to it.

I nodded. “Take care, Phillip.”

And when he stepped outside, I felt like I was a stronger person than I used to be.

I just wished I could thank the person who’d helped me realize it.

“Okay, so our code word is ‘blue balls.’ If either of us say it, we get the hell out of there,” Violet said.

“I feel like you picked a code word that is obviously a code word. Because why would we ever just drop that in a conversation?” I said as I pulled the door open to the Moose Brew.

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