Page 116 of Someone to Remember
“I am, too.”
After a long silence, he says, “This is weird, right?”
“Very. I never thought I’d be on a first date again.”
“Me either. I was relieved to be done with all that.”
“Oh God, same. Dating was the worst!”
“Tell me your worst dating horror story.”
“I have so many tied for last place, but the ultimate had to be my ex-boyfriend Johnny. We were together about three years, and I was starting to think we were headed for marriage when he told me, and I quote, ‘I’m not done sowing my wild oats yet.’”
Brad gasped. “He actually said that?”
“Those very words. It’s funny now, but at the time… God, I was devastated. I thought we were solid, and the worst part is I’d gone back to him after meeting Spencer, which was a huge mistake. I was so glad to get a second chance with Spence a year or so later. Ironically, I reconnected with him at the same party where Sam met Nick.”
“I’m sorry Johnny treated you that way.”
“It was a long time ago now and barely registers on the heartbreak-o-meter after more recent events.”
“He’s a nothingburger in the grand scheme of things.”
“For sure, but at the time… I was crushed.”
“I can imagine. What a crappy thing for him to say. Why not just be like, ‘I’m not in the same place you are regarding thefuture, and I think some time apart might benefit me.’ Or something an actual adult would say?”
“That would’ve been nice. I’m a big believer in people being allowed to end relationships that aren’t working for them, but to say it like that was just cruel after we’d spent years together.”
“Sure was. What became of him?”
“I have no idea. I never hear anything about him, which is fine with me. What about you? What was your biggest disaster?”
“I dated my sister’s best friend, and it ended badly. Took my sister a long time to forgive me for that.”
“Define ‘badly’…”
“I told her that I felt our relationship had run its course, and that didn’t go over well. I tried to be as nice about it as I possibly could, but she wasn’t having it. I was immediately the villain because I wanted different things.”
“Did your sister forgive you?”
“Not entirely. She was mad at me for a long time, and I started to hold a grudge against her for giving me shit about breaking up with someone in the nicest way I could.”
“Are they still friends?”
“Yes, but not like they used to be, which is also my fault, apparently.”
“It’s all so messy.”
“I swear I was totally upstanding with her. No wild-oats bullshit. Later, I found out she’d been collecting bride magazines because she thought we were getting married. I was twenty-one and in no way ready for any of that.”
“Yikes.”
“Right? I’m so glad I waited until I was twenty-nine to get married. I would’ve messed it up if I’d done it earlier.”
“You also hadn’t met the right person.”
“That’s true, too.”
