Page 42 of The Plus One Professional
“Nine years?” I turned my head toward him, sure I must have heard him wrong.
He nodded.
Nine years?He was only twenty-four. I realized then that I’d never asked if he had a girlfriend. Current. Present tense. I’d assumed that since he dated people for money, it meant he was single. But I’d seen enough reality TV shows about untraditional couples that included polygamy, open relationships, and men with multiple wives to know that might not be the case.
“Are you still together?”
“What?” His eyes cut toward me, but then he looked back out over the road. “No. We broke up three years ago.”
I did the mental math. “So you were…twelve when you got together?”
“I asked her to be my girlfriend the first day of seventh grade.”
“And did you stay together?” I asked. “I mean, all through high school and college, or was it off and on?”
“I didn’t go to college, but yeah, we stayed together. We only broke up once. Three years ago.”
“What happened?” As soon as I heard myself ask the question, I backtracked. “Sorry, it’s none of my business. Sorry.”
“You apologize a lot,” he pointed out.
He wasn’t the first person to mention that to me. Grandma Betty, my sisters, Olivia and Trevor, had all told me that I should stop saying I was sorry for everything. It was a force of habit. Second nature. It came out of my mouth before I even knew I was saying it.
I almost said it again. I was about to apologize for saying sorry, but I caught myself. “Yes. I do that. I know.”
“The short answer is that she moved to New York.”
“Oh, okay.” I wanted so badly to know what the long answer was, but I didn’t ask.
A few minutes passed, and I did my best to distract myself by listening to “The Way You Look Tonight,” which was playing over the speakers, but all I could think to ask was more questions about their relationship.
“You want to know the long answer, don’t you?” His eyes sliced to me.
“So bad.” I admitted.
He smiled and then sighed. “Some things changed in my life, some responsibilities, and it was too much for her. She just needed to get away. I think that’s what happened anyway. We never talked about it.”
“You didn’t talk about it?” As soon as I heard myself ask the question, I realized I was the last person to question someone’s communication skills, since mine were severely lacking. Exhibit A: I’d been in love with Simon for over two decades and always assumed he felt the same way but just wasn’t ready to settle down. Since we were driving to his wedding, clearly that hadn’t been the case.
“No. We didn’t. She was gone, and then I found out she cheated on me. I was upset and didn’t want to hear her reasons, so I blocked her on my phone and social media. I think now, looking back, she needed to blow up our relationship because she didn’t want to get trapped.”
“I’m sorry,” I heard myself apologize, and I automatically doubled down. “Sorry, I know I need to stop apologizing.”
“So now you’re apologizing for apologizing.”
“Yeah, I clearly have a problem.”
“Maybe there’s a support group or something you could go to. Apologists Anonymous.” His head tilted to the side. “No, that wouldn’t work. AA is already taken.”
I chuckled but then felt a little guilty for laughing when he’d just told me that after almost a decade together, he was cheated on. “But I am actually sorry you went through that. Have you had any other relationships, you know, serious relationships, since then?”
He turned his head and he looked at me for a moment, then his attention went back to the road. “So, the age thing was just a softball question before these hard hitters.”
I nearly apologized again, but I stopped myself. “You don’t have to answer.”
“No. I haven’t had anything serious since.”
“Yeah, I understand.” Much like communication, getting over someone was clearly not my strong suit, so I totally understood why he’d been single. Simon and I hadn’t had anything nearly as serious as what Cole and his first love had shared, and I’d spent over twenty years holding onto it.
