Mine Would Be You (66)

For once, work is the easy factor, the one I’m in control of. I take a sip of coffee as I type away on the laptop I have pulled out. The board of directors has been implementing a new policy at the firm that needs to be looked over before being put into place. My eyes scan the screen, reading until Myles appears at the table.

I look up, closing my computer and meeting his gaze. After a hesitation, he gives me a nod in greeting before sitting across from me. The tension is heavy. Something I never thought I would experience with him. When we were both in college, the one year we got to play together, we were in sync, inseparable on and off the field. It’s how we stayed close for so many years. Always vying off each other’s energy.

There is none of that here.

He leans back, his eyes cold. “You wanted to talk?”

I sigh, seeing how this is going to go. “I did.” The bartender drops a water off, and I wait until he’s walked away to speak. “I want to apologize. For not telling you what was going on.”

He takes a sip of the water. “You mean that you were dating Nina?”

The use of were pisses me off, and I clench my jaw. “I am still dating Nina.”

Even though we haven’t really discussed titles or what exactly we’re doing, in my head we’re dating. And it’s the only way Myles will hear what I’m saying.

I sit up further. “I didn’t intend for this to happen, Myles. When I met her, I had no idea who she was.”

“It didn’t stop you when you found out.”

I roll my eyes, running a hand down my face. “Does it matter? If I stopped dating her, what about your life would change?” He says nothing, and I raise a brow, annoyance buzzing over my skin. “What would you do, divorce your wife?”

“Of course not,” he bites back, flexing and unflexing his hands. “I don’t want Nina back. I want Emma. We’re talking to someone; we’re working on things.”

“So, then why does it matter if I keep dating her or not? Are you going to forgive me if I apologize or are you still going to act like you’ve been wronged?”

Honestly, it’s exhausting. This isn’t the Myles that I met in college, the one that became like a brother to me. This isn’t even the Myles that Emma fell in love with and married.

I wonder if this was the Myles that Nina knew.

If it is, everything makes so much sense. Why she’s hard-pressed to push things away, to always put others first, to always offer people what they might want to hear. It makes my fucking skin crawl.

He leans forward, his hand gripping the glass tightly. “You were my best man at my fucking wedding. You were the first friend I ever made in college. And you start dating my ex and you don’t even tell me? It just upset me.”

I crack my neck, forcing myself to take a deep breath. “I get it. I know I was wrong, and I’m trying to make up for it.” I should stop there, be the bigger person. But I don’t. “But you’re so determined to hold this grudge, this claim over Nina when you don’t have any. I’m not your childhood best friend betraying you, Myles. You’re a grown man, as am I. And I was going to tell you. But I have a feeling even if I did, you would’ve reacted the same way.”

He rolls his eyes. “That’s not true. I would’ve had time to process.”

I furrow my brows. “Process what?” I laugh dryly. “It’s not like you just broke up. You’re married. What did you need to process? That the girl you let go of years ago was finally no longer yours?”

He sighs and lets his head drop for a moment, but my sympathy meter is running low. Most of my sympathy is for Nina, if this is what she had to put up with, and for Emma, for this side of her husband appearing when it should be the happiest months of her life.

“I don’t know.”

With a shake of my head, I square my shoulders. “No. I think you do. I think you moved on, you met Emma, got married, but as soon as Nina showed signs of moving on, you couldn’t deal with it.” I hesitate, but I ask the question anyway. “Are you happy with Emma?”

“Yes,” he says, sure of himself, meeting my eyes, and I believe him.

“Then what is the deal, Myles? Nina came to the wedding so she could see that you were happy and moved on and this is how you react to her?”

“Oh, and you’re so sure of that?”

My brows almost hit my forehead. “Yes, I am. Pretty sure she told you that herself in the Hamptons too.” Guilt and surprise flash through his eyes. Maybe he’s surprised that Nina and I actually talk about this shit. But I don’t care. “She came to see you happy, and the fact that you even think there was another motive means you don’t know her at all. You don’t know her anymore, Myles, and you simply don’t have a right to.”

“And you do?” Myles sits up, glaring at me.

“Someone does, whether it’s me or someone else.” I sigh. “I didn’t come here to fight over Nina. Even if I did, you’re not in the running anymore.”

He runs his hands over his face, his wedding ring glinting in the light. “I know that, I do, and I don’t want to be—”

I interrupt. “You do know it. So you need to act like. And if you really love Emma, if you’re really happy, you’ll realize it sooner than later.”