You Promised Me Forever (Forever Yours #1)(43)

“This is her.” Jordan nods, his expression solemn.

“Mandy.” She steps forward and pulls me into her arms, her embrace so tight I struggle to breathe. “It is so, so good to finally meet you. And please call me Ronnie.”

“Um, nice to meet you too,” I say, confused by her reaction.

She pulls away from me, clutching my shoulders and giving me a little shake. “You’re beautiful! Oh, I knew you would be. Tuttle’s told me plenty.”

Jordan groans.

“Don’t you act like that.” She lets go of my shoulders to turn on him, wagging a finger at his chest. “You’re the one who spilled your guts to me.”

“You spilled your guts?” I ask him. It’s shocking to think of Jordan telling someone else, a complete stranger, all about our failed relationship.

“He told me plenty.” She tilts her head, contemplating me. “Enough to know that I should tell you that you have another opportunity right now. Don’t blow it.”

I’m taken aback by the urgency in her voice. I do know I have another opportunity right now. I’ve just never had anyone say it out loud to me before.

“Ronnie.” Jordan’s voice is firm. “Leave her alone.”

“She needs to hear the truth.” She turns and taps him lightly on the chest with her index finger. “Follow me. I’ve got a special table for you two.”

Her quick change of subject leaves me reeling. Well, that and the fact that Jordan told her about our relationship.

Talk about weird.

The moment Ronnie hands us our menus and walks away, I’m leaning across the table, my gaze locked on Jordan’s. “What was that all about?”

“I used to come here a lot, especially during my first season.” He opens up the menu, then immediately shuts it and sets it on the table, as if he’s already made up his mind. “I had a thing for their burritos. Still do.”

“Great. So Ronnie gave you a burrito and you told her about your love life?”

“Yeah. So?” He shrugs, oh so nonchalant. I sort of want to punch him.

And I also sort of want to hug him.

“You don’t even know her,” I point out.

“I do too. She’s nice. Nicer than my mother’s ever been.” His tone is bitter, and my heart aches for him.

“So Ronnie is like a mother figure.”

“During my first season, I came in here once a week. She’d always ask me why I didn’t have a woman in my life, and that led me to confess about our relationship,” he admits.

Sighing, I drop my head, studying the menu, though I’m barely focused enough to read my dinner options. “Great. She probably hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” he assures me.

“I can’t believe you told her everything.” I decide on street tacos with carnitas and shut my menu.

“I was hurt.” He shrugs.

In my head, I calculate how many years are between our break up and his first season. “But that was what? Three years after we split? Four? And you were still hurt?”

He rests his hand over his heart. “You’ve always had a major effect on me.”

“Are you trying to make me feel like shit?” Because it’s totally working.

Jordan drops his hand over mine, completely engulfing it. “No, I’m just being honest. You had your issues, and I had mine.”

I blink at him, hating the sting of tears that appear out of nowhere. I don’t want to cry. Not here, in the middle of his favorite Mexican restaurant with Ronnie the mother figure watching us. My timing is all wrong. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He squeezes my hand but doesn’t say anything.

“I figured you were so busy, you’d get over me quick,” I continue.

His eyes dim and he slowly shakes his head. “I don’t know how you ever believed that was possible.”

Ronnie suddenly appears, a tiny notepad and pen in hand. “Are you two done living in the past and ready for me to take your drink order?”

Her words make me sit up straight, and Jordan removes his hand from mine. I order a glass of water, the words coming out of my mouth automatically, though I’m thinking of something else. What she said. How she said it, the tone of her voice no-nonsense.

Are you two done living in the past?

The past is there. Undeniable. But Ronnie’s right. I’m too hung up on it. Too worried about what I did to him versus thinking of what we could possibly do together. Here.

Right now.

Ronnie asks what Jordan wants to drink. He orders a Modelo and looks at me, silently asking if I want one too. I nod my answer, and he tells Ronnie, “Make that two,” before she bustles away, headed for the tiny bar in the far corner of the room.

“You okay?” he asks.

Taking a deep breath, I nod, smiling faintly at him. “Have you forgiven me for what I did to you?”

He leans back, his brows drawn together. “Yeah. I have.”

“Really? Because there’s no way we can go forward unless you can truly say you’ve forgiven me for breaking your heart.”

He touches my hand again, just his fingertips skimming my skin, making me tingle. “Trust me, Mandy. I’ve forgiven you,” he says, his deep voice extra low. Intimate.