before?”
“No,” he answered. “I’ve mostly seen you act like a pompous ass, which is exactly why I’m saying this to you now. I’ve never seen you like this before. You can’t stop thinking about her, and the two of you were great together. The whole story you just told me about driving to the café and then standing there like a fool after chasing her into the storage room is not something that I would ever have expected you to do. It’s not like you at all. So either you’ve suddenly lost your mind, or you’re in love with her.”
I wanted to laugh out loud at what Max was suggesting, but I was too angry at the fact that I knew he was probably right. I looked at him helplessly.
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Well, I think that if you want to regain her trust and get Brooke back, then you need to show her how special she is and how much you can’t stand being without her,” Max said.
“Like send her gifts and apology notes; maybe try to get her to let me take her out somewhere for a nice evening together?”
“It’s not about gifts, or money, or empty words, or gestures. It’s about really showing Brooke that you see her and listen to her. You need to prove to her that you want to spend time with her and that you’re willing to talk about everything that happened.”
Max looked at me as if he already assumed that I didn’t get what he was saying, but I think I did. Tomorrow I would make Brooke want to see me again.
6
Chapter Four (Brooke)
“Oh my God, here comes another one!” Kate said as the flower delivery man came into the coffee shop for the fifth time in the last hour.
Each bouquet was bigger and more elaborate than the last. The flowers were getting so overwhelming that Kate had started just taking them right out of the delivery man’s hands and setting them out on the café tables for the guests to enjoy. The store manager was not pleased. He mumbled something about all the fresh flowers being against inspection and yelled at the poor delivery guy who was just trying to do his job.
Every single one of the bouquets had a small card tucked inside. And each of the cards said the same three words.
“I’m sorry—Tim.”
“Well, he sure does know how to apologize,” Kate teased. “You have to at least give him that much credit.”
“He doesn’t even know what he is apologizing for,” I said.
All of this was an empty, meaningless, albeit beautifully fragrant gesture.
When we got home to Kate’s apartment after our shift had ended, there were more surprises waiting there as well. This time, instead of flowers, there were gifts.
“Man, I don’t know what you did to this guy,” Nick said as we walked inside. “But he has it bad. I’ve been accepting packages for you all night.”
I walked over to the pile of boxes that were on the counter and spilled out onto the floor. I picked one up and opened it.
“Wow,” Nick said as he looked at the brand new laptop. “As far as apologies go, that’s not bad.”
I grabbed another, smaller package and opened it. This time it was a pair of designer sunglasses. None of this mattered to me. I didn’t want a pile of presents or a workplace full of flowers. All of this was shallow and meaningless.
“Aww, Brooke,” Kate said as she held up on of the cards attached to a package. “Maybe you should give this Tim another chance. He’s obviously trying to make up with you.”
“Aren’t you the one who told me to black his number?” I asked.
“Yep,” she laughed. “But that was before all the goodies started arriving. In all seriousness, though, his cards are sweet, and he sounds pretty miserable without you.”
“Fine,” I said, only willing to partially concede. “I’ll unblock him. But I’m not going to call or message him first. If he figures it out, then he can get a hold of me.”
Within minutes of unblocking him, Tim messaged.
I looked at Kate and held up the phone for her to see that it was him. “How is that even possible?” I asked. Maybe her boyfriend knew something about this kind of stuff. “Is there an alert that goes off when someone unblocks you?”
“Nah,” Nick said. “He must have just been checking that nonstop.”
I opened my phone to see what his message said.
Brooke, I’m sorry. Please see how