Kathy started laughing and couldn’t stop. If nothing else, Kevin was definitely good at making her smile.
* * *
Kevin was freakishly happy all week at work. For over a year, he’d been kicking himself thinking about Kathy. As he watched his siblings all fall in love, he’d been feeling a little bitter and seeing Kathy last year bummed him out. He’d really liked her and missed her when she’d slipped out of his life. He didn’t know why he hadn’t chased her down for answers. Ultimately, he treated her like any other girl who came and went. Knowing that it was his actions that caused her to leave made him want to kick himself harder.
Back then, he and Kathy hadn’t talked about exclusivity. And the time she’d referred to catching him cheating, he hadn’t actually had sex with the woman. He’d run into his ex, Tina, at a bar. They’d both been drinking and pretty much passed out as soon as they cleared his front door.
But the thing was, looking back, he couldn’t say that he’d been totally faithful either. He just wasn’t sure. He’d been twenty-five and enjoying life. Settling down had been the farthest thing from his mind. His time away from work consisted of being at the bar every night. The only time his head had been completely clear was while he was actually at work. Or with Kathy.
However, in one alcohol-fueled conversation with Sean about women, he’d admitted to his brother and himself that Kathy was the one that got away. Now he had a fresh opportunity. She was single and so was he. And he wanted the chance to get it right. He’d spent a lot of time over the last year thinking about their brief relationship, and he couldn’t remember a happier time.
He knew he had a lot to overcome to win her back, but nothing was impossible. They weren’t the same people they were five years ago. He could show her that he’d changed.
She’d agreed to have dinner with him. So she didn’t quite jump at the chance, but she hadn’t said no. If she truly hated him, she would’ve said they could figure out schedules via e-mail. She could’ve avoided ever laying eyes on him until the wedding. But she hadn’t.
As far as he was concerned, that meant he had a shot.
As Thursday neared, he made plans. If he remembered correctly, Kathy loved pizza. Pizza would be a nice, casual dinner, nothing that could be construed as a ploy or a romantic meal. What he really wanted to do was apologize for hurting her. It didn’t matter that she said it was old news and she was fine; he’d seen the look in her eyes that told him the hurt had been very real. His hurt at her leaving had been real too, but he could admit it probably didn’t compare.
Normally, he’d give a woman flowers, but Kathy was a florist. Moira had bragged that Kathy owned her own shop and was doing the flowers for the wedding. Chocolate was a good backup, but he wasn’t sure. Asking Moira might cost him one of his testicles, so not a good idea.
On Wednesday night, he and Jimmy met for drinks and after listening to Jimmy’s complaints about a bachelor party and what he didn’t want—no strippers? What the hell?—Kevin asked what he thought about Kathy.
“You need to get that out of your head right now. Moira will kill me if there’s even a hint of me helping you get to Kathy. Then she’ll go after you.”
“I know I fucked up with Kathy. In all honesty, though, I didn’t know until your engagement party when Moira told me I broke Kathy’s heart. Dude, it was five years ago. I thought we were casual.”
Jimmy shook his head. “I taught you better than that. Live how you want, but make sure everyone’s on the same page.”
“I thought we were. She took off without a word and I was pissed. Who does that? No fight, no big breakup, she was just gone.” Kevin didn’t need to explain how hard it was to have someone disappear from his life. Jimmy knew. He took a swallow of beer. “I’m not looking for you to talk to her for me. I just need an idea of what to give her. The usual apology gift—flowers—is out. Chocolate seems cheap.”
Jimmy grunted. “Not if you get the good shit. Look at Godiva or Frango. Not cheap.”
“I wasn’t talking price. I meant the sentiment behind it.”
Jimmy eyed him. “Since when do you use words like ‘sentiment’?”
“I’m skilled in many things. I write at work and my whole job is to make the people around me sound smarter than they are. Just because I choose to limit my words around barbarians like you doesn’t mean I don’t have an excellent vocabulary.” He turned the bottle in his hand. “I don’t know how to explain this. I really liked Kathy. I wasn’t ready for anything serious back then, so I was probably willfully oblivious about her feelings. And that was shitty. I want to make it up to her.”
“You just want to apologize? Not get back with her?”
Kevin swallowed hard. He couldn’t lie to Jimmy; his brother would see right through him. “Yes, I want to apologize, but if doing so opens a door for me to have a second chance, I’m jumping at it.”
“She’s not a fling kind of girl. That much I’ve figured out in the time I’ve spent with her. Your casual shit won’t fly this time either.”
“I didn’t say I wanted it to be casual.”
Jimmy froze with his beer halfway to his mouth. He stared at Kevin for a long moment, probably to assess whether Kevin was spinning some bullshit. Kevin held his stare.
“Why her? You’ve dated plenty of women. No one has stood out as particularly serious.”
Kevin shook his head and searched for the words. “I’ve been thinking about her a lot since your engagement party. I see you and
