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could be so tenderhearted when he
wanted to be. He put both his arms around me and held me against
his body. My arms went limp—a dead weight hanging by my side. I bit
down on my lips to stop from crying. With resolve, I vowed to end
all emotional ties with this man whose chest heaved a large sigh
against my heart. There would be no more tears, no more
hurt.
    “Em, I’m so sorry for hurting you.
That was truly not my intention graduation night. Please don’t
believe that I didn’t love you as much as you loved me. I was just
too stupid and immature to know what I had. You were my world.” His
broken face broke my heart.
    I stopped him from saying any
more.
    “Max. Thank you, but your apology is
unnecessary. You didn’t feel as deeply about me as I’d hoped.
That’s not a crime. I don’t blame you for my pain. It took awhile
but I’m OK now. I hope one day we can be friends again. Let’s go
home. It’s late.”
    The car ride back was a quiet one,
though Max looked like he still needed to talk. I thought through
what Max finally admitted and how I handled the situation. Was this
the closure I needed?
    Max apologized, I accepted, end of our
story? I was going to accept tonight as closure and move on with
life.
    Luckily, when we got back to the
house, we found a distraction in Peter and James who had passed out
at my front door.
    “Pete, James, are you guys OK?” Max
asked.
    “I need to sleep,” Peter slurred. “We
both drank too much, so Will dropped us off here. Emily, can we
spend the night at your house? I’m so tired I don’t think we can
make it home.”
    “Um, I suppose you guys can spend the
night. You know that I’m leaving early in the morning?”
    “Yeah. Can you open the door? It’s
cold.” Peter and James crawled into the house but never made it
into the guest bedroom. They both fell asleep on the living room
floor.
    Max didn’t have much of a choice but
to settle into the guest bed. It was 3:00 a.m.

Chapter 4 San Francisco
Confessional
     
    Ding
Dong .
    Exactly at 7:00 a.m., Jake was at the
door. Looking as amazing as ever in slacks, a button-down, and a
blazer, he held a latte and a croissant as I opened the
door.
    “Good morning. Are you ready to
leave?”
    “Not quite. Come in.”
    “Whoa, what happened here?” he asked,
surveying the mess all around the house. “A slumber
party?”
    “There was an after party I didn’t
attend, and these guys drank too much to drive home. They asked to
spend the night here, but never made it into the bedroom.” I left
out the part about me crying like a fool in my ex’s arms again. “I
think they’re getting up now.”
    Peter and James stretched their arms
and slowly got up from the floor. “Good morning,” they muttered
with one eye open.
    “Hey. Did you sleep well? Are your
backs OK? You both fell asleep on the floor the second you walked
into the house. I have breakfast ready for you guys. You know I
won’t be home all day, right?” I asked.
    My pedantic rambling, followed by
obedient nodding of heads, reminded me of my fourth graders at
school. I laughed to myself.
    “Jake, do you still have my spare
keys? Can I have them back?” He slowly handed them to me. I winked
at him, knowing he didn’t like giving these up.
    For a sleepy guy, Peter’s senses were
alert enough to catch my fumbled throw.
    “Make yourselves at home. Just lock up
when you go, and return the keys next time.”
    Without any warning, Max walked out
and I caught a startled glimpse on both Jake’s and Max’s faces. I
looked over at Jake apologetically and hoped I hadn’t spoiled his
mood for the rest of the day.
    “Road trip!” My dear friend Peter
yelled out, turning the attention on himself to save me. “We need
to support our football team. Emily, are you in? Jake, you want to
come too? I have ten tickets to the Las Vegas Bowl.”
    “When is it?” I asked.
    “The day after Christmas,” he
replied.
    “I guess so. You want to go?” I said
turning