I wasn't in the mood tonight. It was such a lovely day earlier, but now it's ruined by the rain. I didn't mind the rain. I got ready for dinner with Garrett and went downstairs to my car. I held my green umbrella in one hand and unlocked the car door with the other.

After opening the door, I looked up to fold the umbrella. When I was about to put it away, I happened to look over the top of the car and noticed Gray getting out of his car. I wondered where he went after work.

It wasn't until he made eye contact that I realized I was getting rained on. I quickly got into my car and started it up.

"Ah, great." I was shivering.

I looked through the passenger side window and saw Gray was already gone. It was still weird to think he lived so close to me. I had become paranoid he would be able to see into my apartment windows and catch me walking around naked.

Then, I thought that if he could see into my apartment, I would be able to see into his. I pondered about it until I heard my phone buzz. It was a message from Garrett. He was on his way to River Shore. I was surprised when he didn't ask me to come to pick him up like I always had to when we were dating. He must have taken a cab.

Let's get this over with.

Ten minutes later, I pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

"Oh, fuck it all." I hit my steering wheel.

The parking lot was jam-packed. There was no way we were going to eat here. I looked at the doors and saw a crowd of at least 20 people trying to stay dry under a small red awning. I found Garrett amongst them. He was looking out into the parking lot, probably looking for me.

Half of the building was all windows looking out to the river. There was a balcony coming almost right above the water. There were dozens of tables with umbrellas outside. Of course, they were all empty now. Under an awning, I only saw one person standing near the balcony door. It looked like an employee was on their smoke break. I imagined how they felt peaceful versus the chaos of working in a packed house.

I decided to call Garrett. I didn't want to go out into the rain to not eat there.

"Hello?" Thank God, he answered.

"Yeah, I'm in the parking lot. It looks way too busy. Let's go somewhere else."

"No, it's fine. I reserved a table for us."

"Oh, really? You didn't mention that." I was surprised. He never did that when we were dating.

"Yeah, I figured it was going to be busy. So, I wanted to make sure we got in." He sounded cheery for someone being squished by people in the rain.

"Okay, I'll be right there."

I got out of the car and ran up to Garrett. I felt the water splashing on the back of my pants. He smiled and led me inside. We walked past annoyed-looking people to talk to the host. After he gave the host his name, we were led to our table.

I looked over the menu, pretending I wouldn't get the same thing I always did. It was loud and distracting. Every single person in the room was talking.

Garrett laughed. "Aren't you just going to get the Whiskey River burger?"

He still remembered.

"You caught me." I laughed too. I set the menu down. And continued to people-watch.

A while after we ordered, our food came out. It was just as delicious as it always was. I missed it so much. The burger was always cooked perfectly. Pink and juicy. The fries were fantastic as well. Not too crunchy, not too soggy, and not too salty. And it all tasted even better since I wasn't paying for any of it. We only talked a little once we were both done eating.

"So, I wanted to say again how sorry I am. I know I was being a dick."

I saw Garrett look sincere. His bright blue puppy dog eyes stared at me. Those eyes and his sandy blonde hair screamed adorable puppy. He could be a charmer when he really wanted to be. Too bad he wasn't like that all the time.

"I appreciate you saying that." I was wondering how to get through this conversation. I took a sip of my lemonade.

"I thought a lot about you when you weren't at work. I kept thinking about how much you did for me, though I didn't do nearly as much for you."

He grabbed my hand.

"Where is all this coming from?" My body wouldn't move except for my left eyebrow-raising.

"I felt bad for fighting with you before you got hurt. When you didn't come back the next day, I realized I wanted to see you as soon as possible. But I didn't think you would want to see me. So, I got the idea to get you flowers and take you out." His hand squeezed mine.

"But why?" I was skeptical about what he was saying. I moved my hand away from his.

"Is it that hard to believe that I just like you and want to make things better between us?" Garrett's voice went cold.

I was dumbfounded by this. Garrett seemed to lose interest in me before. Why does he seem interested again?

"I don't know." I blushed and looked down at my empty plate. My stomach felt queasy. Did I gorge myself?

He grabbed my hand with both of his hands. He was clasping my hand as if his life depended on it.

"Please, Gabriella, I want to make it up to you. Can you give me another chance?"

What was happening?

"Let me think about it."

They were the only words I could get out of my mouth. I smiled and let Garrett keep holding my hand. It felt nice to have someone touch me like that again. One of the little things I missed about being with someone.

"Alright, I'll take it." He smiled back and squeezed my hand again.

We chatted about work. For a moment, I decided to give in and ask Garrett to return to my place. He stayed there quite a bit when we were dating. Then I went home, alone, thankfully.

After the breakup, it was awkward to think we had seen each other naked so many times. Now, probably never again.

I lay in bed and thought back to what Garrett said. Maybe he realized what a piece of shit he turned out to be. Did he really miss me? I wasn't sure if I really missed him, but I'd admit to missing being close to someone again.

I heard my phone buzz and saw 8 unread messages from Emily. She demanded I tell her everything that happened. I don't know if I should. I still didn't really know what to think of it myself. I had a feeling Emily would be against anything related to Garrett.

Me: He did pay. It was fine. We mostly talked about work. Yeah, he said sorry for being a dick.

Emi: Well, he better! Or he's gonna have to deal with me ;)

Me: You're a spitfire! :P

For some reason, the image of Gray looking disheveled at work this morning popped into my head.

Me: Do you know what was wrong with Gray today? He looked like shit.

Emi: Oh, he just had to catch up on work since he left early Thursday to take you home last. He stayed late Friday night and then went back late last night to finish a couple of your reports you didn't get to Friday since you were off.

Earlier that day, I panicked. I feared I didn't finish something important. I asked Gray if there was something I needed to do before I left work, and he said no, everything was caught up.

I thought it was strange, his voice was almost gentle and tired when he spoke to me, but he didn't look away from his computer.

I felt so guilty.

Me: OMG, I had no idea he would have to do that. And I did wonder why he got home late Friday.

Emi: What?!? How do you know when he gets home?????

Me: Oh, I forgot to tell you. I found out Garrett lives in the building across the street from me. Haha.

I realized that I had assumed she knew where he lived before. She knew where I lived. She had been over a couple of times for movie nights. But she hadn't been able to recently. It must depend on whether Emily and Dylan's relationship status is on or off.

Emily continued to act like this was the biggest news to surface in years. I laughed at her exaggerations. We eventually went back to the Garrett conversation. I managed to not specify anything to her about it yet. I still needed more time to think about things and how I wanted to move forward.

Should I give him a second chance? Should I forgive him and be friends with him? Or should I just completely ignore him and find a new job? I've done it before with my ex-husband.