“Sorry.” And Jimmy just stood there in the mess he’d made.

And then an old pop song about girls wanting to have fun started playing on the jukebox. And a bunch of girls from the bachelorette party whooped it up on the dance floor, hopping and bopping and singing along.

And then Sandrine realized she needed to get back to them, and she stroked Jimmy’s tattooed forearm and said, “You can get that undone, you know.”

“Yeah…” But the closest tattoo-removal places were one hundred sixty-four miles southeast in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Or in Bangor—which was one hundred sixty-nine miles south. And Jimmy would have a hard time finding the time to go to either place, because work was too busy.

“Oh,” said Sandrine. And Sandrine felt terrible that she had made Jimmy want to mark himself a villain—because of her. She had no idea that she had hurt him as much as she had when she disappeared on him. Maybe because she didn’t think much of herself when she was dating Jimmy. And people who don’t think much of themselves are surprised by the damage they can do to people who think the world of them.

But on the Friday night when all the extraordinary things did or didn’t happen, Sandrine realized the damage she had done. And she apologized to him for disappearing on him.

Finally.

“Jimmy, what I did—the way I left—was just … it was wrong. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just never knew how to tell you that I wanted out. And—it wasn’t you. It wasn’t anything you did. I just didn’t love you like I think you loved me. And that’s just … not fair. So I just left. And I figured I’d explain why someday. And I never did. And I know that that’s an awful thing I did. But I did it. And I’m really sorry. And … I know that saying I’m sorry isn’t gonna make it right. But it’s all I can do, so … I’m sorry.” And Sandrine shrugged her shoulders. Because that was all she could say.

Jimmy didn’t say anything.

And Sandrine didn’t know if the apology had been accepted.

And it hadn’t been. At first. Because what Sandrine had done was cruel. Leaving someone with no explanation is easy for the leaver. And torture for the one who’s been left. Because all the one who’s been left can do is wonder what happened. And so the one who’s been left throws himself into his work. And goes a little mad. And gets really sad.

Sandrine didn’t know what to do. Jimmy looked so sad. And kind of mad. And figured that it didn’t matter if her apology was accepted or not. She didn’t really deserve for it to be accepted. And so she decided the best thing she could do was leave. And she was about to say goodbye to Jimmy when he suddenly hugged her.

And Sandrine felt him accepting her apology with that hug.