“Hmmm, assassination. I hadn’t included that in my decision pyramid. I’ll slip that one in and let you know what I think.”

“You won’t look like a fool if you let me back in. And I’m going to pay your brother back. Every single dime.” Shame rushed through him again.

She turned to him. “I’m already tired of being mad at you, but I can’t go back to where we were. Take the money. You earned it. It’s all right to take it. If I were in your position, I would take it, too. I’m not capable of being this angry for long, but I can’t let you break my heart again.”

“I won’t.” God, if she could forgive him, this would be an entirely different world. He might be able to survive this if she could forgive him. “I promise I won’t ever break your heart or your trust again. Chèrie, I’m sorry. Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed you the last few days? I know I was with you, but damn, not holding your hand or seeing you smile at me has been hell. I’ve learned my lesson.”

She shook her head. “You misunderstand me. I don’t want to hate you. That doesn’t mean I want to be back together with you. I can’t. Not like that. Not again.”

The hope he’d felt started to flicker out. “Then what are you saying? We should go back to being friends? I don’t know that we were friends in the first place. I love you.”

“I think that’s guilt and a little bit of trauma. I’ve thought a lot about this. You feel bad that you let the Italian dude get close to me. We had that big fight and you sat there thinking how crappy it was that the last words you said to me were kind of mean.”

That was almost exactly how he’d felt but she was putting the wrong spin on it. “I realized how empty I would be without you.”

“You say potato,” she began.

“Don’t patronize me.”

She looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry. I get sarcastic when I’m…well, everything. I’m sure a shrink would tell you it’s a coping mechanism. Anyway, I think we should be civil. My first instinct was to find a room and hide in it, but that’s going to last a whole day maybe and then I’ll want to do something. Can I work at your bar?”