Jack’s eyes flicker up and down my body. “What are you doing here?” she asks again, and there’s a tiny quarter-moon tugging on her lips. That quarter-moon smile almost looks like hope to me, but it’s too soon to get carried away on Jack’s hope.

“Your family invited me. Insisted I come, actually.”

“You didn’t… want to come?”

Honest, even when it’s hard. “Of course I wanted to come,” I admit. “I wanted to see your dream come to life. I wanted to support you. I wanted to… to see you. I just didn’t want to ruin your event.”

She tilts her head and half-moons at me. “Are you planning on ruining it?”

“No! But I have a pattern of unintentionally ruining things with you, so…”

“You have a pattern of thinking you’re going to ruin things,” Jack corrects, “and then when they’re ruined, you take that as proof that you were the ruiner.”

“Yeah, I know. You already told me I’m a self-fulling prophecy, and I’m working on it. Trying to become less… prophetic.”

“I said that to you?” Jack leans back against the table behind her, and shit. This woman should not be allowed to lean in my presence. Everything has gone sweaty.

I peel my blue scarf away from my throat. “Well, you sort of shouted it at me? In the snow? You know, after you found out I horribly betrayed you.”

“Ah.” Jack winces. “I maybe blocked some of that out, on account of how awful it was.”

“Very fair. Unfortunately, when the woman you love tells you you’re the reason your life is miserable, you tend to remember it forever in a very self-punishing sort of way.”

Jack’s smile disintegrates on her face. “What did you just say?”

“Not that I didn’t deserve it!” I backpedal. “I did! I am so sorry for the way I hurt you. You were totally right to say all of that to me! You were right about a lot of things, actually, and I’ve really been trying to make some changes based on your very honest feedback. It was sort of like a comment card, but for a romantic relationship, and I’ve… um… taken those comments under advisement.”

Oh, fuck. Thank goodness I finally stop talking, but I’m pretty sure now the entire bakery is staring at me.

“No.” Jack shakes her head. “You said when the woman you love… Do you? Love me?”

“Did I say that?” God, why did I wear a scarf indoors? So, so much sweating. “I don’t think I said that.”

“You did,” Jack counters. “Basically everyone heard it.” She turns to some random person over her right shoulder. “Sorry, but did you just hear this woman with the braid and glasses say she loves me?”

The stranger nods, and Jack turns back to me.

“See?”