“I…” Celeste trails off and looks away from me. She starts to say something, pauses again, and then finally goes on. “I think I overreacted. Back when we were in SF. There was a lot going on, and I was super overwhelmed, even more than I realized at the time. Yes, some time apart was good for us, and I don’t regret that part, especially after seeing how happy you are now. But I didn’t need to completely disappear from your life again, and I’m sorry. I regretted it a lot over the past year, to the point that I’m sure my therapist is sick of me talking about you.”

“Wait, you’re in therapy?” I ask, since I’m still wrapping my mind around everything else she just said. “I am, too!”

Celeste’s eyebrows shoot up in confusion. It’s probably not something to be super happy about, but after all the drama that went down with James admitting he chose to cheat on me instead of going to couples counseling, I can’t help but feel relieved. My advice columnist days are long gone, but I’m so glad Celeste and I are actually working on ourselves.

When I don’t say anything else out loud, Celeste’s expression deepens into a frown. “Wait, you didn’t go to therapy because of me, did you?”

“Kind of?” I admit honestly. “But also, not really. What you said about me, about how I kept jumping from relationship to relationship… it made me realize I had a dependency problem. So I’ve been working on that. And staying single for the past year. It’s been helping a lot.”

A huge smile blooms across Celeste’s face. She looks so genuinely happy for me that I smile, too. “That’s great to hear, Gem. I’m proud of you.”

Suddenly, she lets out a dry laugh. “My mistake was ever thinking I could do anything casual with you. Did you know it’s been over nine years since we first broke up? That’s almost a decade! And yet I’m still as obsessed with you now as I was then. I should have told you that instead of saying whatever the fuck I did back in SF.”

My heart’s pounding so loudly that I can barely hear my own voice. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”