I lower my head to avoid his judgmental gaze and shake it gently. “No. I had spent almost a year trying to get over him and then you came along and you were kind and funny and smart and different.” I look up at him. “I’m sorry. I pushed him out of my head. Please don’t think I’ve been waiting around for him. I thought I’d moved on. I told myself I had moved on.”

“This is fucked up, Whitney.” He shakes his head and I can’t deny it. This whole situation is fucked up and I caused it. He takes a step back out of the room and shakes his head. “Take whatever, Whitney. I just hope you remember what goes around comes around.”

Jacob is waiting in his driveway when I get there and the car is barely in park before I’m in his arms and he presses his lips to mine. “You, okay?” he murmurs in my ear and I nod. I relayed everything to Jacob while I was on my way over and I could sense his uneasiness about how well Parker seemed to take it. “You’re sure?” I can hear the question in his voice if I thought Parker may retaliate in another way and I shake my head as he guides me into his house, leaving all of my things in my car. “You’re not speaking, use your words Whitney,” Jacob commands and I look up at him with watery eyes.

“He looked so hurt.” I sniffle, hating that I broke someone’s heart. I remember all too clearly what it felt like to have mine broken and I can’t believe I was capable of doing that to another person. He guides me up the stairs and pulls me into his bedroom where I can see the lights off in his ensuite bathroom but I can tell that there are candles lit.

“I ran you a bath and I poured you a glass of wine. Go.” He points to the open door. “I’m going to get your things from the car.”

I stare into the bathroom. I think I’m going into shock, the weight of what I’ve done coming crashing down around me. He follows me into the bathroom and I can see that he’d lit several candles that were lining the bubble filled bathtub and the tub was large enough that he could set a glass of wine on the side of the tub without fear of it being knocked over. Lavender fills my nose and I immediately feel myself relaxing under the scent.

“Will you join me?” If I were stronger, I’d ask for space. Space while I mourn a relationship before jumping into another one. But I wasn’t stronger and this was the man I’d loved since I was fifteen, fourteen if we are counting the crush I had.