Page 33 of Still the One
I mix the ingredients for our drinks. I should be focused on what I’m doing, but I can’t keep my eyes off Mac. It’s odd to have her in my home, to have her looking at the moments of my life I’ve chosen to display in my living space. She seems entranced by the picture wall. There are quite a few people on there that she’s never met, including pictures of the two women I had a longer relationship with after her. Luckily, there are no pictures of Cherry. I don’t need reminding of her.
I can mix a Manhattan in my sleep and it doesn’t take long to prepare our drinks. I bring them over to her.
“I can’t believe you still have pictures of me on your wall,” Mac says.
Since she’s here to have an honest conversation, I decide not to mince my words. “We were together for ten years. Of course, I’m going to have pictures of you.”
She doesn’t question my choice any further. She takes a sip and points at a photo. “Who’s that?” In the picture, my arm is slung over another woman’s shoulder.
“Shannon.”
“Girlfriend?” She takes another sip.
I nod. “We were together for almost four years.”
“Really?”
I drink as well. I get a feeling I’m going to need the liquid courage. “Yeah.”
“What happened?” Mac turns to me and quizzes me with her eyes.
“It ran its course, I guess.”
“Oh, that’s right. You called yourself a serial monogamist in Maui. I’ve been wondering about that.”
It was a pretty flippant thing to say at the time—but so was Mac’s reaction to it.
“Are you still friends with Shannon?” Mac asks.
“Sort of. We don’t see each other every week, but we keep in touch.”
“So it wasn’t an acrimonious split.” She looks away from me and focuses on another picture. “And this? Who’s this?”
“Robin. Also an ex.” Robin bears a striking resemblance to Mac. I can admit that now, although I refused to at the time when someone dared to point it out to me.
“She’s very pretty,” Mac says, and I don’t know if she means it or if she has also noticed the likeness and is toying with me. “Also ran its course?”
“Robin dumped me.”
“And you still have her picture on your wall?”
“She was important to me, so yes.”
“Are you still in touch with her?”
“No.” Some people, you have to let slip away. Like I had to do with Mac, after Cherry and I broke up and I was desperate to get back in contact with her. And Mac rightfully refused.
“Why did she dump you?” Mac eyes Robin’s picture as though trying to unearth some secret from it.
“I guess because she fell out of love with me.”
Mac does a double-take, almost as if she can’t believe someone would be so stupid as to fall out of love with the likes of me.
“Did she hurt you?” Her gaze lands on me again.
“It tends to be rather painful when someone you love tells you they no longer feel the same.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” Mac’s gaze turns into an intense stare.
