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“I’m not having lunch with you.”

He rubs my back. “Sweetie. You’re so dang tense. Fine. Coffee then.”

I swear I can feel the sliminess of his hand through the thickness of my shirt. I start moving toward the closest coffee shop, just to get away from his disgusting touch.

“There’s a place right here.”

I don’t wait for his agreement. I push open the doors and head to the cashier to order my coffee. Might as well get some caffeine pumping in my blood if I have to endure fifteen minutes with this idiot.

Once we both get settled with our coffee, I immediately pull out my phone and check to see if I’m sharing my location with Anthony. And yep, sure enough, he wasn’t lying about that. Without a second thought, I take off location sharing. Next, I set my timer for fifteen minutes and set my phone in the middle of the table.

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him, waiting.

He glances at my phone. “I guess you’re serious about that fifteen minutes.”

“You better believe it,” I shoot back.

Anthony steeples his hands in front of him. His coffee is apparently forgotten for the time being. I notice his chest rising in a deep breath, and then he starts talking.

“First of all, let me just tell you why I did what I did,” Anthony says. “It was a stressful time, and a lot of things were happening all at once. You and I got engaged, and we bought a place together. I didn’t even tell you about all the crazy shit happening at work. I was so stressed about everything, and I didn’t know how to talk to you about it.”

The words are all right, but his face is void of all expression, and his voice lacks the inflection of a person who truly cares about what he’s saying. I can picture him rehearsing the speech in front of a mirror.

“And?”

“I ran into my ex-girlfriend. We got to talking about everything that was going on. I ended up taking her back to our place. I just wanted to show off our apartment. When she started kissing me, I didn’t know what to do, so I kissed her back. I never intended to let it get as far as it did.”

I want to throw up. It was bad enough living through this whole thing, but having to hear the replay is almost as bad.

“So you had sex with her on my couch.”

“I mean, kinda, yeah. Is it even cheating if you and I weren’t married yet?” He holds his hands up at the I-want-to-stab-you look I give him. “Okay, okay. Yes, of course, it’s cheating. No matter what has happened since, I still love you. I still think we can make things work. All couples go through little things like this, and it works out fine in the end. We could have fifty good years together if you can just let it go. It’s not like I’d ever do something like that again after we’re married.”

Keep calm and discuss this like the rational level-headed person I am. That’s what I tell myself as I grit my teeth to keep from calling him every horrible name I can think of.

I take a sip of my coffee just to give myself time to cool down. “I appreciate you telling me all of this, really. It certainly makes me see things more clearly.”

Yeah, as in, he’s clearly a narcissistic asshole and is probably hiding multiple personalities behind that nice tan and smooth white smile.

He nods. “See. I knew you’d understand if you’d just stop and hear me out.”

“Of course. Could we go ahead and talk about the apartment? I have a proposal. Even though the down payment was mine and I’ve been making all the payments, I’d be willing to buy you out. I could give you enough to have a down payment on a new apartment.”

I have to choke the words out. He doesn’t deserve even a dime, but this would be the best solution for me. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to hire an attorney, and that would be far more costly.

Anthony caresses his coffee cup and then tilts his head to the side. “I have a better solution. Break up with that beefy asshole you’ve been dating and move back in. You’ve forgiven me, and I’m willing to forgive you, too. I understand wanting a last fling before marriage. I don’t begrudge you that, but it’s past time to end it with the guy. You and he would never work out anyway.”

“I can’t move back in with you, Anthony. I will never get back together with you. Please, let’s just move on.”

He taps the tabletop with his finger, a harsh, rapid motion. “I saw your show last night,” he says suddenly.

Shit.

“What?”

“Yeah, I saw it. Imagine my surprise when I get a phone call from a friend. He tells me my fiancée is on TV, that she’s engaged to someone else. I didn’t believe him, of course, because you’re supposed to be marrying me. I had to see it for myself. Do you know how it made me feel to see my girl on TV with another man? Let’s not play games. You did that to get back at me, didn’t you?”

I sit up straight and put both hands on the table. “No, it wasn’t to get back at you. It had nothing to do with you. And you knew I was engaged. You saw the ring when you showed up in California.”