“Bex doesn’t have any reason to forgive me for it. Or to believe that I didn’t actually mean them.”
“Well, then it sounds like you need to first make sure you don’t actually believe the words you said, and second, find a way to convince Bex that she should forgive you.” Charli stood up. “And when you get to the part of convincing Bex, if you need any help, I will gladly do whatever you need. Anything to get my old boss back.”
He chuckled. “Thanks, Charli. Have a good weekend.”
She nodded, and then turned and left. Roman pulled the laptop to him again and started scrolling through the comments section, like he had been doing ever since he was such a jerk last Saturday. And just like with every video, he quickly found comments from people who had been helped by Bex. Many, many comments. Like the one that was just five comments down on this video.
Thank you so much for your videos, Bex! Not long ago, I was stuck in an awful job with an awful boss, working for an awful company. Your videos taught me how to be brave and convinced me that I could be. I took some huge steps that I would’ve never dared to take if it weren’t for your channel, and my life is so much better now than I ever thought possible. You changed my life, and I will be forever grateful.
And plenty of ones like the comment just after it.
I have a very high stress job and if I want to stay healthy, when I come home, I need something to help me unwind. Your videos always do that for me, so thank you! I’m pretty sure my doctor would thank you for saving a life, haha. I know I do.
He didn’t know if he would have ever thought that Bex’s career choice was frivolous or unimportant or nothing more than a way to make people procrastinate important things on his own. He liked to think that he wouldn’t have.
But between having his business peers razz him about the wisdom in doing the interviews and his dad’s lecture about what was expected of a Powell and how thoroughly Bex didn’t fit that requirement, he definitely had thought it. And he felt like a jerk for having done so.
But now, on his sixth night of watching her videos and reading the comments from the people’s lives that she had changed, he realized how very, very wrong he had been on that night a week ago. The night when she was being professionally celebrated for the contributions she had made, no less.
He wanted to be with Bex. More than anything. But he didn’t deserve her. Before last Saturday, he’d seen himself as his own man. It wasn’t until he looked back on everything that he realized how much he had been letting other people in his life drive how he reacted to things, and even how he thought about things.
And as long as he was doing that, he was never going to deserve her.
21
Bex
Bex didn’t have any grandparents, and that’s what she really needed right now. A grandma who would feed her something sugary and fattening and rub her back in a circle and spout wisdom. So she was going to have to borrow Ian’s grandma. She texted Shirley, and smiled at the woman’s text-to-speech fail when she responded with a quick Yes! Come ear. We want to see you!
Bex opened the kitchen door to Ian’s house—the one his grandma and her friend, Carol, now lived in—to the smell of peach cobbler and the hellos of five women. All of whom got out of their seats and came to give her a hug.
“Wow!” she said, hugging each of them back. “I didn’t know I would be getting the entire origami club. Or this many hugs.”
“Well, dear,” Shirley said, offering her a seat and a bowl of peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, “a breakup on the level of yours and Roman’s requires lots of hugs. Every single one of us has been there.”
Meera nodded. “Frances has been there five times.”
“That’s why I gave you the extra-long hug, honey,” Frances said.
“I set her up with two of those,” Brenda said. “Want me to set you up with someone? I have a grandson—”
Ian’s grandma, Shirley, started rubbing circles on her back. “She doesn’t want to be set up on a date. She’s still working on this one. How is the recovery coming, sweetheart?”
Bex sighed and took a bite of the peach cobbler. The heat of the sweet peaches and the cobbler next to the cold of the ice cream, all of it so sweet and so delicious, was just what she needed. Then she looked up at the women seated around the table, each of them showing enough wrinkles to prove how experienced at life they were, each with a pile of colored papers and half-folded creations in front of them. “It’s been a week, and it’s just not getting any better. He was the only guy I never got bored of. I think I could be with him my entire life and not ever get bored of him. And now he’s gone. And I just feel like...” She swirled her spoon in the sugary sauce on the peaches. “I feel like I lost something truly great, you know? How do I get over someone like that?”
“How long have you known him?” Carol asked.
“If you count since Ian’s and Addison’s wedding, then about three months. But we did our first interview two-and-a-half months ago. We’ve dated for about two.” Which was about a month and a week longer than any other relationship she’d had.
“Well,” Carol said, “I’ve seen you both enough that I’m going to tell you right now you’re asking the wrong question. You shouldn’t be wondering how to get over him—you should be asking how you can get him back.”
Bex gave a humorless breath of a laugh. “No—that train has left the station.” Then she took another bite of the cobbler, because it was really good and it felt like a warm hug in itself.
“Why has that train left?” Brenda asked.
“Because I already made the decision. And if you heard what he said that night, you would’ve made the same decision, too. Just like with every decision I make, I go with my gut and stick with it. It has served me well so far.”
Carol snorted. “Just because you’re decisive doesn’t mean you’re always right.”
“True,” Shirley said. “Remember how we planned that backyard barbeque and we were trying to decide if we should cancel because it looked like rain? You decided we should keep it and wouldn’t turn back, even when it was obvious that you should. Remember where that got you? In a soaking wet outfit with soaking wet hamburger buns. Sticking to that decision didn’t help you then, and it isn’t going to help you now.”
Her cell phone buzzed, so she took it out of her pocket. It was a text from Nikki.
Where are you?
She sent a quick response back. At Ian’s grandma’s, having peach cobbler. The moment she tapped send, she remembered they were supposed to meet to go over some business items. So she sent a second text. So sorry! Are you at the inn looking for me? I’ll be right over.
Nikki’s response came just as quickly.
NO. STAY THERE. I’m coming where the peach cobbler is.
“Shirley filled us in on what happened between you two,” Meera said as soon as Bex slipped the phone back into her pocket. “Men do stupid things sometimes. It’s a fact of life. So does everyone. The point is, people do stupid things and you forgive them. You let them learn and grow and become better. If you didn’t, no relationship would ever survive.”