together. There's nothing to apologise for."
"I feel horrible about the way I left and I want to apologise if I hurt you," he said.
"Oh you didn't hurt me," Dinah said a little too brightly. "Like I said, our time together was… great. It was just great Jared. I don't know why you're here?"
Jared experienced a moment of doubt. He had sworn that she had been deeply hurt on that last night and there had been real emotion there. Had he read all the signs wrongly? Although he had doubts about how she felt for him he had to know for sure. He ploughed on regardless
"I really feel bad about how I left, without a good conversation about how we felt about each other. I just kind of left it hanging and I wish I hadn't done it that way," he said a bit more persistently.
"No Jared. I knew that you would return to your life in Auckland. You going back was not a surprise. Anyway, that's how you operate and I knew that. Love them and leave them, isn't that right? Well, I'm a big girl. I was just looking to have a bit of fun. No harm done," she said lifting her chin as she spoke sitting up straighter. She was not going to let his return get to her. Had he just come back because he had a genuine sense of remorse? Or was it something else?
He tried one last time "I am truly sorry Dinah that I loved you and left you as you say. That's not a decent way to treat someone. Can you forgive me?" He was not prepared for the response.
Dinah's face showed her rage! All the weeks and lonely nights of grief, all the tears she had shed, the racking pain in her heart as she sobbed so hard she could barely breathe, all of that came rushing back up to assault her with full force. She saw red. Here was the source of her grief, this man she had thought she loved more than her own life itself, back in front of her bringing all the pain of her broken heart back to the fore, and asking for her forgiveness? She was aghast at his clumsy stupidity!
Trembling with rage, rising up to stand, she pointed her finger in his direction to emphasise each point. "I will NOT forgive you! You don't deserve forgiveness! You don't even deserve the time of day and I'll be dammed if I'll let you waltz back in here demanding my forgiveness only to bring back all the emotions that I thought I had finally left behind me. Now GO AWAY FOREVER!" she shouted.
Suddenly she realised her mistake. She realised what she had just revealed to him. He had broken her heart and now he knew. A heart could only be broken if it had been in love. The entire colour drained from Dinah's face. She grew pale and very fearful. What had she done?
Jared stared at her, slowly coming to process the deep level of her emotion she had displayed to him. Did her rage and anger reveal something else?
"Wait, you said all the emotion you thought you had finally left behind? What emotion Dinah? Tell me!" he demanded.
"No!" she said. Dinah could only manage a single strangled response as she sank back into her chair and covered her face with her hands. Her heart was breaking all over again and she was powerless to stop it. The pain threatened to render her in two and she let a sob escape her throat as tears welled in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks behind her hands. She felt terrible and embarrassed. Jared was right in front of her witnessing the depths of her grief. Her dignity was completely lost. Now he would know how hard she had fallen for him. A stupid country bumpkin girl fell for the millionaire playboy from the big city. How stupid had she been!
Jared stood in a flash and rounded the table to kneel before her. Gently he grasped her hands and tried to pull them away from her face only to be violently rebuffed as she shook herself away from him and tried to shrink into herself. Pain teared at him inside his heart as he realised what his leaving had done to her.
"Oh Dinah, don't cry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry my love. Shh, it's okay. It will all be okay," he murmured to her.
Through her tears
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