Choosing how to love.

The better man.

HOLTON

"Here." Holton handed Craig a beer from the six pack he was carrying and dropped down on the couch next to him. "Thanks." Craig opened it and took a long drink as Holton noticed the four other cans on the table next to him.

"If you are trying to drink away her memory, which doesn't work by the way, then you obviously are regretting your decision." Holton tipped his own beer back and waited.

"I regretted it the second the words came out of my mouth. No, even before that. It was that morning when I decided." "Then why do it?" "You want the list?" "Yes, actually, I do." Holton turned to face Craig. He needed to hear this.

"She loves all the things I hate. Even her movie choices are terrible. Then she does things like write books, that I know nothing about, nor can I begin to understand. We went roller skating last weekend. Roller skating Holton. I have no idea how, and as usual, I sucked at it. She glided around the floor laughing with Lacy and Dave while I watched from the snack bar. Same with the canoe, the rope swing, and the tent. She wants to go fishing now, and I despise that. I have no desire to put a worm on a hook."

"She probably would do it for you." Holton was trying not to laugh at his friend. "She would. And she would enjoy it. Then she would tease me, until I made her feel bad for doing it. Then she would stop doing what she loves to make me happy, and I don't want her to do that."

"She would. I know enough about her to know she would stop it all to make you happy." Holton knew all the way to his soul she would, that was how she was. She was a pleaser. A good one at that.

"I don't want her too. She is amazing Holton, and she deserves someone that makes her keep doing that. I tried. Really, I did. And through the entire movie, which was hell by the way, all I could think of was how much she needed someone to make her feel like she makes me feel."

"You did. Craig, man, she liked you, a lot." "Not as much as she likes you." "Whoa, not about me. I told you I was out. And I am. I was, I am." Holton tried.

"You did. And this was not about you. I watched her with you, and she needs someone like you, not me. I am stuffy and prefer movies on the couch at home. She wants rope swings and sunlight. I put on SPF 50 and she puts on tanning oil. We are complete opposites."

"Not complete." "No, but enough. And the age gap, it is only a few years, but it makes a difference. We grew up in a different generation." "You are not 20 years older than her." "No, but ten is enough." He had a point, but then Holton was only two years younger.

"She didn't care about any of that." "She would have. And then, there was Kelly." "Kelly? What does she have to do with it?" Holton was confused. Did something happen between Kelly and Madilyn?

"Kelly admitted that seeing me with Maddy made her realize how much she still loved me, and that her feelings were still there." "Really?" "Yes. And you know I still love her, so I think I want to try again with her."

Holton was floored. He was going back to Kelly? Over Maddy? Seriously? "Well, that was unexpected." "Yeah, it was for me too. And this did not happen while I was with Maddy, I would never do that to a woman."

Holton was still speechless. "And then, there's you." "ME?" "Yes, you. When you told me that you loved her on Sunday, it was too much. You said it twice, and I knew that you did. It was not right for me to stand in the way."

"Do not blame me! I left. I went away so you two could be together. And twice? Did I talk to you on Sunday?" "Not me, you called Dave from the bar, and you were hammered. You asked if he thought I loved Maddy. I was sitting there, and I heard the entire conversation. You admitted to him that you loved her." Craig drained the beer in his hand.