Latte Love

XV

Cade glared at the girl occupying the seat before him. He didn't miss the way she flinched under his intense stare.

Olivia fiddled with her fingers, a sign that she was nervous.

"What are you doing here, Olivia?" His voice came out broken, and he mentally cursed at himself for showing weakness.

She looked up and her eyes softened.

"I try apologizing and every time you walk away, and you just ignore me Cade. What was I supposed to do? I have to fix this. Our friendship means a lot to me. I'm sorry-"

"It doesn't mean anything to you, Olivia. If it did you would have told me you didn't feel the same way. You knew all along I had feelings for you, and yet you just..."

He didn't have it in him to complete the sentence.

But he realized something. He was angry at her for hurting him, but not for loving him back.

He realized he had moved on when she said friendship, instead of relationship and it didn't hurt him the same way it would have more than a month ago.

He didn't love her anymore.

And suddenly he didn't hate Olivia anymore. But he felt grateful that she had come here to apologize, and that it had made him realize that he might have feelings for Penny.

With a smile that scared Olivia, he uttered the words he didn't think he would ever tell her.

"I forgive you."