When In Paris

Chapter 43

JUSTIN

"Justin!"

I turn around after parking the car and getting out at the mention of my name and see that Carol is behind me.

"Hey Carol. Is everything ok?" I ask.

She nods and then smiles. "Yeah, everything is fine I just wanted to thank you before we went inside."

"What for?"

"For helping me get Crystal and I to make amends," she says which takes me aback a bit but I don't say anything and just let her continue. "I know she would've not made it easy for you so I just really appreciate you for doing that for me."

I shake my head in disbelief that Carol is here actually apologising to me. "There's no need to thank me, Carol."

"No, there is, with how much it meant to me," she says and I can see she is being genuine with her apology in that moment with her being a bit teary eyed with her trying to hold the tears in and given how important today it's understandable. "And I won't say I totally forgive you for breaking my baby girl's heart and putting her through all that she went through back then. But what you did has definitely earned you some points in me fully forgiving you eventually."

"I really appreciate you saying that thanks Carol," I say with a nod and then continue feeling like if Carol is apologising it's only fair, I do the same. "And again I truly am sorry for all the pain and heartbreak I caused Crystal back then. I know I knew better than to get involved with her but I simply fell in love with her and you can't help who you fall in love with right?" She nods. "But I was too stubborn to let her go till it was too late back then but with the time we've been apart I've grown up and matured and learnt from my mistakes in the past and I want to be clear with you now that my intentions for your daughter are good and I will never hurt or cause Crystal pain like that ever again, you have my word."

She smiles. "Thanks Justin, I really appreciate you saying all that and look I know I've already apologized for that night I abruptly kicked you out of the house on Crystal's birthday family dinner but I just wanted to apologize again." She stops and lets out a sigh. "I'm really sorry Justin for how I acted that night you didn't deserve it no matter how much I hated you that night and it wasn't fair to Crystal either who was obviously still figuring stuff out with you and she just didn't need the added drama of me causing a scene when I first saw you after all those years later. "So I'm really truly sorry for my behaviour and I really only have myself to blame for having Crystal move out," she says with a frown.

"Hey, it's ok Carol," I say placing my hand on her shoulder and then give her a reassuring smile. "As much as I appreciate you for taking the whole blame it's unnecessary with Crystal and I also playing a part in the blame with how that night went down and I know you think you entirely had something to do with her moving out that night. But she actually was thinking about moving in with me so we could really give our relationship a shot which was the main reasoning how she came to that decision. That night just further confirmed her already made-up mind, ok?"

She nods before faintly smiling at me. "Yeah, ok thanks Justin."

"Yeah of course," I say smiling back at her. "I really appreciate you for apologizing, Carol and I know Crystal will too when I tell her but I think we just put all this behind us and start fresh. There's no point in bringing up the past anymore, ok?"

She nods in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. And if anything this past week has taught me is that you make my daughter extremely happy and that's all I want for her - her happiness even if it's with you. I just hope you mean it this time when you say you won't break my little girl's heart again."