Page 63 of Exhibited: A Gentle Love Story (Museology Book 3)

“Jeremy, from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry, and I want to prove to you that you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” A pause, a moment to see the reception.

Mary Anne sneezed.

“That bad, huh? Too corny, right?” Davis asked her. She cocked her head and lay her head on the arm of the couch. “You’re right, you’re right. I know.” Davis tried to remember what he had learned from the podcast episode on how to apologize. It had, essentially, boiled down to “be authentic and be yourself,” which was the thing that Davis had a lifetime of experience avoiding doing. Davis could do authentic.

“Jeremy, I fucked up, and it made me feel like shit.” Davis looked at Mary Anne again and found out that dogs could roll their eyes. He flopped down on the couch on his stomach and looked Mary Anne in the eyes. “I don’t know how to do this.”

He knew that you couldn’t apologize with just things, even though that hadn’t stopped Davis from purchasing two ridiculous items to be shipped to Jeremy’s house. He had started mountain biking again with Alex and Yesenia and had asked them what he should do. Their advice had been to call Jeremy like a civilized person, but Davis knew that wasn’t right. Calling people on the phone was what you did for average people. Jeremy was amazing and special and deserved to have something to remind him of that, to let him know.

But Jeremy also needed words, and words were the hardest thing for Davis to do.

“We can do this, right, Mary Anne?” She didn’t respond, but Davis knew she would agree. “We’re gonna learn how to do the best damn apology in the entire world and tell Jeremy we love him. I love him,” he corrected. “God willin’ and the creek don’t rise, right, girl?” he added as an afterthought.

Mary Anne let out a tiny bark in her dreams.

Davis took that as a yes.