Page 15 of The Summer You Were Mine

“It’s deer antler velvet, and, by the way, you don’t snort it.”

“Whatever you do with it—it sounds ridiculous.”

“And this is the first time you’ve heard of me doing something ridiculous?

” he said, looking into her eyes with a slight smile.

Ellie’s gaze flicked down again, her smile fading.

He coughed. “It’s actually used to repair cartilage and tendons.

My shoulders are destroyed, Ellie. I was desperate.

Also, I was not trying to compete. I was not looking to do anything illegal, I just didn’t consider the timeline. ”

Ellie drew her eyes back up to his. The grace period of silliness was over. “Well, that was a mistake.”

“I told you, I know.”

“But you might still be able to fix it.” She took off her sunglasses, folded them, and carefully placed them in a black leather case.

He didn’t think people actually did anything with the cases that came with sunglasses except shove them into the recesses of a glove box.

Those people weren’t Ellie. “If you’re sure about your facts, you’ll be in good shape.

Having the truth on your side really means something.

I’ve seen it happen over and over with people. ”

“Yeah, I bet you have. I’ve heard your show. You’ve had some pretty big bombs dropped in your studio.”

Ellie’s face tightened for a second. “I guess you can say that.”

“I don’t know if I am that kind of person, you know? I’m not exactly the apology tour type.”

“Do you not believe in admitting a mistake?”

“Of course I do. But, I don’t think that I made a mistake in this case. I didn’t have any nefarious intent. I was careless.”

“Sometimes the things we do when we’re being careless are just as bad as if we’d planned something terrible.

Then we have a hard time convincing people that we didn’t mean it,” she said, looking down at her bottle of water as she picked at the plastic cap.

Her eyes flicked up to his. “So, we’re stuck defending a mistake and our own negligence at the same time.

It’s a lousy spot to be in,” she said without a hint of comfort in her voice.

He deserved that comment, in all the ways it applied.

She wasn’t angry at him for what happened between them anymore. It was worse. She pitied him.

“Yeah. I noticed,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

“I’m my own worst enemy, but I never wanted to be anyone else’s.

” Guilt hung over him like he’d worn a wool blanket to the beach.

It was harder to explain away his mistake as a one-off when he was sitting across from living proof that he’d been careless before.

Her silence told him that it was not the time to get personal about their past, but being this close to her was increasing the pressure in his head.

He plopped his paper napkin over the plate.

This dish was a definite DNR. “I guess I have to do something drastic if I don’t want this kind of heat on me. ”

It was clear that he was going to have a hard time convincing people.

Even Ellie looked like she would rather be having a conversation with a sand crab.

She was probably sick and tired of hearing people like him saying this exact kind of bullshit.

Then again, she was used to this. This was her job.

Ellie was the host of one of the most popular shows on the internet, where she regularly listened to sad sacks like him prostrate themselves before an audience of millions.

He’d be willing to be that sad sack if it meant he could put his head on his pillow every night and sleep.

His agent could probably get him an appearance on any talk show if he wanted to tell the story, and he’d only have to invest as much of himself as could fit in a ten-minute interview clip.

And that would probably work for the general public, but it wouldn’t allow him to actively convince the one person he wanted to forgive him.

A small voice in his head tried to raise a warning about mixing up his need to repair damage to his career with the need to repair things with Ellie, but it was lost in a convincing chorus of Shut up, we might be killing two birds with one stone here. He decided to go for it.

“Do you think…” He trailed off. Ellie’s eyes flicked up to his. “I mean, I’m just wondering. Do you think this kind of thing would fall under your jurisdiction?”

“What do you mean, exactly?” She squinted.

Maybe he’d miscalculated, lost his sense of direction in the wake of her laughter. He had to be more clear. “This is probably a massive overstep considering the fact that we haven’t talked in—well, we haven’t talked. I’m asking if you would consider having me as a guest on Games Over .”

“My show?”

“Your show, yes,” he said. She blinked, and was completely silent for a full three seconds. He was pretty sure she was going to knock him over the head with her empty water bottle and storm off.

“I have to think about it,” she said, her face impossible to read. But even if he had no idea what was in her head, she hadn’t said no.