Never Ever ✔️

Chapter 48 - The Finale

Reet found the mugs on her kitchen table with a note from Varun, apologizing for the one he’d smashed. Eight mugs, all powder blue, just like the one he’d broken. But that’s where the similarity ended. Each mug had a pink heart on the side with the words YOUR MINE written across it. You’re was misspelled.

“What the hell?” she mused. That was going to drive her nuts. She stared at the misspelled word, puzzled, and then a memory niggled, and she began to laugh.

She called Varun, and he picked up on the first ring.

“Hey, Ri.”

“Hey, Boozer. I came home and found some weird coffee mugs on my table. You misspelled you’re.”

“No . . . you misspelled you’re,when you first time gave me a Christmas Gift .”

“I can’t believe you remember that! Geez. You’re a freaking elephant.”

“I still have that Gift in my ammo box. I found it last week when I was cleaning Natasha’s things out of the closet.”

Reet’s heart lurched painfully. “You should have called me. I would have helped,” she said quietly. “I was going to do it for you. But I didn’t think it was my place.”

“I should have done it a long time ago. I just . . . never got around to it. It was time.” He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “How’s work?”

She was at a new salon—she’d needed somewhere to take her clients—and the adjustment had been grueling.

She’d managed to keep her Mondays open for Gia, but hadn’t carved out a place for Varun, and the time apart had created an uncomfortable expectancy. She knew she’d been quieter than usual. Subdued even, and in typical Varun fashion, he’d given her all the space and patience he thought she needed.

“Work’s fine,” she sighed. “How’s Job ?” She’d been as shocked as Varun when he told her John’s confession about having mental illness . The last month had been fraught with change and new beginnings, but she and Varun were still tiptoeing around each other, not sure where to start.

“John’s pretty damn . . . amazing,” he whispered. “I like him.”

“I do too. Always have.”

“Ri?”

“Yeah?”

“I hope you don’t care that the mugs are a little . . . different . . . than the one I broke.”

“I miss my old mug,” she teased. “It spoke to me.”

He grunted. “I hated that mug. I never knew why you chose that specific one.”

“You hated it?” she said, surprised.

“Yeah. I didn’t like the ‘letting go of things not meant for you’ part. It pissed me off.”

“That was the part that spoke to me.”

He grunted. “I’m sure that’s the part that spoke to my mom too. She was good at letting go. But what about fighting for the things and people who mattered? I didn't even get it that way grandma had that mug and then she gave it to mom. Every time she used that mug, I wanted to throw it against the wall.”

Reet laughed, incredulous. “Well, I guess you finally did.”

“Yeah. I guess I finally did.”

Silence grew between them, and Reet knew she should end the call. But she missed him. He’d come to her house to tell her about John, about the movie offer that had rocked his world, and she’d been shocked and attentive, holding him while he talked. But when he’d tried to kiss her, she’d stiffened in his arms, and he’d immediately pulled back, not pressing her. She hadn’t meant to stiffen. She’d been nervous. Scared. And he’d backed off.