The café was Tessa's sanctuary. Nestled in a quiet corner of town, it was far enough away from the chaos of her office and the noise of her thoughts. She had come here almost every day since she moved to this city, hoping the steady rhythm of her new routine would eventually quiet the ache that had followed her for years.
The sound of the espresso machine whirring and the soft murmur of conversations wrapped around her like a familiar blanket. Tessa glanced out the window, watching the world rush past. People in suits darted between traffic, phones glued to their ears, while others lingered, savoring a rare moment of peace.
Her laptop blinked with unanswered emails, each demanding more than she could give. She tried to focus, forcing herself to read the words on the screen, but her mind kept wandering. Memories she had buried so carefully resurfaced, unbidden.
Harden.
The first time she met him felt like stepping into a storm. He was brash, sharp-edged, and magnetic in a way that defied explanation. Harden had a way of pulling people in, making them feel like they were the only person in the room, and then tearing them apart without a second thought.
Tessa shook her head, trying to dispel the memory. She couldn't go back there—not after everything. She had rebuilt her life, piece by piece, after their disastrous ending. And yet, the scars remained.
Her phone buzzed again.
The message stared back at her like a challenge: "I'm in town. We need to talk."
Tessa's stomach churned. She set her coffee cup down, her appetite for caffeine suddenly gone. Why now? Why, after two years of silence, did he think he had the right to waltz back into her life?
She considered ignoring it, but the pull was undeniable. No matter how much time had passed, Harden still had a hold on her—a hold she couldn't seem to break.
The sound of the door chime startled her. A man in a dark coat walked in, his presence commanding the room without effort. Tessa's breath hitched for a moment, but it wasn't him. Of course, it wasn't. Harden would never step into a quiet café like this. He was more likely to find her in the middle of a storm.
Still, the adrenaline coursing through her veins left her unsettled. She grabbed her bag, tucked her laptop away, and left the café before the tension in her chest could crush her.
---
The cold January air bit at her skin as she stepped onto the bustling street. She pulled her scarf tighter, her thoughts racing. Harden's message hung in her mind like an unanswered question.
As she walked, her surroundings blurred into the background. Buildings rose high above her, their windows glinting in the pale winter sun. She barely noticed the people she passed, too preoccupied with the memories she had fought so hard to suppress.
The last time she had seen him, their world had crumbled. Words had been thrown like weapons, cutting deeper than either of them could have anticipated. He had betrayed her trust in a way she never thought possible, and she had left without looking back.
But now, as she stood at the edge of the city park, she couldn't help but wonder if she had made a mistake. Not in leaving, but in never letting herself truly heal.
Tessa sank onto a bench, her breath visible in the frigid air. She pulled out her phone, scrolling to the message that had upended her carefully balanced world. Her thumb hovered over the screen.
She could block him. She could delete the message and move on, just as she had done before. But something stopped her.
A question she couldn't ignore.
What if he's changed?
The thought was almost laughable. Harden had always been set in his ways, stubborn to a fault. But people could change, couldn't they? And even if he hadn't, did she owe it to herself to face him one last time?
As she sat there, lost in thought, a figure approached. Tessa didn't notice him at first, too absorbed in her internal battle. It wasn't until he spoke that she froze.
"Tessa."
Her head snapped up, and her heart dropped. There he was, standing just a few feet away. Harden Scott.
He looked different, yet exactly the same. His dark hair was shorter, his face slightly more lined, but his eyes held that same intensity that had always left her breathless. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, his expression unreadable.
"I thought you might be here," he said, his voice quieter than she remembered.
Tessa rose to her feet, her heart pounding. For a moment, neither of them spoke. The weight of their history hung between them like a heavy fog.
"What are you doing here?" she finally managed, her voice sharper than she intended.
"I needed to see you," he said simply.
She laughed bitterly. "Two years of silence, and now you need to see me? That's rich, Harden."
His jaw tightened, but he didn't respond. Instead, he took a step closer, his eyes searching hers.
"I know I screwed up," he said. "More than once. But I'm here now. Doesn't that count for something?"
Tessa shook her head, tears stinging her eyes. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to show up out of nowhere and expect me to—"
"To what?" he interrupted. "Hear me out? Give me a chance to explain?"
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "You had your chance, Harden. You had so many chances."
"And I wasted them," he admitted. "I know that. But I'm not the same person I was back then."
Tessa wanted to believe him, but the wounds were still too raw. She turned away, her breath coming in shaky gasps.
"I don't know if I can do this," she whispered.
He reached out, but stopped short of touching her. "Just give me one chance, Tessa. One chance to prove that I'm not the same man who hurt you."
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she stared out at the frozen lake in the distance, the cold wind biting at her cheeks. Finally, she turned to him.
"One chance," she said, her voice barely audible. "But if you mess this up, Harden, I swear it'll be the last time you ever see me."
His eyes softened, and for the first time in years, Tessa saw a flicker of something she hadn't thought possible. Hope.
Harden stood there, frozen, as though he hadn't expected her to agree. His lips parted slightly, and Tessa could almost see the war of emotions flickering behind his dark eyes. She hated that she still noticed things like that, the small tells that had once made her feel like she knew him better than anyone.
But she didn't know him anymore. Did she ever?
"When?" she asked, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.
He blinked, the question jolting him back to the present. "When…?"
"When do you want to talk?" Tessa clarified. Her voice was calm, but every nerve in her body was strung tight.
"Now," Harden said, his tone resolute. "If you'll let me."
Tessa's first instinct was to say no. The wounds he'd left behind had barely scabbed over, and the thought of reopening them terrified her. But then she thought about all the nights she'd spent replaying their last fight, imagining all the things she should have said. If she didn't hear him out now, those ghosts would haunt her forever.
"Fine," she said, her voice clipped. "There's a diner a few blocks from here. It's quiet."
"Lead the way," he said, his voice laced with caution.
They walked in silence, the only sounds between them the crunch of gravel and the distant hum of traffic. Tessa kept her arms wrapped tightly around herself, not daring to look at him. She could feel his presence beside her, though, like a storm cloud that hadn't yet unleashed its fury.
The diner came into view, its neon sign flickering faintly against the pale winter sky. Tessa pushed the door open and stepped inside, the smell of frying bacon and old coffee washing over her. The place was nearly empty, save for an elderly couple in the corner and a waitress scrolling through her phone behind the counter.
She slid into a booth by the window, and Harden followed, sitting across from her. For a moment, neither of them spoke. The tension between them was palpable, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move.
The waitress wandered over, her expression bored. "What can I get you?"
"Just coffee," Tessa said.
Harden glanced at her, then back at the waitress. "Same."
The waitress scribbled something on her pad and disappeared, leaving them alone again.
Tessa stared out the window, her fingers tracing idle patterns on the table. She could feel Harden's gaze on her, heavy and unrelenting. Finally, she broke the silence.
"Well?" she said, turning to face him. "You wanted to talk. So talk."
Harden leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "I don't even know where to start."
"Try the beginning," Tessa said coldly.
He sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "The beginning… Right. The truth is, Tessa, I've spent the last two years trying to figure out how to fix this. How to fix us. But every time I thought about reaching out, I stopped myself because I knew I didn't deserve your forgiveness."
Her chest tightened at his words, but she forced herself to stay composed. "So what changed?"
"I did," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "Or at least, I'm trying to. I've been in therapy—real therapy, not just the 'pretend to care for a few sessions' kind. I had to confront some things about myself… things I didn't want to face."
Tessa raised an eyebrow, skepticism etched across her face. "And you think a few therapy sessions make up for what you did?"
"No," Harden admitted. "Nothing can make up for that. But I'm not here to make excuses or ask for pity. I'm here because I needed you to know that I'm trying. That I want to be better—not just for you, but for myself."
His words hung in the air, raw and unguarded. Tessa didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to believe him, to let herself hope that the man she had once loved could be someone worth trusting again. But the other part of her—the part that remembered every lie, every broken promise—was screaming at her to run.
"Why now?" she asked, her voice softer than before.
Harden hesitated, his jaw tightening. "Because I realized that no matter how much time passed, I couldn't move on. Not from you. You were the only thing that ever made sense in my life, Tessa. Losing you… it broke me."
She looked down at her hands, her throat tightening with unshed tears. "You broke me too, Harden."
His face crumpled, and for the first time, she saw genuine remorse in his eyes. "I know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "And I hate myself for it every single day."
The waitress returned with their coffees, breaking the moment. Tessa wrapped her hands around the warm mug, using it as a shield.
"I don't know if I can forgive you," she said after a long silence. "Not yet."
"I'm not asking for forgiveness," Harden said. "Not yet. All I'm asking for is a chance. A chance to show you that I'm not the same man who hurt you."
Tessa looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time. There was a vulnerability in his expression that she hadn't seen before, a crack in the armor he had always worn so confidently.
"One chance," she said finally. "That's all you get."
Harden nodded, his jaw tight with determination. "I won't waste it."
Tessa wasn't sure if she believed him, but for now, it was enough.