"Umm . . . I guess."

Taken aback by the situation, you reflexively let April come in. A voice in the back of your mind says it’s a bad idea, but that part of your brain hasn’t re-established contact with your body yet. You offer her a seat in the front room. She looks around with an unreadable expression on her face, then turns to you when you sit down. “Rob, my behavior at the coffee shop was inexcusable,” she says, with every appearance of sincerity. “I’m truly sorry, and I ask your forgiveness.”

You’re floored by this. Cautiously, you say, “Thank you, April. I accept your apology, and I forgive you.” After all, while it was inexcusable, it was also a very small thing, really.

“I want to explain my behavior, if I may?” You nod, and she continues. “Have you ever had it where you made a bad decision, but you didn’t want to admit it was a bad decision, and so you were trying to convince yourself it wasn’t?” You look at her uncertainly. “And so you kind of go over the top defending the decision you made and prove to everyone else that it was the right one?”

You’re tracking with her, but—this doesn’t sound like the sort of thing April would be thinking about. “You got this from a book, didn’t you?” A flicker in her expression suggests you’re on the mark. “One of your girlfriends gave you some pop psychology book, right?”

“It wasn’t one of my girlfriends, it was—” She blushes. “—never mind. Anyway,” she hurries on, “that was me. I made a bad decision, and I was regretting it, and I didn’t want to admit that I was regretting it, or that it was bad, so I was fighting myself. I was trying to show everyone else how sure I was that I had done the right thing, so that I could believe it myself. I wasn’t being honest with myself about my feelings, or about how I was treating other people—treating you.”

You think you see where this is heading, but it seems unbelievable. “And that decision was?”

April takes a deep breath. “Dumping you for Gene. Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking or feeling to do that. It was the biggest mistake I’ve made in a long time, and I want to undo it. Rob, I know I hurt you badly, and I’m sorry. I want to make it up to you. I love you, and I need to ask you: please take me back. Please let me be your girl again, and let me make everything up to you.”

She leans forward and rests her hand on your knee. “Let me show you. Take me to your bed and make love to me.”