"What do you mean it's complicated?"
"It just is."
"That's not good enough."
"I know."
"Well? How is it that she's not your fiance but she's wearing your ring and living in your house?"
"Do we really have to do this?"
"No. We don't."
"Good."
She picked up her purse and removed her napkin from her lap and stood up. "Goodbye Gary."
"Wait!" He jumped up, looked around as the patrons seemed startled that he'd moved so fast, and lowered his voice. "Macy, don't do this. You have to trust me."
"There is not that much trust in the world Gary. I shouldn't even be here now, but I came because you said you wanted to talk and I foolishly thought you meant it."
"Okay, you want to know...I'll tell you. But it's complicated and it could take a while."
"I've got time." She returned to her seat.
"I met Trish when we were in middle school and we started going together. We lived in the same neighborhood and everything. We always talked about our dreams and everything and we were always together. Well...when we were in the 11th grade, her mother died and she didn't have anywhere to go so she lived with us. She was like the daughter my mother always wanted.
Well, by this time I was already producing and writing music and I was young you know...and I always wanted to take care of my people and by that time, she was my people too. I mean, I was messing with other girls and everything, but she stuck it out and just felt like I needed to get it out of my system before we got married which was kinda what everybody thought would happen. When I bought my mother a house, she still lived with her, but then I bought a house for me too and since I was traveling so much, she moved in it. Made sense you know? It was next door to my mother and she took care of everything for me.
When my mother had the stroke, she brought her to my house because there was a mastersuite on the main level so my mom didn't have to climb the stairs or anything. And plus...she kinda didn't trust anyone else to take care of my mother and wanted to keep an eye on the nurse I got for her.
About six years ago, I did something really stupid and it hurt her really badly. I don't know, I felt bad about hurting her so I went out and bought her a big diamond. Somehow that translated into an engagement to her and my mom and at the time it wasn't hurting anyone so I was okay with it. I always felt like we'd end up married anyway, so no big deal. I mean...I just never thought I'd meet anyone that fit better."
He sighed. "So there you have it. The truth. See...it's complicated."
She sat there and looked into his eyes silently. She sighed and reached out and touched his hand across the table.
"You were right Gary. It's complicated. Too complicated." And then she stood up and left.
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