The Break Up Cake

“I don’t want to see you anymore Lisa. I can’t do this.” Jamie had asked Lisa to meet him in the coffee shop where they’d had their first date twelve months before.

She took a sip of her coffee and she slid her fork through the red velvet cake in front of her, before placing the triangular piece into her mouth. The clinking cutlery, the steam from the coffee machine, the muddled conversations from other tables filled her ears. She was fully present in this moment.

She looked at him, “Thank you...” Jamie’s right eyebrow had shifted into his forehead as he looked at her quizzically. She continued, “…for ending this.”

“You’re thanking me?” his voice was confused with a tinge of anger.

“Yes. I am. Can I be honest with you now, as you have been so honest with me? I don’t know why I agreed to go out with you. And I don’t know how I got here. I feel like I’ve been sleeping. I never trusted myself to say no to you. I just went along with it. If I’d listened to myself and followed my heart, I would have ended this before it even started. So, yes, I am thanking you for being braver than me.”

Jamie stared at her, processing the words that were piercing his eyes like pins into a voodoo doll. This isn't how he thought this was going to go. He picked up the red velvet cake from her plate and placed it onto the table and squashed it with his fist. He grabbed a napkin and stood up from the table, "enjoy your cake."

Lisa looked at the mess he’d made, and laughed, “he always was about the crumbs." She said to the couple sitting next to them. Then she ordered a bigger, better slice.