I realized that I offered to show this man around New York but I have yet to ask him his name. I felt heat crept up to my cheeks.

"My name is Blakely. Blakely Evans. And you are?"

"Jean-Paul. Jean-Paul Belleau," He answered. A smile crept onto his face which made me smile in return. That man has smiles that sure are contagious.

After getting to know Jean-Paul a little better, I learned that his parents aren't as happily married as mine are, he loves to travel, he is an estate agent in Paris, and he is terrified of snakes and spiders. I realized that I had quite a few things in common with this man. I'm not an estate agent, of course, and my parents are actually happily married, but the other two things we definitely have in common.

It made me sad when he talked about his parents. His parents divorced when he was just a little boy, about six or seven years old. You could tell from his voice that he wishes that his parents were still happily in love, just as my parents are. That's one thing he said he wanted. To be happily in love with someone years after being together, one more thing that we have in common. We both agreed that we would want the same kind of love that my parents have.

After finishing up my sandwich and frappe, I tossed my trash and offered to go ahead and show Jean-Paul around New York a little bit.

The first place I decided to take him to was the Statue of Liberty. He came here specifically to see our historical monument in person, so seeing it he will do.

The drive to the Statue of Liberty was about twenty minutes from the coffee shop. While driving in the car, I could hear Jean-Paul gasping in awe at different things that we passed. I suppose what seems normal to me looks interesting to him.

Finally, we pulled up in a parking spot and took the next ferry to Liberty Island.

When we arrived at the Statue and got out of the car, making our way up to the statue. He gazed in amazement at the enormous monument that was standing right before us.

"Did you know that this monument was given to the US as a gift of friendship?" He asked as he walked the entire perimeter around the statue.

"I did," I answered while walking around it with him.

After leaving the Statue of Liberty, I took him to Times Square, Central Park, and the Brooklyn Bridge. We were wandering the big Apple for hours, until it was starting to get dark. Seeing the city through Jean-Paul's eyes made me have a newfound respect for the city and made me remember why I fell in love with it.

After our sightseeing adventure concluded, I offered to take him back to his hotel and he agreed.

"Thank you for taking me around New York City today. It was really a lot of fun," he said in his very cute French accent.

"You are very welcome. Maybe we can do this again sometime if I run into you again while you're visiting," I responded.

He smiles. "Yes, I would like that very much."

I felt my heart flutter. "Okay, goodnight Jean-Paul. It was very nice to meet you," I said, heat rising to my cheeks. I got into my car and pulled into traffic, glancing in the rearview mirror to see Jean-Paul waving goodbye.

I hate to admit it but Jean-Paul gives me butterflies when I think of him. But then it makes me feel guilty because it has only been less than a day since Max and I had gone our separate ways. It didn't seem fair to Max's memory and our years of love and friendship to think about another man like that.

Before going back to my apartment, I stopped at a nearby restaurant to get Chinese takeout since I didn't feel like cooking. I decided to order chicken lo mein with rice.

After arriving home I sat at my empty dinner table. I realized how lonely I was now that my parents were gone. I found myself wondering if I would ever have a family of my own to sit around the table and eat dinner with.

I quickly erased the thoughts from my mind as I finished my dinner. I walked over to the couch, and laid my head down on the cushion, recollecting the thoughts of what happened earlier in the day before everything went completely south with Max and I.

Salty tears escaped my eyes as I thought back to Max. My mind went back to the first time we ever met while in college. We went to the same university and met while we had the same first-year classes. At first, he seemed a little stuck up than others, but we quickly became really good friends. We started hanging out with each other every evening after our afternoon classes and we would get something to eat. We became inseparable. He was the definition of my best friend. That all changed when one day I felt as if I loved him more than just a friend. The feelings became real. There was no doubt he felt the same about me.

I remember when he asked me out. He had surprised me with an evening of homemade dinner and Netflix movies, then got down on one knee as he placed his hand into mine. It was almost like a marriage proposal. Perhaps he did that on purpose. He was finally declaring his love for me. He held a rose in the other hand and asked me to be his girl. I said yes, as we shared our first kiss. It was so romantic. After just two years of friendship, I had fallen for that man. I feared that it would take me just as long to get over the heartbreak. Although we both had feelings for each other it would take another two years of friendship before he would ask me out.

Some part of me wanted to pick up my phone and plead him not to go. But that would be just as selfish on my part to ask him to stay and give up a job opportunity after working as hard as he had.

I sat on the couch and cried until my nose became stuffy. I felt like I couldn't cry anymore. I tried to turn on Netflix and indulge myself in my shows, but it felt like everything I do reminds me of the man that I wanted so hard not to think about anymore.

I decided to pick up my phone and call my mom. Talking to her always makes me feel better. I realized that it was at least ten o'clock at night. But my mother has always told me that I could call her at any time of the night no matter what time it is. So that's what I did.

After the phone felt like it had rung for minutes my mothers' voice finally sounded through the other side. Immediately a sense of calmness ran through my body. I finally realized that even though I'm an adult, I will always need my mom. There isn't an age limit for that. She would always make me feel at home and can help me through even the hardest of times.

I decided to put all of my feelings out on the table. I told her about Max and I dating. My parents knew of Max because of pictures I've shown them, and they knew we were best friends at one point, but they never knew about our relationship. It was hard trying to find time for both Max and I to travel to Kentucky together and tell them. It wasn't something I wanted to tell them over the phone. Besides, I know my father. He has to meet whatever man his daughter decides to date. I'd like to think of him as an overprotective father but a very loving one that only wants the best for his daughter.

I told my mother about how he asked me out. About some of the fun memories, we shared. I even told her about the engagement that happened earlier in the day. She was just about to congratulate me when I blurted out the words, "but I ended it."

That started a whole new conversation about why I would end such a sweet romance. Then I started talking about his new job opportunity, and that he wanted me to pick up everything and go with him, but that I couldn't just do that because of a man. She understood both sides of the coin, but ultimately she didn't blame me for the hard decision I had to make.

It hurt my mother to know that I was hurting. She offered me so many comforting quotes that I was beginning to feel a little bit better. Some parts of my heart would ache over Max, but we both had different paths that we needed to take. Maybe at some point, he may wander back into my heart, and if not, that was okay too. I couldn't dwell on the what if's or what could be's. I had to focus on then and now. I had to make myself happy.

Before the phone call ended, I finally gushed about Jean-Paul and the attractiveness I felt towards him. I told my mom that he was a French tourist looking to travel New York City and that he could speak English well even in a French accent. I even told her that my heart began to flutter just by him smiling. It felt odd saying it out loud, because who feels an attraction to someone they have just met?

Finally, after talking for nearly two hours on the phone, the call came to an end. My eyes began to get heavy as I walked to my bed and got under my faux fur comforter, passing out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Crying really does take a lot out of a person emotionally and physically.