Chapter Seventeen

Will arrives at the café before Diane does and when he sees there are only a few minutes left until five, he just places his coat on the chair at a table in a quiet corner and decides to wait for her before ordering his coffee. He feels nervous, but excited at the same time. He doesn't expect wonders from this meeting, he tries to stay realistic, but Diane agreeing to meet with him was definitely a good sign. She is giving him a chance and he plans to use this chance wisely and make the best of this short time they are spending in each other's company.

"Hi,"

He hears her voice and looks up. He must have been too busy with his own thoughts to notice that she entered the shop.

"Hey," he jumps from his seat with a half smile, motioning her to sit down opposite from him, "I haven't ordered yet, what would you like?"

"Just a cappuccino," she says and she places her coat on the chair and sits down, while Will waves at the waitress to take their order.

Once the waitress leaves their table he looks at Diane, trying to figure out where to begin. He's played this scene in his head over again over again for the last day, but now that she is in fact sitting opposite from him, he can't decide how to start the conversation.

"It looks like Kurt won't be needing your services at the moment," she helps him out and he is grateful, but the statement unsettles him at the same time. If he hadn't suggested this meeting and Kurt doesn't need him after all, then he should consider himself lucky that Diane agreed to be here on the first place.

"What happened?"

"The mother is willing to let him see his son."

"Just like that?"

"Yes. They haven't worked out the details yet, but it looks like they will be able to handle this without a third party."

"That's great."

"Yes."

He observes her face, trying to see if it shows how she feels inside. She must be hurt, this isn't what she signed up for. She changed her mind about marriage, because she loved having someone on her side, to not be alone like she had been all her life. But a kid wasn't a part of her plans, she probably hates the idea of sharing her husband with him, not to mention his mother.

"How are you handling all this?"

He can see on her face how she seems to appreciate his concern. She has probably talked to Kurt, but it's different to tell someone else, someone who doesn't mind her honesty, doesn't judge her for any of her feelings

."I hate it," she sighs, "But he is so happy, I cannot ruin it for him."

The waitress places the two cups in front of them, interrupting their conversation for a moment, but when she is gone he continues where they left off.

"He must appreciate your support."

"He does, I'm just not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up."

"You are the strongest woman I know and he will always be there for you."

He can see how his compliment brings a quick smile on her face, before she takes a sip from her cup.

"We will see about that," she replies, and he feels that she considers the subject closed, so he tries to remember how he planned to start talking about why he originally asked her here.

"I know we didn't part on the best terms months ago and I told you things I very much regret, so I'm wondering if we could talk about it now or if you don't want to talk about it just please accept my apology."

"I also said things I shouldn't have," she replies and it's hard to tell if she wants to talk about that heated conversation or not. He still hears her words when she told him the bankruptcy was his own fault because he is unable to run a business. It hurt so much when she threw this at his head among other things, but he probably deserved her cruel honesty after blaming her on the first place.

"You were obviously right about me not being able to run a business," he refers back to her words and sees how she doesn't like being confronted with them too much.

"My departure was what made it hard for you," she admits, not apologizing for leaving but making it clear it could have happened to anyone in his position and wasn't just due to his poor managerial skills.

"But I understood that you had to go," he smiles, realizing that they are making considerable progress here, "How do you like it there?"

"It's different," she says without actually replying to his question and he remembers how Kurt said she likes her new job, but loved the old one. He doesn't want to call her out on it so soon after they finally started talking again, especially because they seem to be making progress.

"I'm sure it is."

"And how do you put up with Patti on a daily basis?"

"I've learnt to count to ten before I say something I might regret," he gives away his big secret that he's been practicing every day for the last months, always hoping something will change soon enough.

"That is useful."

"Yep."

"Maybe she will get pregnant again and leave you in charge for a while," she says half jokingly.

"Maybe for a month or two, for the rest of the time we'd need to put up with her hormones, which would be much worse."

"Your time will come again, just have to sit this one out for a little longer."

"I really hope you are right," he appreciates her encouraging words and wants to believe in them too, because he doesn't plan to spend the rest of his career under Patti's command.

"And you will have a bigger office for Christmas."

"We'll see about that."

The sound of her chuckle makes him realize how much he missed these moments between them and he is very grateful that they are together once again after such a long time.

"I need to go, I have another meeting soon, but thank you for suggesting this."

"Thank you for coming. Next time we need to have something stronger though," he lifts his coffee cup.

"Deal."

They share a smile before she finishes her coffee and gets ready to leave and Will couldn't be happier that he finally managed to break the ice between them. It feels good to welcome an old friend back into his life.