October 9, 2016:
They found a Mexican restaurant. She was jonesing after weeks abroad. They turned the corner, there it was, of all the improbable outcomes, staring them in the face.
Still there was no getting along. After fifteen years learning to distance himself from people with her traits, a reunion was doomed. Failure was inevitable, although hindsight was required for its inevitability to become clear to him.
He dislikes her. She lies. She's trapped in a narrow circle of narcissism and manipulativeness. She's disloyal, she can't be trusted. He has empathy for her pain, but he no longer feels sympathy for her circumstances.
Theirs was the most formative relationship of his time on earth and he wishes they'd never met. If it's true, as she says, that life is a school, the central lesson he's learned is to avoid people like her. If they're to meet again, as she promises, he hopes he keeps on walking.