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When Astrid pulled out the chair in front of the chipped pink mug, Mrs. Duffy let out a huff of frustration. “Not there. That’s my spot.”
Ten minutes later, they were sitting in awkward silence with a mug of tea each.
“So why don’t you fuck men more than once?” Mrs. Duffy asked, her voice as matter-of-fact as if she’d just asked which brand of bread Astrid preferred. “Do you kill them after?”
Astrid almost spit out a mouthful of Earl Gray but managed to swallow just in time—not that all of it went down the correct pipe. “No,” she said, still coughing a little.
“Pity.” She handed Astrid a napkin from the stack held down by a coaster-size piece of rose agate. “That would have been memorable.”
Astrid took the napkin. “And against the law.”
Mrs. Duffy snorted. “So why did your fiancé leave you? Did you sleep with his best friend while wearing your wedding dress only to find out later that the best friend was your step brother?”
Thank God Astrid hadn’t been in the middle of taking a drink that time. “No.”
The old woman adjusted her glasses and peered over the top of the bright pink frames at Astrid. “Did he sleep with the best man? Were you the one holding him back from living his best life filled with love and hot sex?”
Astrid crumpled the napkin in her hand, squashing it into a teeny-tiny ball as she counted to ten. “He signed with a new team,” she said, her whole body tensing up so tight her muscles ached, just like it always happened when that stupid song came on the jukebox.
She didn’t know if she was going to throw up or start crying—both happened a lot after the almost wedding. Holding on to that napkin for dear life, she took a deep breath and stuffed it all back down so she could move forward. And it worked. Mostly.
“He was a goalie with the Cajun Rage,” Astrid said, her voice barely shaking. “He got a huge deal to move to the Ice Knights, and he took it.”
“And why would he break up with you over that?” The old woman leaned forward and dropped her volume to a stage whisper. “Are you wanted by the law here in Harbor City and living under a fake name?”
Was it wrong for part of Astrid to think that was a better version to live than the truth? Well, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d misjudged things then. Obviously.
“He dumped me because he had to give hockey his whole attention.”
“Good,” Mrs. Duffy said with a decisive nod.
Astrid started. What the hell?
“How is that good?” she asked. “That is the absolute worst reason to break up with someone that you’ve been with since middle school.”
“It’s good because that’s not the type of man a person should waste their time with, and you’d already wasted too much time on him.” Mrs. Duffy looked at Astrid as if she had a head full of rocks. “Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Nola told me you were smart. I’ve never known that girl to lie to me.”
Astrid released her hold on the napkin and started smoothing it out on the table, needing, without understanding why, to make it whole again. “He broke my heart.”
“Do you still want to marry him?”
Astrid looked up from the wrinkled-beyond-repair napkin. “No.”
Not even close. Even the idea of it made her stomach do the thing, the same swish-swash, storm-at-sea thing it used to do when she thought about spending more than one night with the same guy.
Used to until Cal.
Fuck. She was so screwed in the not-good way.
“So buy some glue for that heart of yours and stop forcing your way into other people’s apartments.” Mrs. Duffy picked up the TV remote from the table. “If I was fifty years younger, I damn well wouldn’t be hiding from that Cal Matsen—yes, I know his name. I know a lot, you know. Hell, if I was thirty years younger, you can bet he’d learn a few things from me.” Pointing the remote at the ancient TV on the counter that was hooked to an even older VHS machine, Mrs. Duffy started the show that had been paused. “Now watch this while you eat your Oreos and drink your tea. Season twenty really was the best for The Hard and the Handsome. It’s the one where I blew them all away as the madam of the male bordello. Literally.”
Astrid’s mouthful of Earl Gray went everywhere.
Chapter Thirty-Three
CAL: Did you tell Bear I took his coffee mug?
ASTRID: Did you?
