Normally, I’d be happy to dig in, but the very idea of eating makes me want to throw up. My throat closes up at the mere sight of food. I push the salad away. “I… I can’t eat.”
“I’m sorry. Is it the turkey bacon?”
I shake my head.
“Okay. Tell me. What’s wrong?”
I give her the SparkNotes.Solo Februarycrashing and burning. Jack. Mal. The disaster that is my life.
“The worst part is Jack had a red flag. The verydayI met him, Mal was there, and I… I… ignored it. Just like I said I wouldn’t. I ignored this huge red flag, and now here I am, right back in the place where I don’t ask the right questions early and then just get rolled.” I sigh. “Oh, and everyone online also wants me dead. So there’s that, too.”
Stella puts her arm around my shoulders and tugs me closer. I go, putting my head on her shoulder. “I think it’s time for a liquid lunch.” We break apart and she reaches for another, smaller brown bag, and pulls out a bottle of tequila. “Shall we?”
“I think I love you,” I say, as she rises, fetches two glasses from my kitchen, and pours a little bit of añejo in each. We clink glasses and then I take a deep swig, the tequila the only thing that can numb the aching pain of my heart, split in two—again. The burn down my throat feels good. “Can I join your team? Give up on men?”
I lean on my breakfast bar. Stella hoists herself up to one of the stools.
“You want to date Terran?” Stella asks, raising a challenging eyebrow. “She’s available.”
“Right. I forgot. Dating sucks for everyone.”
Stella sends me a look of pity. “You’re going to have to talk to him,” Stella gently tells me. “You don’t really know what happened.”
“He’s just going to deny it all,” I say, as I scooch into the seat next to hers. “And the evidence is pretty tough to dispute.”
“Yes, but…” Stella takes a small sip of her own tequila. “You’ll have to talk it out. After you’ve both calmed down. If you still think he’s lying, then dump him. I’m all for it. I just think you need a full discussion about this, and not on a freezing cold sidewalk.”
“You really think Jack will tell me the truth? No one tells the truth. I mean, hello,Terrain? You know people just suck. They all lie.”
“I know. But… everything you told me about Jack… he seemed like such a mensch. Maybe it was all a lie but I’m just not sure.”
“Tell me about it.” I sigh.
“Maybe there is an explanation,” she tells me gently.
“Aren’tyoualways the one telling me that the simplestanswer is usually the right one? What do you say about the zebra?”
“When you hear hoofs, don’t think it’s a zebra when it’s probably a horse?”
“Bingo.” I snap my fingers.
“Yeah.” Stella nods. “Usually, the simplest answer is the right one.”
“Okay, then.” I blow my already-red nose. “He lied to me. End of story.”
“I think you should talk to him,” Stella adds. “Not for his sake. For yours. To be sure. You’re right that you didn’t ask enough questions early, but you have to stillask those questions.”
I know why I’m not asking those questions, because part of me doesn’t want it confirmed that Jack is terrible, and I’m a fool.
“Why talk to him? There’s no elaborate Mal conspiracy. He wants her as his main and me as his side chick. The story of about every man I ever met. I’m destined to forever and always be the side chick.” I think about Dan and his wife. Marley and his endless sexting of every woman he ever met.
“Well, technically, you were Marley’smainchick.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Stella’s mouth curves into a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I know.”
“And irony of ironies, now all the readers think I ditched Solo February for a guy, and so now they all hate me, too.”
