Page 14 of The Broken Hearts Club

“Well no, of course not. You’ve only had eleven months.”

When we reached the kitchen, I opened a cupboard and pulled out the sliding shelf that held my coffee station. As I filled the carafe at the sink, Collie took a seat on a barstool and crossed his legs, so the robe fell open again. I tried to ignore how sexy he looked.

After a minute, he asked, “Did your ex leave you for another man?”

“Wow, that came out of nowhere.”

“I was thinking about what happened to you eleven months ago.”

“No, he didn’t. He just decided he didn’t love me anymore.”

“Ouch.”

“Yup.”

“Did you have a big wedding planned?”

“Huge. We invited everyone we knew and spent a fortune on a gorgeous venue.”

“The date must be coming up, right? What would have been your one-year wedding anniversary, I mean.” He quickly added, “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have reminded you of that.”

“It’s not like I’d forgotten. It’s actually two weeks from today.”

“If you don’t already have plans, I’ll come over that day, and we’ll get very drunk.”

“Good. I was planning to drink alone, but if you’re here I’ll seem slightly less pathetic.”

While the coffee brewed, I made us scrambled eggs and whole grain avocado toast. When I put his plate down in front of him, Collie grinned and said, “Fancy.”

“Is it?”

“Aunt Sue wasn’t big on breakfast, so I’d just make myself coffee and an off-brand pop tart.”

“Can I ask how she died?”

“ALS. Most people know it as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was only fifty-two.”

“That’s awful.”

“It really, truly was,” he muttered, as he climbed off the barstool and crossed the kitchen to the coffee station. He proceeded to make himself a concoction that was approximately one-third each coffee, sugar, and milk. Once he finished, I poured myself a cup of coffee and added a splash of almond milk before joining him at the kitchen island.

While we ate, he asked, “What time is the game?”

“At eleven. We should leave at ten-fifteen if we want to walk.”

“How far is it?”

“About twenty blocks.”

“And are there hills between here and there?”

“A couple.”

He wrinkled his nose and said, “No, thank you.”

“You don’t want to come to the game?”

“No, I do. What I don’t want is to schlep over hill and dale and arrive looking sweaty and bedraggled.”