Page 62 of Lessons in Heartbreak

“Do you?” Using the tongs, she flipped the funnel cake, nodding with satisfaction at the even brown color before she slid a plate next to the fryer. After shaking off the excess oil, she set it on the plate and eyed him. “What’s your pleasure? Cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar?”

He licked his bottom lip—an undeniably naughty lick too—and even though it wasn’t directed at me, my face heated nonetheless. “Your phone number would be even sweeter.”

Watching them from the side, I managed to hide my smile. Not that it mattered anyway; neither one of them paid me an ounce of heed.

Lauren laughed. “You’re too young for me, but I’m flattered.”

His brow lowered. “I’m thirty. You can’t be more than ...” He paused, eyeing her carefully, and I held my breath for what he said next. “Thirty-eight.”

Lauren and I traded a quick look. She’d just turned thirty-nine.

“Close enough, cowboy.” Even though he hadn’t specified, she added a liberal amount of cinnamon sugar to his funnel cake, then handed the plate over the counter. “If you’re not my age or within fiveyears, you’ve hardly begun to learn what to do with a woman. I don’t waste my time on the young ones.”

With a dazed expression on his face, he accepted the funnel cake, looking at her like she’d just handed him a check for a million dollars. “Whatis your name?”

She shook her head. “Nothing you need to know.”

“Lauren,” I told him helpfully. She glanced over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes dangerously. I smiled sweetly. “That’s payback for my birthday present,” I told her.

The big beast of a man took a massive, wolfish bite of the funnel cake, staring at her unabashedly while his jaw worked. Then he swiped at his muzzle to clear the cinnamon sugar and leaned in again. “Lauren, I could have you screaming my name in five languages by the time I’m finished with you.”

I was in the middle of sipping some water, and I slapped a hand over my mouth, just barely managing to stem the flow of it out my nose.

Lauren laughed in delight, accepting his money and giving him change with a good-natured shake of her head. “You’re confident, I’ll give you that.”

“It’s well earned. I promise.”

“You might as well find someone else to entertain you. My ex-husband was just like you, and I’m not in the mood to soothe your ego because I didn’t rip my panties off at the sight of your smile.” She grinned. “And unless you get me screaming your name insixlanguages, I’m not all that impressed. I can do that myself, honey.”

His jaw fell open. “Woman, if you don’t give me your phone number, I might actually die.”

Watching them was like a master class in unhinged flirtation, and not for the first time that day, I found myself missing Griffin. The way he was helping me was subtle. Less, maybe, than what I’d assumed when I first asked for his assistance, but already I could imagine his commentary on what I was witnessing.

Lauren rolled her eyes dramatically, shooing him off to the side. “I promise you won’t. Off you go. There are other people who need funnel cake too.”

Despite the fact that she was rushing him off, I knew my friend. Her cheeks were flushed, her brown eyes bright. And for the last six months, she’d been bemoaning her dry spell but wasn’t ready to jump back on the dating apps.

“I have her number,” I heard myself say.

The guy’s face lit up.

Lauren’s mouth popped open. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Wouldn’t I?” I asked, narrowing my eyes in her direction.

“Fuck a duck,” she muttered under her breath.

“You are a great friend,” he said, sidling up next to me on the side of the booth.

“I tell her this all the time.” I pulled up my phone and scrolled to her contact, angling the screen so that he could copy the number into his own device. Lauren was muttering under her breath as she made the next funnel cake, but it wasn’t lost on me that she didn’t tell me no.

He stuck his hand out once he was done saving her number. “Marcus Henderson,” he said, loudly enough that Lauren could hear.

Her movements slowed, her eyes widening incrementally, and I gave her a brief curious look as I returned the firm shake. “Ruby Tate. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You know, I had to convince my friend to come tonight, and I am so glad.”

“I’m sure Lauren is too.”

---