Page 58 of The Fall Back Plan
I shrug. “I don’t want to talk you into a date. So now I’m here as your friend.”
She leans against the doorframe, and a twitch at the corner of her mouth gives away her amusement. “This isn’t a trick to get in the friend zone where you’re going to bide your time until I change my mind, is it?”
“No, ma’am. Sheriff-friend’s honor.”
She steps back again and lets me in.
I walk past her but stop and turn after a couple of steps. “Where do friends hang out? Kitchen or living room?”
“How about the kitchen while I scramble some eggs?”
I beeline for the kitchen. “Don’t have to offer me food twice,” I call over my shoulder.
She closes the door, and by the time she reaches me, I’m already on a stool, chin propped on my hand, waiting.
“Did I mention you’re ridiculous?”
“I’m not,” I inform her. “I’m just sitting here, waiting for a breakfast I was offered. Sounds like common sense to me.”
She shakes her head but goes to her fridge and pulls out a carton of eggs, setting them on the counter before she starts digging through drawers.
“So as a friend, and a guy who likes to solve mysteries, tell me how this last relationship of yours went so wrong that you’re terrified of lunch with a good-looking man?”
She shoots me a quelling look. I lift my eyebrows and wait.
She gets a fork and a bowl and cracks an egg on the rim. “Phillip Freaking Horsley.”
“That guy is a tool. Tell me more.” I get an almost-snicker from her.
“He was a stock trader at the hedge fund that recruited me out of college. We started working together more when I became a portfolio manager. And then we started dating.”
“I mean, that’s juicy stuff, Jo.”
She rolls her eyes. “It wasn’t dramatic. We started doing late dinners at the office, then he asked me to be his plus-one at a wedding for one of his college buddies, and then we were dating.”
“So y’all kind of fell into it. Romantic,” I say.
“Lucas . . .”
“He didn’t even do a costume change. That’s all I’m saying.” This time I do get a laugh, one that’s more like a breath through the nose, but still, it’s a laugh. “Don’t stop now. It’s getting good. You have very predictable work dinners and civilized wedding dates, and this goes on for how long?”
She shakes her head, a half smile on her face as she whisks the eggs. “Two years.”
“That’s a long time, but I guess that makes sense when you’re with someone out of habit.”
“It wasn’t habit.” She whisks faster. “I liked him.”
“Likedhim? Liked him enough to up and leave an entire city when it didn’t work out?”
“I loved him.” There’s a furiousclink clink clinkof the fork against the glass of the bowl. “Probably?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. If you were with him for two years, you definitely loved him. But something happened.”
She slams the fork down, and a bit of egg yolk spatters on the counter. She doesn’t notice, crouching instead to dig through what sounds like a drawer of medieval armor before the clanging stops and she stands with a skillet in her hands. She sets it on the stove and starts the burner.
“Roger Galbraith Horsley happened.”
“His . . . dog?”
