“No, I walked, is all. The temperature is dropping. I think it’s going to freeze tonight.” An inane comment, but I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to get Ash away from his bowling team for a quiet talk and was hoping for inspiration to strike. Any moment would be good. Right that second would be even better. “Ash, we need to—”
But he was talking at the same time. “Minnie, we need to—”
We both stopped. In spite of the noise surrounding us, there was a short and uncomfortable silence. “You go first,” he said, nodding.
I glanced toward his team, where a pitcher of beer had just arrived. “What about bowling?”
“The league before us is running late,” he said over another crash of tumbling pins. “We won’t start for another twenty minutes.”
“Is there somewhere quiet?”
“In a bowling alley?” He grinned and for a moment I lost my focus completely. Ash Wolverson was the best-looking man I’d ever dated. He was smart. He was fun. He was active. He was interesting. Why on earth didn’t I love him?
“Come on.” Ash escorted me through the open doorway that led to an adjacent restaurant. He took us to a small table in the back corner, where he held out a chair for me and, once I was in it, slid the chair forward just the right amount.
“Would you like anything?” He sat across from me. “Food? Drink?”
Their largest glass of wine, I almost asked, but instead said, “No, thanks.” And since I still didn’t have the right words to start this conversation, I put my hands on the table and stared at them. Small hands with short fingers. Fingernails that needed trimming. Cuticles in need of maintenance. Some hangnails, too, and—
No. I had to say something. And I had to say it now. Still focused on my hands, I opened my mouth and the words started to spill out. “Ash, I’m so sorry, but—”
My voice combined with his, and I was pretty sure he said, “Minnie, I’m really sorry, but—”
I lifted my head to stare at Ash and found that he was staring at me. My mouth was hanging open the slightest bit, as was his, and I was starting to suspect that I didn’t have to be too worried about breaking his heart.
“The last few months,” I said, testing the waters, “have been a lot of fun.”
“Absolutely.” He nodded vigorously. “I can’t think of a time when I’ve had such a good time with a girlfriend.”
“But for some reason, there are no sparks when we kiss.”
“No sizzle,” he agreed. “I don’t understand it.”
I started to smile. “Me either. You’re smart, you’re good looking, you’re funny, and we have so much in common. Why isn’t this working out?”
“No idea. It doesn’t make any sense. You’re cute, and intelligent, and you’re always ready to try new things. I don’t understand why we’re not a match made in heaven.”
“Well.” I sighed. “At least we tried.”
He looked at me. “Want to try kissing again?”
“Not really.” And I didn’t. Not that I’d ever kissed my brother full on the lips, but if I ever had, I would have expected it to feel like it felt when I kissed Ash. “If there hasn’t been any sizzle up until this point, why would it start now?”
“Good point.”
We sat there a moment, each silently pondering the vagaries of romance.
“Okay,” he said finally. “I guess that’s it.”
“I guess so.”
As we both got to our feet, he snapped his fingers. “Say, are you up for a fat tire bike ride tomorrow? There’s a new route I want to try.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “Meet at the Round Table first for breakfast? Say nine?”
“It’s a plan.”
After mutual nods, he went back to his bowling and I headed out to the fresh air, ending the easiest breakup ever.
• • •
The next evening there was a party of three for dessert in Kristen’s small office. Even with the normal two of us, there wasn’t a lot of extra room. With Leese added to the mix, it had taken clever rearrangements by Harvey, Kristen’s devoted sous chef, to provide enough space so that we could all eat the last crème brûlée of the season without bumping elbows.
I held my spoon above the ramekin, poising it to plunge through the crusty sugar and into the delectable custard underneath. “To another successful year.”
The last consonant wasn’t out of my mouth when I realized that my casual toast could have hurt Leese’s feelings horribly. With suspicion about the identity of her dad’s killer still hovering like an unwanted and socially inept guest, her year was not likely to be successful. And unless the killer was found and put in jail, her new law firm might not last another twelve months.
But Leese, smiling, was also holding up her spoon. “To Kristen and the Three Seasons.”
“Ah, shucks,” my best friend said. “You guys are going to make me blush.”
I snorted in disbelief. The three of us tinked our spoons together and then the delightful sound of crackling sugar filled the air.
“When was the last time you were embarrassed about anything?” I asked as I worked to spoon up the perfect first bite, one that included caramelized sugar, custard, and at least part of a raspberry. Where Kristen had found local raspberries in mid-October, I did not know, but some questions were best left unasked. “You didn’t turn a hair during the filming last summer.”
In July, Trock Farrand and his son, the always impeccably clad Scruffy Gronkowski, had filmed an episode of Trock’s Troubles at Kristen’s restaurant. The show had aired a week after Labor Day and the ensuing rise in business had boosted profits not only for the Three Seasons, but also for much of downtown.
“Embarrassment is a waste of time.” Kristen waved her spoon. “You would do well to remember that, little one.”
“And you would do well to recall who showed you how to change the ring tones on your cell phone.”
Leese laughed. “I said it before and I’ll say it again. You two act more like sisters than friends.”
“Sisters in spirit.” Kristen leaned over and slung one of her long arms around my shoulders to give me a quick hug. “Friends forever.”
I grinned. “That forever part is easier since she lives in Key West five months out of the year.”
A laughing Kristen lightly thumped the side of my head. “Someday you’re going to come with me and see why. Here it’s sleet and snow and cold and boots. There, it’s sunshine and sandals.”
“There, it’s big bugs,” I said. “And snakes. Year round.”
“Not if you stick to the city, where people belong.” She eyed me and I sensed what was coming. I’d texted her about the end of the Minnie-Ash relationship last night and a discussion was inevitable. “So,” she said. “It’s over with the extraordinarily handsome Ash Wolverson? And yes, I told Rafe, just like you asked. Not sure why you didn’t do it yourself, though.”
Leese gave me a startled look. “Hang on. When did this happen?”
“Last night,” I said. “And yes, we’re no longer dating. We’re still friends, though.”
“Has that ever really worked?” Leese asked.
“Not in the entire history of the world.” Kristen’s spoon scraped the bottom of her ramekin. “I’m not sure why this one thinks this particular situation is going to be different.”
“Because friends was all we ever really were,” I said. “Just like . . .”
Kristen squinted. “Like what?”
Like Rafe and me, I’d almost said, but lately I wasn’t sure what was going on between us. He’d said he missed me, which was more sentiment than I’d ever heard from him. And I missed him. Well, sort of. Okay, I did. But that didn’t mean . . . well, what did it mean?
I put the question aside to think about later, because I was finally clueing in that something about Kristen was off. She hadn’t quite met my gaze since I’d arrived and she’d started eating without uttering a single criticism of the food, which I wasn’t sure she’d ever done in her life.