no sense in fooling myself— part of me hoped I might run into Annie there. But no sign of her.
I ordered a coffee from the counter, along with a chocolate muffin – a treat I normally never allowed myself. It was…nice. The mellow ambience of the coffee shop had a further calming effect on me.
As I sipped my coffee, watching the customers come and go kicking off the snow-dusted boots as they entered, ready to enjoy their drink and warm themselves by the fire, I began to remember just why I’d moved to White Pines.
In the middle of my calm repose, however, my phone rang. The instant I felt it in my pocket, I regretted bringing it. And when I saw it was a call from Andrew, the tenseness I’d been trying to escape returned with a vengeance.
But I couldn’t ignore it.
“What’s up?” I asked, glancing around to make sure I wasn’t within earshot of anyone.
“I want to talk to you about what happened.”
“What’s there to say? I hope you’re not expecting an apology.”
“Not sure if that’s going to get this conversation off to the right foot, Duncan.”
I was being defensive, and I knew it. I sighed and said, “Sorry. Alright, let’s hear what’s on your mind.”
“I’ve been thinking about how what happened…it can’t be a coincidence.”
“What kind of coincidence?”
“The kind where I date a woman for years and you just so happen to end up with her. Out of all the women in Colorado, you start seeing her.”
“But you never showed me a picture, let alone introduced me.”
“Duncan, it’s 2020 – there’re plenty of ways to find out about someone that don’t involve being introduced.”
I didn’t want to say anything. Lying to Andrew didn’t feel right in the slightest. But at the same time, I didn’t want to give away the game. I’d put myself into a hell of situation. And now the consequences were unfolding.
“But it doesn’t matter. I don’t know if you just happened to meet her, or if you planned it. But it’s a real clusterfuck of a situation, you have to understand that.”
He wasn’t wrong. But I wasn’t about to give away the fact that I’d done some research on Annie before we’d met. All I’d wanted was to see just who my brother was dating, to get to know a part of his life. I hadn’t expected that she’d be the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.
Doesn’t matter. What did matter was that he was right – the situation was a mess.
“Alright,” I said. “So what if it’s a cluster—” Off to my right, a mom and her two kids were gathered around a table, happily eating their bakes goods. I held my tongue. “So what if it’s a real cluster-fart? What do you want me to do? Break up with her?”
The boy at the table, apparently hearing me, laughed at the word. I winked at him.
“You can tell her the truth.”
“The truth?”
“The truth. Whatever the truth is, you need to let her know.” He paused. “And…there’s more.”
“More?”
“We’re meeting tomorrow.”
My gut tightened. “You’re meeting with Annie? About what?’
“We’re going to talk, to catch up. Hell, if we’re going to get shoved back into each other’s lives like this, we might as well smooth our pasts over.”
“And that’s all it’s about, huh?” I could sniff out bullshit from a mile away.
“What else would it be about?”
“I don’t know – you tell me.”
Silence. With each passing moment I became more certain that Andrew had motives he didn’t want to share.
“Our relationship ended badly,” he said hesitantly. “And as much as I was sure I wanted to end things with her, I’ve never been happy with my decision.” He paused briefly. “Besides, it’d be nice to catch up. You of all people should know that she’s good company.”
He was lying – I could sense it. But I wasn’t about to get into an argument on the phone in the middle of a coffee shop.
“Fine,” I said. “She can hang out with whoever she wants.”
“Right. Not like she’d accept it if you were to tell her she wasn’t allowed to. Annie’s as independent as they come.” A beat of silence passed. “That’s all I had for you, Duncan. I’m going to smooth things out with Annie. And I suggest you do the same. There’s no reason this has to be so confusing.”
“I’ll take that into consideration.”
“I hope you do. Talk to you soon.”
I hung up and set the phone on the table. The conversation didn’t sit well with