"Alexis mentioned that your boyfriend ended things."
"Yeah, well." I wrap my hands around the mug, letting the heat seep into my cold fingers. "Turns out two years wasn't long enough for him to actually want to be with me."
Something flashes in Joel's eyes, but I can't read it. "His loss."
Before I can stop myself, the whole miserable story comes tumbling out.
"He said he needs someone more his type. Someone who, and I quote, 'takes care of themselves.' Which is code for someone thinner, obviously." I laugh, but it sounds bitter even to my own ears. "He'd been cheating on me for three months with a girl from his gym. A CrossFit instructor named Madison who has abs you could grate cheese on."
Joel's jaw tightens. "He said that to you?"
"He said a lot of things." I take a sip of tea—it's perfect, exactly the right temperature, with just a hint of honey. "Apparently he's been 'trying' to hint that I should work out more, eat better. I thought we were happy, but the whole time he was just... waiting for me to transform into someone else."
"Nina—"
"The worst part is I actually considered it." The words pour out of me now, unstoppable. "For like five whole minutes afterhe walked out, I stood there thinking maybe I should join a gym, maybe I should try one of those crazy diets, maybe then someone like him would—" I stop abruptly, horrified at myself. "Sorry. You don't need to hear all this."
"Yes, I do." Joel's voice is firm now, almost angry. "Because someone needs to tell you what an absolute idiot that man is."
I look up at him, startled.
He pushes off from the counter and moves closer, stopping on the other side of the island. "You are beautiful, Nina. Exactly as you are. The fact that he couldn't see that, that he tried to make you feel like you needed to change—" He breaks off, shaking his head. "You deserve so much better than that."
Heat floods my cheeks and my heart does this stupid fluttering thing it has no business doing. "Dr. Hartford."
"Joel. Please." He runs a hand through his dark blonde hair, and I notice the silver threading through it at his temples, the tired lines around his eyes. "I'm not your friend's dad right now. I'm just someone who hates seeing you hurt like this."
We stare at each other across the marble island and something shifts in the air between us, something that makes my breath catch and my skin prickle with awareness.
No. Stop it. He's being kind because you're a mess and you're Alexis's best friend. That's all this is.
I clear my throat and look down at my tea. "Thank you. For the tea. And for... you know."
"You're welcome here as long as you need to stay." His voice has gone gentler again. "The guest room is ready—I had it made up for you. There are fresh towels in the bathroom, and the WiFi password is on the nightstand."
"You're sure I'm not imposing? I can find a hotel—"
"Nina." That tone again, the one that makes me want to fall to my knees and dowhateverhe says. "Stay. Please."
So I stay.
After I unpack my few things in the guest room, I take a long, hot shower. By the time I emerge, wrapped in the plush robe that was hanging on the door, I feel almost human again.
My phone buzzes with a text from Alexis:Made it to the airport finally! Flight boards in an hour. Dad said you're already there - so glad you didn't have to be alone tonight. See you tomorrow afternoon! ??
I stare at that message, feeling a mix of relief and something else I don't want to examine too closely. Relief that my best friend will be here soon. And that other feeling... the one about having tonight alone with her father.
Stop it.
I've been harboring this absolutely inappropriate crush on Joel Hartford since I was twenty years old. It started innocently enough—Alexis brought me home for Thanksgiving our sophomore year, and there he was: tall, handsome, accomplished, with this quiet confidence that made me feel safe in a way I'd never experienced before.
At first I thought I'd get over it. Crushes on your friend's parents are normal, right? They fade.
Except mine didn't fade. It just grew deeper, more complex, more hopeless. Every time I visited, every family dinner, every graduation or birthday party, I was obsessed with him. The way he listened when people talked. His dry sense of humor. The gentle way he treated everyone around him, especially his daughter.
And now I'm here, fresh from a brutal breakup, staying in his house while Alexis is delayed in LA, and my stupid heart is doing backflips just because he called me beautiful.
Get it together, Nina. You're a disaster right now. He's just being nice.
