“Into town.”
That got Misty’s full attention.“Youwant to leave the hotel?”
Tish ignored that.“The cafe should still be open, and I hear good things about the hot chocolate.”
Misty’s breath was starting to come back.“What, so I can watch you sip a hot water with lemon while I indulge?No, thanks.”
Tish looked pained.“I’ll get one too if that’ll make you tell me what’s going on.”
Misty didn’t budge.“And you promise not to throw it up when we get back?”
Tish’s expression darkened at the reminder of how she used to try to get around her performance diet.“I shouldn’t have done that then — vomiting throws your electrolytes out of whack — and I’m not going to now.Satisfied?”
“Yeah.Let’s go.”
The intrigue of the moment spurred Misty into putting her hoodie and coat on and following Tish out of the hotel and onto the town’s main commercial strip.The night and lack of physical activity made the temperature appear to have dropped twenty degrees, and yet she almost welcomed the slice of the wind through her coat.Maybe it would numb her heart and make it stop aching so much.
After a few blocks, the cafe offered a welcome respite.Between the fire crackling in the brick-lined fireplace, the cozy-looking furniture, and the wreaths already up, it looked like it had been air-dropped from Santa’s village into this little town.The room was crowded, but somehow they managed to snag a table by the fireplace.
Tish negotiated a dairy-free version of the house specialty, but they ordered two hot chocolates as she’d promised.The aroma made Misty’s mouth water, but she felt her heart sink as one plain drink and one with whipped cream on top arrived.Hers reminded her of the dinner with Spencer, the one where she’d been all too aware of his mouth as he’d tried to guide her to get the whipped cream off her face.She’d thought that night would’ve ended in a kiss, but it hadn’t done a thing to detract from the magic of their first.
“Actually, could I get mine with a marshmallow instead?”she asked, handing the server her cup back.
“Of course.”He walked away, and Tish studied her with a concerned expression.
“What?”
“I’ve never known you to order marshmallows when whipped cream’s on the menu.”Tish’s frown gave way to shock.“Oh, no.You couldn’t be pregnant, could you?Food aversion can be a symptom, you know.”
“God, no!My IUD works too well for that.I wanna try the homemade marshmallows.”
Tish looked less than convinced, and Misty sighed.“Okay, so that movie and now this whipped cream made me think of Spencer.”
“You miss him?”Tish looked sympathetic.
The question cut right to the core of how Misty was feeling.She’d be happy never to see the guy from the phone that night again, but she missed the trainer who’d gone from resting drill sergeant face to joking and bantering with her through her sessions.She missed the person who brightened up her days in the gym and out.She missed the partner who’d taken incredible care of her pleasure and motivated her to give it back.
Yes, she missed the guy she’d come to know and...dare she say love?But was he still there?
Instead of going into any of that, Misty took a more philosophical approach.“You wouldn’t think we’d have time to miss anyone, but I have, and I felt bad that I crashed before I could call him some nights.That made him mad, and we broke things off.”
Misty sighed.“Go on and say you told me so.”
Tish didn’t look smug at all.“I’m not going to say anything except that that sucks.”
Before anyone could say anything, the server returned with a new drink.Misty took a sip of her hot chocolate, savoring the richness of this drink she could practically chew and appreciating the texture of the homemade marshmallow bobbing against her lips.“Then again, was there anythingtobreak off?Maybe this was only meant to be a fling while I was getting ready to go.”
She wished she could believe that.As time had passed, the training sessions had evolved from yet another obligation to the highlights of her days.Later, the more time she’d spent with Spencer outside the gym, the more time she’d wanted with him.It had stung something awful to be shut out as he had, and she couldn’t figure out how to work her way back in or if it was worth trying.
“He seemed okay with me being gone at first but got so funny.Accusing me of ghosting, cheating with the delivery guy...and turning into such a dick.What the fuck?”
“Guys can be such babies when a woman outperforms them athletically.”Tish’s face darkened, and Misty knew she was thinking of those assholes she’d been with in college.
“I didn’t think Spencer was like that,” Misty protested.“All through training, he seemed to want this for me about as much as I wanted it for myself, acted so happy for me when I got it...”
With every word, she was reminded of all his good qualities and the sweetness of their early days outside the gym.Maybe the reason this bad memory stood out so much was because it was the only one of its kind.All her other memories of their time together were good ones that it hurt to have lost to her forever.
She closed her eyes to hold back yet another round of tears, but a few slid out anyway.“So what happened?”
