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I laughed a little to myself remembering it. Mike had been actively flirting with me and in the middle of it, Chris mumbled something about being closer to my city than Mike was. He’d said it like he was honor-bound to inform me of the logistics so I would be fully aware of how much I was inconveniencing Mike.

I chose to inconvenience Mike.

Two months ago meant Chris’s mom had just died. I guess I could understand why he’d been a little dark.

He was still a little dark. But that was okay. I didn’t care so much this time around.

We tasted the sourdough and both gave it a nine.

“Should we try the pumpernickel?” he asked.

“Yes.”

We bit into it at the same exact time and chewed, watching each other for the reaction.

I swallowed. “Well?” I asked. “Is it ass?”

“No. Definitely not.”

“Right? It’s so good. What’s your rating?”

“Honestly? I give this a ten,” he said.

“Me too. We wouldn’t even have tried this,” I said, sliding the napkin in front of me to jot down the score. “Good thing we didn’t succumb to the peer pressure.”

“I think it’d be good with some eggs,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s order some. Try it.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Do you want some bacon? Ham?” he asked.

“Sure. Ham sounds good.”

He ordered our food and I realized that he was right about the bread—it did settle my stomach. I think I’d been so hungry I’d gotten nauseous, and now that I’d eaten something, I was feeling better. In fact, I was suddenly starving.

When the server cleared our empty plates thirty minutes later, I realized Chris had gotten me to eat a full breakfast on a morning when I probably wouldn’t have eaten at all if I’d been left to my own devices. I actually felt okay now, like I could somehow handle the rest of my day.

I needed to be in a cute café drinking a coffee and eating breakfast with someone, not sitting alone in a waiting room, letting it all fester. Chris knew that. And I was really grateful that he did.

Mike must have known Chris would do this for me. Sending him was Mike’s way of taking care of me when he couldn’t be there himself. It was thoughtful and considerate.

Maybe I didn’t need to break up with Mike for bailing on me after all.

3

CHRIS

We were walking back to the hospital. I was carrying a large brown paper bag full of leftover bread.

We’d sat in the café for two hours talking about books. Arguing about books, actually.

“I don’t care what you say,” she said, pulling her hoodie out of her backpack while we walked. “The movie is never as good as the book.”

“There are some decent ones out there,” I said.