My sister offered you the best thing money can’t buy. Maybe you ought to think about that before you turn it down.
Sweat beaded on the back of his neck.
Maybe for some people love was the best thing, but he knew it could also be the worst.
Love was a lottery.
Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t.
In his experience, the odds weren’t good. And the more it mattered, the more it hurt.
And Paige mattered.
He paced, trying to work out how to get rid of the ache in his chest, and in the end he did what he always did when life got rough. He rode his bike to Brooklyn to see Maria.
She was the one person who would understand what he was feeling.
She’d give him sympathy, and right now he needed it, because Paige had made him feel like a jerk and Matt had made him feel like a jerk.
Maria definitely wouldn’t make him feel like a jerk.
And she’d make him breakfast.
* * *
DESPITE THE FACT that it was still early, the restaurant was already busy, the morning crowd lingering over their coffee at tables dappled by warm sunlight.
Jake walked straight around the back and found his mother in the kitchen, chopping tomatoes.
It felt familiar and comforting. The smells of roasted garlic and fresh oregano took him straight back to his childhood.
Maria took one look at his face and put the knife down. Without saying a word, she made him a strong coffee and ushered him to the nearest table.
“What’s wrong?”
It was a measure of how well she knew him that she could tell instantly that something was wrong.
“Why does something have to be wrong? I’m hungry. I decided I needed to start my day with granita and brioche. And coffee, of course.”
“You travel across the Brooklyn Bridge for granita and brioche when you have more fancy restaurants where you are than stray cats, there’s something wrong. I assume it’s a woman.” Her voice was as soothing as warm honey, and he knew he’d been right to come.
He gave up the pretense. “It’s a woman.”
She nodded, waiting. “And?”
“It’s Paige. I’ve been seeing Paige.”
There was a smile, but no surprise. “I’ve hoped for that for a long time. When I saw the two of you together the other night, I wondered. I sensed things had changed. I’m happy for you. You’re perfect together.”
It wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. “We’ve been seeing each other awhile. We were having fun.”
“Of course you were. You always do. She cares about you.” She sat across from him, watching patiently as he drank the coffee and tried to decide how much to tell her.
“She said she loves me.” Remembering made his heart race. “But those words mean nothing.”
His mother looked at him steadily. “To a woman like Paige, those words mean everything. She isn’t the sort to give her love lightly. She’s a strong woman and she has the biggest heart. Whatever the problem is, you’ll sort this out.”
He noticed she said you, not the two of you, which meant she didn’t think the fault lay with Paige.