Best Served Cold

“About what? How orange isn’t my color so I shouldn’t murder him in my sleep?”

She rolled her eyes. “Scoot, before you scare off my customers.”

Chase looked around. “We’re the only ones in here.”

She narrowed her eyes. “She might have a bad aim, honey, but I played softball in high school. Don’t play with me.”

I laughed and limped toward the door. “Checkmate.”

“That’d be more effective if you weren’t walking like you had one leg shorter than the other,” Chase said, following me.

“I take it back,” Jenna said. “I totally get the hot coals comment.”

That cut Chase’s laughter off like she’d sliced through it with a knife. His immediate silence sent Jenna into peals of giggles, and I chuckled to myself as I hobbled onto the sidewalk.

“That woman,” he muttered, joining me.

“She’s got your number. A bit like I have.”

“You’re not even close to having my number.” He slid his gaze to me for a brief second. “You might like to think you have, but you’re wrong.”

I snorted, tucking my food between my body and my arm so I could get my keys. “Yeah, whatever.”

“I’ve got yours, though.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I’ve got your keys.” He stepped in front of me and unlocked the door.

I glared at the back of his head and followed him inside. I beelined for the window seat where I carefully slid my flip-flop off and rested my foot on it.

“Where am I supposed to sit?” Chase looked at me.

“The floor’s clean,” I offered. “If you hadn’t broken my toe…”

“Yeah yeah, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.” He shook his head. “Whatever you say.”

I opened the paper bag containing my bagel and bit into the roll. I sent a shrug his way as I ate. It was true, and he knew it. “Maybe now you’ve learned not to eavesdrop on people’s conversations, especially your ex-girlfriend’s.”

“I’d love to say yes, but…nah.” He leaned against the counter and picked up his coffee, his old denim shorts tightening over his thighs. “Not gonna lie, you were being nice. I was almost expecting you to say you’d come to your senses about breaking up with me after all this time.”

My mouth was full of food, so instead of justifying that with a response, I pulled my phone out of my purse and opened Spotify.

Seconds later, the opening beat to Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” burst out of the little speaker.

Chase frowned, pausing with the lid of his cup against his lips. His gaze was fixed on my phone until the chorus hit, and then he lowered his cup, pinching the top of his nose. A tiny smile played on his lips.

“Really?” he asked. “You had to use a song for that?”

I raised my bagel in explanation, still chewing. I even added a nod just in case he wasn’t totally clear on that.

Lord knew he hadn’t taken the hint a couple days ago, so I didn’t expect him to understand that today.

Instead of the snarky comment I expected, he simply rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee. “Hollywood called. They want their drama back.”

There it was.

I swallowed the bagel and said, “High school called. They want their jerk quarterback back.”

Chase choked on his coffee. “I wasn’t a jerk.”

“I can tell you I’m not a moody bitch, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“All right,” he said slowly. “Maybe I was a bit of a jerk, but that didn’t stop you having a crush on me.”

“Riiiiight.” I drew the word right out and put down my bagel. “I never had a crush on you in high school. I seem to remember you asking me out several times over like six years before I finally took pity on you and said yes.”

He barked out a huge laugh. “Took pity on me? Your brain must stink with all that bullshit inside it.”

“I totally took pity on you!” I pointed at him. “I rejected you like four times in high school because you were a jerk. When you asked me out on my twenty-first birthday, I felt bad for you and said yes.”

“Yeah, you felt so bad you didn’t leave my apartment until the next morning.”

“I—” did, in fact, stay the night.

His grin was lopsided. “What’s up, Rae? Don’t have a comeback for that one?”

Fuck it, I didn’t.

Where did he get off being right? That wasn’t how society worked. Everyone knew the woman was always right.

My toe had me off my game. That was my excuse, and I was sticking to it. Like glue.

“Whatever,” I said. “I will never consider for a second that I made a mistake breaking up with you.”

“Really?”

I pointed toward the wall that separated our stores. “Really.”

His eyes met mine. His eyes were darker than usual, but they still held my gaze with an intensity that sent a shiver down my spine. He didn’t look away from me as he sipped his coffee.