“I seriously can’t believe you wanted to come here of all places.”

Being inside Zeke’s bar was the last place I wanted to be, but with great reluctance, I slid into the cozy booth. I had nothing against the bar and restaurant, the food was good, but I didn’t want to waste another minute on Zeke Riley.

“Why not? Zeke’s got a new chef and a brand new menu,” Vivi insisted with a smug grin that said she knew exactly what she was doing. “Besides, we’re doing our part and supporting a local business.”

Vivi was a close friend, and I loved her dearly even though we’d lost touch for a few years, but she wasn’t nearly as slick as she thought she was.

“Bullshit, Vivi.” She blinked innocently, but I wasn’t buying it, mostly because she’d spent the past few months trying to not-so-secretly force Zeke and I to talk. “I know what you’re doing and I’m asking, no, I’m telling you to stop it. If you don’t, I swear I’ll find a way to get back at you.”

“I just want you to talk to him, Maddie. Is that so wrong?”

I nodded and took a long gulp of icy water as soon as the perky waitress set it down. She took our orders—a bacon cheeseburger for Vivi, and a grilled chicken salad for the single mom with too many curves—and as soon as she was gone I turned back to my friend.

“Yes. It’s wrong when I tell you I have nothing to say to him. Nothing, Vivi.”

It was bad enough I was here now, eating and spending my hard-earned money in the exact place of my public humiliation. Six months ago, I came in here thinking I would surprise Zeke with a little office picnic and maybe more. But I was the one who got a big surprise in the form of a busty woman leaning over the bar with all of her goods on display, for Zeke’s visual pleasure. Even worse, he’d been enjoying the hell out of it. Which stung, but I still wasn’t ready to give up on him.

Until she leaned in for a kiss—on the mouth—and he didn’t’ step back, didn’t do one damn thing to dissuade her. He took it. An intimate kiss on the mouth inside the busiest place in town. He didn’t do jack shit, the same as my piece of crap baby daddy.

“But you won’t even let him explain,” she insisted for the thousandth time.

“Because I don’t need to, Vivi. I have eyes, and I know what it looks like when a man kisses another woman, in front of at least half the town. I don’t need an explanation, his actions spoke loud enough, believe me.” And there was no explanation on earth that would satisfy me. “You’re meddling Vivi and I’m asking you to stop.”

“But, Maddie…” she pleaded.

“No, Vivi. Stop. There won’t be a happy ending for us. Not together anyway. Get used to it.” Her insistence was the main reason that I’d turned down at least half a dozen invites from Vivi and Nash over the past few months to spend time at their place. Of course, Zeke was always there too, with his charming smile, and his stupid handsome face. But I could handle ignoring Zeke. What I refused to handle was the constant pressure to let him explain the unexplainable. “Moving on. Tell me about what you’re working on.”

“The book is on hold while I make a few adjustments to the script. Which should be easy, but this monster baby inside my belly won’t stop practicing for the World Cup, so it makes it hard to do much of anything but laze around.” Even as she complained, Vivi was filled with more happiness than she had been when she first returned to Belle Musique. I couldn’t help but be pleased that she found her happy ending. “You haven’t been around a lot, otherwise you would’ve known.”

“I’ve been busy, same as you.”

Vivi shook her head, ready to call me out, but the waitress returned with our food. She dug in to her burger with the gusto of a pregnant woman and I ate my salad hesitantly, waiting for her to start in again.

“Busy with what?”

“The shop.” I’d been working on a few things that I wanted to keep to myself for just a little bit longer, and since Vivi had been less of a friend lately and more of a Zeke-advocate, I felt alright about it.

“Sounds cryptic,” she said with a pout, and I just shrugged and chewed my salad with minimal dressing in hopes that some of these extra ‘curves’ would go the hell away.

“Not really, just work stuff.” When the time was right, I’d reveal everything. To everyone.

“Don’t be mad at me Maddie, I can’t stand it that you’re upset.”

A heavy sigh escaped as I worked to keep my temper in check. “Then maybe you should stop trying to force your will on me.”

“I’m not,” she insisted.

“Really? Then why did you choose this place for lunch when you knew I didn’t want to come here?” It was the same with invitations for dinner. I’d show up, and Zeke would be there already, kicking back and relaxing like he was part of the family. After a while I just made excuses for why I couldn’t come over, or why I couldn’t stay when I dropped my son Max off to visit with Norah.

“Ladies, so happy you chose Zeke’s Joint for your lunch hour.” The man himself stopped at our table, but I refused to look up or acknowledge him, instead turning to look out the window at tall grass swaying close to the shore of the river. The day was gray, but a perfect eighty-five degrees.

“Hey Zeke,” Vivi shot back, a smile in her voice. “This burger is amazing!”

“Thanks Vivi, I’ll be sure to pass your words onto the chef. Hey Maddie.” His voice pitched low, in that deeply sensual tone that used to do things to my body. Now that I knew that tone for the lie it was, I didn’t feel as impacted. “Still mad?”

Of course, that’s what he would think. The truth was I refused to hate Zeke, because that would gave him too much importance in my life. He wasn’t so special, just another lesson learned, so I turned to tell him as much. “Not mad, I’m happy to go back to how things were before I got to know you.”

“You’ve always known me.”

I barked out a laugh. “No, I knew who you were, but not you. Now that I do, I think we should go back to being acquaintances. No need for niceties and the like.” Without another word, I went back to my salad, until my body could feel that he was no longer close enough to affect me.

“Damn Maddie, that was cold.” Vivi frowned at me like I was the bad guy, and after this waste of a lunch, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“You wanted to come here, not me.” I pulled a few bills from my purse and laid them on the table. “I need to get back to my store. I’ll see you around Vivi.”

“But you won’t, will you?” Her voice was an accusation. “You’ll just decline my invitations because of him?”

“No Vivi, not because of him. Because of you. Stop pushing, and stop trying to get me to do what I told you I don’t want to do. It’s a pretty simple concept for most people.” I walked away, feeling bad I’d left my pregnant friend looking sad and a bit like a kicked puppy. But I needed to get out of there.

I took the short walk from Zeke’s Joint back to my boutique, High St. Fashions, trying to think about the line of formal dresses I’d been working on for the past year, and not the man who’d made a fool of me. Well the second man to do such a thing.

No, my focus wasn’t on finding my own happy ending. I had a vibrator for those rare instances when the mood struck, and that was enough. Between a precocious seven year old and running my own business, I had enough on my plate and I’d worked too hard to rebuild my confidence to let someone else come in and decimate it.

My little Max was the only man who’d never let me down anyway.