“You know all those romance movies where we as the audience know the main character isn’t supposed to be with their current boyfriend or girlfriend, no matter how decent they are? That we’re just sitting in the theater with our hearts all aflutter when the should-be couple get put into situations that make it hard for them to ignore how they really feel?” Nell pointed to herself. “Well, Timmy, we forget all about the person who had to be someone’s learning experience. About the poor person who maybe thought they had found their soulmate only to be told no by a good guy you can’t even bring yourself to hate!”

Nell shook her head. She was done, 100 percent done.

“You know what? I’m tired of being that girl. The one whose happily ever after we don’t get to see before the credits roll. I am done! Done with soulmates and puzzle pieces and seemingly normal things that give life-altering epiphanies. I’m done with dating. I’m done with men! I’m done with all of it! You hear me, Timmy? All. Of. It. D-O-N-E. Done!”

Timmy, who looked to be around her age of twenty-four, had gone red in the face. But he wasn’t mad. Nope—he looked scared. He motioned to the list of specials on the counter between them. There were hearts all over it. Fitting…since it was Valentine’s Day.

Which had inspired the second of Nell’s three mistakes.

She never should have opened her mouth and yelled at poor Host Timmy.

“I-I understand what you’re saying, miss. I was just letting you know today’s the last day to get our Sweethearts Special, and so if you dine with someone, it’s cheaper.”

The room around them was quiet. Nell, whose raging fires of self-pity and outcry for the underdog were now dwindling, finally glanced around the entire restaurant set up behind her. Donna’s Bar and Grill only seemed to have the one room. Among its tables and booths there were about ten or so people. All were staring at her. The teens in the corner still had their phones up, looks of astonishment and thinly veiled smiles across their untroubled faces.

Nell turned back to Timmy and realized the first of the three mistakes she’d made.

I never should have stopped. I should have driven straight home and said all of that in the shower, like a normal person.

Nell cleared her throat, tried to smile like she hadn’t just gone on a drunken tirade, sans the drunk part, and straightened her back.