“Come on, out with it,” I prompt her.

“I’m trying to find a silver lining,” Winter says. “If breaking up with Jonathan isn’t giving you the slightest chest pain, perhaps it isn’t all bad you broke up. I mean, he and my sister are two cockroaches who deserve to burn in hell forever, but maybe it was about time you took your relationship with John behind the barn and shot it.”

“Why would you say that?”

“You guys… mmm… lately, seemed a bit flat as a couple.”

I curl my fingers into Cengel’s fur. “Flat how?”

“Not as into each other…”

“Johnathan clearly wasn’t into me since he’s been screwing my best friend on the side. And how long is lately?”

Winter scrunches her face in an apologetic grimace. “Couple of years?”

“That long? Really?”

“Yep, you guys were like that thirty-year married couple with nothing to say, instead of one that still has to get engaged and tie the knot.”

“After ten years together, a relationship can’t be as intense as it was in the beginning,” I counter.

“Try to be very honest with yourself, Lana. Are you or are you not in love with Jonathan?”

“I’m confused,” I say. “He’s been such a big part of my life, I don’t even know how to function without him.”

“That’s co-dependence, not love.”

“Yes, but we share the same friends, and now we can’t all hang out together. From now on it’s going to be: who do we invite, Lana or Johnathan and Summer? Our group is split, ruined. I wonder who’ll get custody of whom?”

“Johnathan will get Mike and Ingrid, for sure. Mike is his best friend.”

“Oh, but I love Ingrid.”

“Well, you’ll get to keep Martha and Hector—and Susan, too. Daria is borderline; she likes my sister but hates cheaters—”

“Oh, please, stop.” I cover my face with my hands. “See?” I mumble between my fingers. “Exactly my point. There are going to be factions, people taking sides. It’s not just my romantic life that’s ruined, but everything else, too. And there’s two of them and one of me. In the end, it’ll be easier to keep calling them and leave me out, and I’ll end up the single loser with no friends.”

“Hey, what about me?” Winter protests. “I’m right here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, thanks for coming.” I squeeze her knee. “But it’s a coincidence you’re in LA. You’re gone most of the time.”

“Fair enough. No other friends or colleagues you can lean on outside our group?”

“Not really. I meet up with a few of the younger professors for lunch and coffee sometimes, but they’re all married with kids.”

“So your life is screwed.”

“Appears so.”

“But you’re not heartbroken.”