“It’s… all too much,” I quietly say. “Today. Seeing the Amatos. Remembering what I had less than two months ago. I had a future. A path.” I know I’m rambling, saying stuff that Celeste doesn’t have enough context to understand. But the pain in my chest is too much, exploding out of me like bursts of lava. Celeste, to her credit, is silent, quietly listening as I talk. “I knew who I was and where I was headed. And then, suddenly, boom, nothing. Back to square one. Nothing but a nebulous nothing ahead, all because, after seven years of being together, my ex-fiancé randomly decided he didn’t love me anymore and got with someone else, a mere two weeks after we broke up.”

Celeste frowns. “Wait, hold on. He already moved on?”

I nod. Tears stream down my face again, and I wipe them away as I continue, “What the Amatos have… that’s the kind of life I thought was within my grasp. But he replaced me so easily. After seven years.”

Celeste lets out a frustrated groan as she leans back against the wall.

“He sounds awfully like my dad,” she says. “Except my dad decided he didn’t want to be married to my mom after more than twenty years.”

I stare wide-eyed at Celeste. She remains completely still as she continues, “Yup, that’s how they divorced. After my mom got sick, too. I’m telling you, it was a shit show back home. That’s part of the reason why I don’t do relationships anymore, and why I got so distant with you. What’s the point of love if someone can still abandon you after twenty years?”

I’m taken aback. As a hopeless romantic, I profoundly and deeply disagree with Celeste’s sentiment. But also, it’s not like I have the track record to prove myself right.

“I’m so sorry” is all I can say in the end. “That must have been difficult for you and your mom.”

Celeste bites her lip and avoids my gaze, staring out into the busy street, instead. I don’t have to be an expert in body language to know that this conversation is making her uncomfortable.

“Anyway,” she says a few seconds later. “Enough about me. Is it okay if I give you some encouraging words? Would that help you right now? Or would it be too weird considering our history?”

I shrug. “Not at all. Since I have to give people advice as part of my job—where to eat, what to try out, how to deal with relationship problems, et cetera—I love receiving advice. It’s a nice change.”