I open my mouth to disagree, then close it. My desire to believe he’s right overrides my rational thinking for a moment. But no. That can’t be true. If Travis loved me, he would’ve told me. He wouldn’t have disregarded me so easily. Like I was nothing. Just leftover food on a plate to be scaped into the diner’s garbage.

“If you guys don’t mind,” I say, avoiding eye contact with everyone as I stand, “I’d prefer not to talk about this anymore. I appreciate you not being upset with me. But whatever Travis and I were doing, it’s done now.”

Without waiting for any responses, I walk out of the kitchen and head up to my room. I’ll let myself wallow today. Listen to Adele, maybe eat a gallon of ice cream. But tomorrow, I need to start finding a way to move on.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

TRAVIS

“Excuse me, could I please have some extra napkins?”

I fight not to roll my eyes as I stalk over to the counter to grab a stack for the woman who asked. When I toss them on her table, a couple flutter to the floor, but I don’t pick them up.

People are being extra annoying today. They’ve been extra annoying all week, actually.

Mina and Arnold, a retired couple, are sitting at a corner table and can’t make up their mind on what to order. They’ve already been there for fifteen fucking minutes with the menus open in front of them. When I glance over yet again to see if they’re ready, the old man points at his coffee mug in a silent request for a refill. Jesus Christ.

Some coffee splashes over the edge of the mug when I pour it. “Know what you want yet?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, no,” Mina says. “We’re not quite ready.”

This time I do roll my eyes. “You’ve been coming here for years. The menu hasn’t changed.”

She looks taken aback, but I turn and walk off. I slam the coffee pot onto the burner a little harder than necessary, then survey the diner. I hate everyone here.

Okay, maybe that’s not true.

Maybe I’m just really fucking sick of this life.

I could sell the diner and go back to Boston, get a job behind a computer so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. Even as I think this, though, I know it’s not what I want.

I almost had what I wanted, but then I lost it.