But it was too late. Elodie’s mouth tightened and her eyes flashed. She leaned over the counter and lowered her voice enough to say, “Would it matter to you if I was?”

Stung, I pulled back. She was trying to goad me. And I’d practically invited her to do it. I wouldn’t pretend that I was fine. She’d ignored me. She didn’t have to acknowledge our relationship, but she didn’t have to actively avoid me, either. I’d been without her for a year. I’d learned how to move on, even though it hadn’t come naturally. When my mom started taking longer and longer work trips, I had accepted it. But with Elodie, there had been too much confused anger and grief to make acceptance come easy. Each step was a milestone, each day was a little easier. I’d known, of course, that our relationship was over, but my heart hadn’t been ready to face it until now. We were done. It crossed my mind in that second that we made better strangers than we ever did friends.

I put the mask back on. Wearing my heart on my sleeve had only brought me pain. Though it galled me to wait on her, I forced myself to say, “Can I get you something to eat or drink?” It would have been on the house before.

“Can you do any of the drinks without sugar?” Elodie asked, tapping her French-manicured nails against the counter. “I’m trying to cut back.” I saw the glitter of the rings she wore, contrasted against the color of her skin. She never used to wear this much jewelry—maybe it was a California thing.

“Yeah, of course,” said Lucy.

“Okay, I’ll have a small caramel hazelnut. No whipped cream, no sugar, and easy on the creamer.”

“Hey, Elodie, c’mere!” John called out, scraping his chair against the floor so he could mime a lewd grasping motion. His father owned the hardware store, and John had gone into business with him last year so Martin & Son could finally live up to its name. “Babe,” he said, grinning at me, “quit hogging her!”

Oh, he was welcome to her.

“Coming!” Elodie trilled right back, spinning around to give him a dazzling smile. But while Lucy prepared her drink, she stayed at the counter.

I could feel the tension strumming between us, and was incredibly grateful when Lucy defused some of it by saying, “I love your rings.”