“A hunch,” he said. “It’s always my first guess. Here’s another guess—you didn’t tell your family about the cheating.”

“And how did you know that?”

“Because if you told them, it’d be the end of your knit-together Christmases.”

He got it. She felt a sense of relief that finally someone understood. “I couldn’t tell my family about the cheating,” she said. “I mean, I could have, but it would have been a terrible thing to do to my sister. Lydia’s a Collins. They’re expecting their first baby, and she wants to make a big announcement at the holidays. I didn’t want to ruin anything for her.”

“You’re a martyr.”

“No. Just a sister, although in some families, it’s the same thing.” She drank more of the hot chocolate. It was so delicious she wanted it to last forever.

“And did your breakup cause the world as we know it to end?” he asked.

“I tried not to let that happen. We were supposed to be civil about it all. At first, I did try. But instead, I discovered I couldn’t stand to be anywhere near him. I had to break away, and India was nice enough to throw me a life preserver. What about your breakup?” she boldly asked, then regrouped. “Sorry, is it weird that we’re sitting here talking about our divorces? Isn’t that supposed to be a no-no?”

He shrugged. “I like talking to you. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Was cheating a factor?”

“Nope. She got pregnant our senior year of high school. At that age, we didn’t know ourselves, much less each other. Daisy and I, we gave it a shot. For Charlie’s sake, we gave it our best shot. But we were never a match. The breakup sucked for me, but made me admit we were both lying to ourselves. Anyway, Charlie’s the best thing I ever did, although I could have planned it better.”

Kids, she thought. The eternal complication.

“I need to tell you something,” he said. “It’s kind of personal.”

“I can handle personal.”

“I’m not the once-burned-twice-shy type. I want to fall in love again. I want to be committed, to create a family. I want Charlie to have that sense of security, maybe even brothers and sisters one day.”

You’re barking up the wrong tree, then. She didn’t say anything, though. When they were getting to know each other, they didn’t need to draw a line. Later, she thought. If things progressed, she’d tell him later.

“Ooookay,” she said, forcing a smile.

“And just so you know,” he said, taking their mugs and setting them on a side table, “your ex is an idiot.”