I wait for him to find the words to finish his thought but he can’t. It’s not hard to see what’s happening here. He’s having regrets. I should be feeling the same way. Last night was way more than I bargained for when I started this experiment, but still, I can’t bring myself to regret it.

“Look, let’s just not talk about it, okay? I’d really rather not.”

Ryan still seems like he wants to say something but reluctantly agrees. He then reaches into the bag on the table and pulls out the scones I was hoping for. If I thought he was handsome before, it pales in comparison to how good he looks while holding post-coital breakfast pastries.

A minute later, we’re sitting down at the table together, eating our scones and drinking our coffees.

“By the way, after breakfast, I have to pick something up for Cristina so I can bring it to the rehearsal dinner tomorrow.”

Ryan takes a bite of his scone and sets it back down on his plate. “You want some company?”

“Sure,” I answer, a little surprised. “You actually want to run errands?”

“Not really, but I’m worried that if I leave you alone with your thoughts for too long, you’ll go nuts thinking about what happened between us and you’ll vanish into the night.”

“I think you’re way more likely to do that than me. Plus it would be difficult for me to vanish into the night considering it’s midmorning.”

“You’re a wily lady, Sullivan. Who knows what kind of time-travel trickery you’re capable of?”

Trying to hide my smile, I add a splash of skim milk to my coffee and give it a stir. “Just for the sake of conversation, where do you think I’m going to disappear to?”

“That’s a good question. My guess would be that you’d take an Uber to New Mexico or bus to Indiana.”

“What would I do in Indiana?”

“If I had to put money on it, I’d say you’d reinvent yourself, work hard, get accepted to Notre Dame, fight your way onto the football team and show the world that anything is possible if you believe in your dreams.”

“So I’d have to change my name to Rudy?”

“That’s implied.”

I chuckle and take a sip of my coffee. “Do you ever make it through a significant stretch of time without watching or making reference to that movie in some way?”

“Um, no, nor would I want to.”

“I get that. It would probably be terrible for you to miss your weekly cry.”