“Supporting the community is just who we are.” I gave him my order and went to choose a seat. Halfway to one of the empty booths, I spied Chelsea Stille, sitting alone, her wavy brown hair falling forward as she scrolled through her cell phone. I hadn’t talked to her since the breakup with Ash, so I took a short detour toward her table.

She looked up and smiled. “Minnie. How are you?”

I looked down at her and once again thought how well matched she and Ash were, not just in personality, but also physically. Ash was the best-looking man I’d ever dated, and Chelsea had to be the prettiest woman I’d ever met face-to-face. “Good,” I said. “But the bigger question is how are you? I heard that you and Ash broke up. Please tell me that’s unfounded rumor.”

This time, her smile was so weak her mouth barely curved. “That one’s the truth.”

“I’m so sorry.” I waited a beat. Then another one. Chelsea didn’t say anything, and it felt as if she might not ever speak again. Finally, I said, “I know I was Ash’s friend first, but whatever happened, I’m sure it was his fault. Completely and totally. Front to back and top to bottom.”

She toyed with the crumpled-up ball of white that had been her paper napkin. “Thanks, Minnie. I appreciate it. But this was nobody’s fault. Really, it wasn’t.”

That didn’t sound right. It had to be Ash’s fault. Chelsea was too nice a person. Ash was, too, but he had the handicap of being a man. Clearly she didn’t want to talk about it, so I wouldn’t push. “See you later,” I said, raising my voice a bit at the end to make it sort of a question, and she nodded.

I slid into a booth, pulled out my phone, and started scrolling through my contact list. Since I hardly ever deleted people, surely I still had . . . and, yes, there she was. Lindsey Wolverson, Ash’s über-successful, elegant, and extremely nice mother.

Minnie: Minnie Hamilton, here. Just saw Chelsea. She looks miserable and won’t talk about Ash.

Lindsey (after a short pause): Nice to hear from you! Ash is also miserable, but he won’t talk about it, either.

Minnie: Any idea what happened?

Lindsey: None whatsoever.

Minnie: Makes me sad.

Lindsey: You’re not alone. They’re so good together. Well, “were” so good together, I suppose.

Minnie: I’ll keep poking gently at them both. If I figure out what happened, I’ll let you know.

Lindsey: Likewise.

I turned off my phone and glanced over at Chelsea, who was ripping her napkin into small shreds. There had to be a way to fix what went wrong between her and Ash. There just had to be.

*   *   *