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He seems positively insulted. “That’s not true! Liz—”

I wave him off. “Please, no more pretense. There’s no point.” I take a deep breath. “So tell me what happened? Did she dump you? What went wrong?”

“It just didn’t work out,” he says, unable to look me in the eye. Instead, he scratches against a small hole in the grain of the wooden table.

“Did you sleep with her while we were together?”

His eyebrows shoot up all the way into his hairline. For some reason he’s shocked that I would figure it out.

I chuckle. “It’s okay. I am pretty sure you have. You might as well admit it.”

“Lizzie, I never meant to hurt you.” He reaches for my hand again. I should probably just let him hold it as he will just keep grabbing it if I don’t. “Bethany and I just happened. Then it kept happening, and I didn’t think it was fair to stay with you when I’ve started having feelings for her...”

I wait for the hurt to ignite into anger, but for now it only simmers. Small and weak. Deceptively so.

“I doesn’t matter anymore, Jake. I’m over it. All of it.”

“I made a huge mistake, Lizzie. I threw away everything we had and for nothing. Please give me an opportunity to make it up to you.”

I pull that hand back again. I guess I need to be leaning back and keeping my hands in my lap if I don’t want him to keep grabbing them.

I take a breath and look at him, really look, after not laying eyes on him for many months. This is the man who I once thought hung the moon. He’s attractive, but I don’t think I’d swipe right on him today. He doesn’t actually do it for me, not physically, not anymore.

His nose and cheeks are still a bit red from the cold, and his hair is a mess. He’s wearing a cable-knit sweater I don’t recognize.

“I like your sweater.” I nod toward his chest. “Present form Bethany?”

“No. I just bought it for myself.”

“You wouldn’t buy that for yourself.”

“You don’t know that. People change.”

At that moment, Joe, whom I somehow didn’t hear approach, slides right next to me in the booth. “What did I miss?” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me into a sideways hug, then places a kiss on my temple.

I grin and relax against the side of his massive chest, beaming up at him. “Hi, there.”

“Hi, baby.” He returns the grin, and yes, those fantastic teeth are on full display and I can’t help it, one of my hands flies up and strokes his beard.

“Who the hell is this?” Jake sounds shocked and furious from across the table.

“Who the hell are you?” Joe replies with barely contained irritation.

“Everyone, behave,” I say. I point across the table. “This is Jake, my ex-fiancé. He’s visiting from St. Cloud. I still have no idea how he found me because I know Bobby is the only one who knows where I live now, and I know he would never tell...”

“Your mom told me,” Jake blurts out. “She actually got it off Bobby’s GPS history.”

I am taken aback, but then I laugh, more than a little impressed. “Wow, good for Mom. Keeping up with technology.”

“So why is Jake here?” Joe asks, technically addressing me, but looking at Jake.

“He wants to get back together,” I say.

Joe’s face is impassive when he says, “That might be a problem, given that you’re with me now.” Then he offers his hand to my ex. “I’m Joe. Thank you for being stupid enough to let Liz go. I assure you, I will never make the same mistake.”

“Who do you think you are?” Jake’s getting red and angry and looks a bit like he will leap across the table as his eyes dart between Joe and me. “Lizzie, who is this guy?”

“He’s just told you, his name is Joe and we’re dating,” I say as I interlace my fingers with Joe’s and raise our forearms so Jake can see me holding Joe’s hand. “I have a nice life here, Jake. I like my job”—okay, that’s a lie since I technically just became unemployed—“and I have great new friends. And Joe. I have Joe. So I’m not going back. To you, or St. Cloud.”