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Lily nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you later.”

I walked over to the nearest bench and sat down as I answered the call. “Mom, how do you get over a boy?”

She chuckled in response. “Hello to you too.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled. “Hi, Mom.”

“You’re still hung up on Noah, huh?”

I’d been doing my best not to burn my mom’s ears off complaining about Noah when we’d talked over the last week. I hated the thought of worrying her. I’d been a total mess when my last boyfriend had cheated on me, and I didn’t want Mom afraid I was in the same dark place I’d been after Levi. Not when she was so far away. I also didn’t want to burden her with my problems when I knew she had issues of her own. She seemed to be dealing with a lot of stress at the café at the moment, and even now she sounded exhausted. She told me she had it all under control, but I wasn’t sure I believed her. She tended to change the subject whenever I brought it up.

I exhaled and sank a little lower in the seat. “Yeah, he’s kind of hard to forget.” Especially when he was staring at me in class and demanding kisses from me in the rain.

“I only spent a short time with him, but I could tell he was special,” she agreed. I kind of hated her for saying it, but I wasn’t sure I could stomach her despising him either. My feelings for him weren’t exactly rational at this point.

“So, any idea how to get overspecial?”

“The best cure for a broken heart is to give it time,” she said. “Time usually makes even the worst wounds a little easier to live with.”

Sitting and waiting to feel better didn’t seem like a very proactive way to get over a guy. The idea of being in pain for any longer also wasn’t appealing.

“I don’t really have time. I want to get over him now.”

Mom chuckled. “Sometimes you sound far older than your years, but then you say something like that, and I remember just how young you are.”

“I’m not that young.”

“You are to me.”

I knew I would never win this argument. I would always be her baby to her. “So, any other ideas for mending a broken heart?”

I heard a sound on the other end of the line, and Mom’s voice became muffled like she was covering the end of the phone to talk with someone. I could hear the clatter of pans in the background, so she must have been at work.

“Iz, I have a customer that’s asking for me,” she said, the line now crystal clear again. “I’ll be back in a moment, but Norma will keep you company while I’m gone.”

“Okay.” I waited as the line went quiet, and then I heard rustling as Norma picked up the phone.

“Isobel, sweetie, how are you?”

I smiled at the sound of her husky voice. She was the person I missed the most from back home—after my mom, of course.

“I’m okay. Working hard at school.”

“Your mom says you and that boy you brought home broke up.”

I should have known Noah would be the one thing Norma wanted to chat about. When she wasn’t making outlandish predictions about the future, she loved nothing more than talking about boys and the heart.

“Yeah, it happened last week.”

“I can hardly believe it. He looked totally smitten with you when you were here.”

I shrugged. “Guess he wasn’tthatsmitten.”

“No, he definitely was. But, not to worry, he’ll come back to you. Any psychic worth their salt could tell you that.”

“I think your psychic powers might be wrong on this one. Besides, I’m trying to get over him.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.”