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“So that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“And there’s nothing I can do to change their minds?”

“No. It’s final.”

“So, it was all for nothing?”

“Well, at least we got to enjoy a nice dinner—”

I hang up the phone.

“That’s it,” I tell Bryce.

“No brewery?”

“No brewery.”

Chapter Two

Amelia

I want nothing more than to hide in my studio apartment, put on sweatpants, and pig out on ice cream while watching reruns of my favorite TV shows.

Strange how this breakup is turning me into an introvert. Ethan always complained about my chattiness and my need to socialize all the time. Turns out breaking up with me was all he needed to do to change me.

I hate it.

But Scarlett, my friend and Ethan’s sister, begged me to have dinner with her and her daughter. So, instead of doing what I want to do, I walk over to Scarlett’s house. She’s only a twenty-minute walk away from the office. I wave at the people I pass on the street and even stop to chat with one of the moms from Chase’s school, and I pretend that everything is normal and my life hasn’t been completely uprooted and turned upside down.

Scarlett lives in an old house near the center of town that she and her husband, Wyatt, bought before he died. She lives there with their ten-year-old daughter, Penelope, who was only two years old at the time of Wyatt’s accident.

When I ring the doorbell, I hear Penny’s footsteps running toward the door. She bangs it open and throws herself at me.

“Auntie Ames!” she screams in my ear.

I hug her tight and find myself genuinely smiling for the first time today.

“Hey, Penny, I missed you!”

“Guess what?” She drags me into the modest living room.

Being that Wyatt died shortly after they purchased the house, Scarlett hasn’t had the income to do all the renovations they’d initially planned out. The living room, dining room, and kitchen are still three separate rooms and not the open floor plan that Scarlett dreamed about.

“What?” I wave to Scarlett, who’s in the kitchen standing in front of the stove stirring a large pot.

“I saw Chase in school today.”

Oh.

“I told him you were coming over for dinner. He was soooo jealous.”

A fist tightens around my heart.

“Penny!” Scarlett scolds. “That’s not very nice.”

“What? I invited him. I told him to ask Uncle Ethan, but he said there’s no need because he knows that he’ll say no. But I don’t see why! He didn’t break up with me.”