Chapter 1
"Here's to a new day," Chris said with a clank of the rim of her well-used diner coffee mug against her best friend, Anna's, equally battered cup. "A new day and a new me." She sighed heavily, as if saying it might actually make the words believable. She felt exactly the same on the inside as she had for the past month: empty, lonely, foolish for thinking he might be the one, and angry with herself for buying every toxic word out of his mouth hook, line, and sinker.
"He was a loser anyway," Chris said with uncertain conviction that didn't reach her voice. The words were the ones Anna needed hear, not the ones she wanted to say. A part of her, her deepest inner woman, wanted to curl into a ball under the table and bawl her eyes over her rejection. And boy, did she want to give into the urge. But, she was pretending to put her heartbreak behind her for Anna's benefit. Maybe, as long as she kept up a good front, she'd eventually believe it herself. Forcing a smile, she tucked a stray strand of thick walnut colored hair behind her ear and took a deep swallow of her coffee, filling her mouth with the bitter brew before she took back every word she'd said.
"Here. Here." Anna said in agreement, taking a sip of the steamy liquid as she patted her friend's hand in support. She hoped Chris meant every word she said and finally, after a month of tearful phone calls and long, drawn out conversations, her best friend had moved on. Gotten over it.
Anna had been at Chris's side every minute. Offering support and condolences, coaxing Chris out of the funk of her depression. Personally, Anna had never liked the guy. But, for Chris's benefit, and because of their friendship, she'd bitten her tongue and kept her opinions to herself. God, she hated it when she was right. The bastard left Chris, her best friend, high and dry without so much as a goodbye...and at the start of the holiday season, too. What a jackass.
"It's been a month since I've heard from "he who shall remain nameless" and it is time to move on." Chris turned her gaze to stare out at the endless sea of nameless, faceless early morning commuters in a rush to get to wherever it was they were going. Then turned her attention back to Anna.
Her best friend had no trouble finding male admirers. At almost six feet tall and a willowy, lean figure, pale blonde hair to the middle of her back, and startling arctic blue eyes, Anna looked like a goddess straight out of a Nordic fairy tale. While she, at a dumpy five foot-four, in heels, and way, way too many curves, ordinary brown hair, and eyes, a non-descript color that was neither brown nor green, barely got noticed by the male species. Her calendar was wide open. All the time. "A month of no calls, no texts, no e-mails. Nothing. I'm over it."
Chris took a bite of her bagel and chewed thoughtfully. "Besides, we only started dating about six months ago. It wasn't like we were soul mates or anything." At least, he had spared her the awkwardness and humiliation of a breakup speech. She'd left at least a hundred voice mails, as many texts and e-mails, and he'd simply not bothered to reply. That stung. At least, if he'd had the balls to call her, or even better, dump her face to face, she'd have closure.
At first, all kinds of scenarios ran through her head. What if he'd been killed and his family hadn't known to call her? What if he'd been kidnapped and she was the only person who realized he was missing? What if he was in the hospital and couldn't call her? Hell, she'd even taken to reading the obituaries and watching the news. There was no John Doe in either. He was just a spineless lowlife who didn't have the courtesy to face her like a man.
Anna smiled reassuringly at Chris and took another sip of coffee. "Well said. There are lots more apples on the tree, Girl." This is why she avoided relationships like the plague. They were messy. They were riddled with confusion and bullshit. And she didn't want to end up like Chris, a complete emotional train wreck when, the inevitable happened, and it ended. She had her career, her family, and her best friend to keep her company. And if she ever wanted to get down and dirty between the sheets, plenty of male companions to choose from.
Chris sighed, almost rolling her eyes at Anna's "go team" attitude. The woman's talents were wasted. She should be standing on the sidelines with her pompoms shaking instead of designing skyscrapers in a city far too full of them as it was. "And a whole lot of nuts too."
Anna snorted in agreement. After a couple of cups of strong brew and a pep talk Chris was starting to sound more like her old self again. Sarcastic. Sharp witted. And while her confidence had been severely shaken, thanks to that piece of shit ex of hers, Chris was finally surfacing from the muck of break up hell.
Anna was sure after this most recent emotional upset died down, there were going to be plenty more "nuts" in Chris's future. The girl couldn't help herself. A hopeless romantic, deeply embroiled in the belief that the "right one" was just around the corner, Chris fell too hard, too fast, and got hurt way too often. Luckily though, she had her there to pick up the pieces.
Chris jumped at the rattle of the cell phone in her hip pocket. "Who could that be? You are the only person who ever calls me." Absently, she frowned at the unknown number on the display. Blow off Chris for a wrong number? Or, answer? Answer. Who knew, maybe this phone call, wrong number or not, would change her life. "Hello?"
Hearing the rugged voice on the other end sent a surge of heat to her cheeks, her heart pounding, and her palms, sweating. "It's him," she mouthed to Anna, grinning ear to ear enthusiastically. She knew she wasn't wrong about him! Anna was less than impressed by him. She hadn't said anything. But, Chris could see it. Now Anna could eat crow along with the picked at blueberry muffin on her chipped diner plate.
