Emma wouldn’t wish that upon her worst enemies, much less her best friends.

“So you’re going to do it?” Julie asked. “Seriously?”

“The thing is, Jules…he had sort of a pretty good idea. Since it’s the December issue, he suggested doing a ‘Twelve Days of Exes’ sort of thing. You know, for twelve days, reach out to an ex-boyfriend and…I don’t know? Get closure? Deliver that last parting comeback that didn’t occur to you until after the breakup? See if the sex is as good as you remember it?”

“Ooh, do that last one with Cassidy,” Julie said, her voice all dreamy. “I bet he’s awesome in bed.”

“I’m sure Mitchell would love to hear that.”

“Eh, he’s not here,” Julie said. “But, seriously, do you even have twelve exes?”

“Unfortunately,” Emma muttered, stabbing at her cooling leftovers with her fork. “Part of the joys of reaching your thirties and still being single. Plenty of exes.”

“So are you going to write about…Cassidy?”

Emma ditched the fork and reached for the wine. “I sort of have to, don’t I? As far as previous relationships go, he’s the big one. If I don’t write about him, it feels…dishonest.”

“It’s funny,” Julie mused. “All this time I really did think that you and Cassidy were all the way moved on. You’re both so Zen about the whole failed-wedding thing. But now I wonder—”

“Don’t,” Emma interrupted. “Don’t turn this into a thing.”

“I didn’t turn it into a thing, Cassidy did, by basically waving his editor-in-chief dick around and forcing you to revisit the past.”

“I can assure you, Cassidy will get the same word-count allocation as any other ex that I write about,” Emma said.

“That’ll chap his ass. You should totally put his name next to that weirdo you dated a few months ago. You know, the guy who wore scarves, even in summer?”

“Christian.” Emma took a sip of her wine. “He was a weirdo. Anyway, I should go, Jules. I need to reheat my reheated leftovers.”

“Okay. I should go, too. Mitchell will be back any minute asking if I want to go for a run. It’s like he doesn’t know me at all. It’s time for cocktails, not movement.”

Emma smiled. “Go show him the way. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After saying good-bye, Emma put the pad Thai back in the microwave, but before she could start it, there was a knock at the door.

She went to answer it.

And of all the people who could have been on the other side of the peephole, this was perhaps the absolute last person she would have expected.

Emma opened the door. “Danielle?”

Cassidy’s girlfriend was wearing a sleek black pantsuit that screamed Girl Power! and made Emma briefly wonder what Danielle did for a living. Attorney? Broker? Advertising? Ninja?

But it wasn’t the clothes that captured Emma’s attention. It was the nervous, slightly embarrassed expression on the other woman’s face.

“Are you looking for Cassidy?” Emma asked, thinking maybe he wasn’t at home, and Danielle didn’t want to stand waiting in the hallway.

“No, I just came from his place, actually,” Danielle said, licking her lips nervously. “Can we—can I come in for a sec?”

Uh-oh.

Emma thought for sure she and Danielle were going to be able to avoid the awkward chat about Emma and Cassidy’s thorny past, but what else could Danielle want to talk to her about?

Emma mentally readied herself for the You have nothing to worry about—Cassidy and I are long over talk, but Danielle beat her to the punch.

“What I’m about to ask you is beyond awkward, veering toward inappropriate,” Danielle said as soon as Emma closed the door.

“Um, okay,” Emma replied. “Do we need wine for this?” She gestured toward the kitchen.

Danielle shook her head. “I won’t take up that much of your time, but by all means, grab your glass.”

Emma didn’t move, and Danielle took a deep breath. “I just broke up with Alex.”

Emma blinked. It took her a second to register what Danielle was saying, and when her brain finally did process it…

Emma wasn’t at all sure how she felt about that bit of information. “Okay…”

“Not because of anything to do with you,” Danielle rushed to say. “At least not directly. I mean, he told me about you guys, but he said it wasn’t a big deal.”

Ouch.

Emma crossed her arms, feeling beyond weird. “So if it doesn’t have anything to do with me—”

Danielle laughed nervously. “Right. You want to know why I’m here. Okay, well…I’ll be perfectly blunt and say that while Alex is a great guy, I never got the sense that we were going to make it. He’s so…closed off, you know? We got along, but I never felt like I was reaching him. Not really. It’s always been like that, but in recent weeks he’s even farther away than ever.”

I so do not want to be having this conversation. Should have grabbed that glass of wine.

“And then…oh, boy.” Danielle blew out a breath. “Okay, I’m just going to spit this out. That guy you went on a date with. Benedict? There were, um, sparks. Or something. Like when he looked at me, I felt like I was seeing him in a way Alex would never allow.”