page54 (1/1)

Zoey was unwilling to accept that yet Not after everything else that had gone wrong that day

“He texted to say he was running a bit late,” she lied “Got a flat on the way over here They’ve said it ested I order an appetizer in the meantime”

With that, Zoey put in an order for Asian dus and prayed she would have someone to share them with by the time they arrived She did not, but mercifully her waitress tactfully avoided the issue

Zoey found she could barely taste the ginger-flavored pot stickers before her She wanted to cry Not in the composed, quiet, way an adult cries, but with the wild abandon of a child throwing a full blown tes and screas She wanted so would be all right But she knew her : she wasn’t nine anyet to throw tantrums

Zoey was perfectly aware that there was no point in doing so, but she waited another fifteen ive hi Tony’s for a full hour and texted Blake three more times

She finally settled her bill, feeling dejected and unloved, and took the subway back hoht do to her dress

“Some relationship expert I turned out to be,” she muttered dejectedly “I try to help people find love all day, but I can’t even find a good match for myself”

By the time she reached her apart over her She fell into bed and reflected that, aside from the sympathetic waitress, at least there were no witnesses to her humiliation, and that it was still possible, if unlikely, that Blake had an excellent excuse for not showing up

FIVE

The nexttext froht As it turned out, about two hours before the date, he had discovered the Facebook page of a woh school, Blake had allegedly carried a torch for the girl, but he’d never had the courage to tell her so He had ed her, and the two had talked for several hours It had been long past ht when the conversation ended, and only then had he re her up, but even o out on a date

Zoey’s face cruotten Just plain forgotten, and due She couldn’t decide whether to cry or break everything within reach, so she settled for swearing furiously every few ency and told her mother she was sick because she didn’t think she could face looking at another hu

Zoey re at being so horribly cast away Her phone lay on the floor in several pieces—she had thrown it against the hen Blake texted to ask if she could recoood hookah bar for him and Elmyra to meet at

By theof the third day, Zoey felt reasonably sure she could get back to ithout breaking down at her desk, so she got ready and hopped on the subway

She would have been stuck standing the entire way to Manhattan, except the five-year-old kid froain, and she talked her into taking her seat Half a dozen people praised the girl for doing what any of them easily could have, and she took the accolades in her stride, givingher manners

Zoey thought about what her reed She had to ad tio, before her relationship with Zoey’s father had started to go south But Zoey didn’t want to spend her coh of that to do when she got to work

She picked up her smartphone and went to her favorite news site Al the top stories that h

“Spotted at the city’s exclusive Three Rivers restaurant: real estate nate Stelios Zakiridis and reality television star Brie Hudson Speculation is that the pair are dating, though neither could be reached for comment”