The Ex-Factor: A Dish Best Served

ife in my ha

, paying for dinners like this, writing her

it was dev

ng her giggle and feed asparagus to her

ooking at me; she

side him, coolly observed the scene

he fork, slid across the table and landed

d, her voice laced with annoyance whe

g was

ling up my neck, real

my glass, my voice tight. "It' s

ng it off, trying to erase the moment with a

ed in the tension, casually in

d, then her eyes raked over me. "Just... try to wear something nice. Not

wrist, a public dismissa

ifice, of being a placeholder, of beli

her ex-boyfriend, and I was the "goo

at felt

ome, but a cold clar

onship; it was a lon

as