The Breakup Expert ✔️

Chapter One

One

With more deer than there were people in the town of Cope, one could understand my deep reluctance to return to such a monotonous place. It had been over a year since I last stepped foot in Cope, Louisiana, and I vowed to keep it that way, but sometimes your roots catch up with you in the least suspecting ways.

I was on the road again, the epitome of Chevy Chase in my beat-up station wagon, driving from what was a sanguine sunset in California all the way to the dreary mist of the deep, southern Gulf.

I sighed to myself, giving myself a smattering of confidence that I was doing this for the right reason. My longtime best friend, Laurie, needed my help and I wasn't one to turn her down. She had been there for me at my worst through these past few years, and I had to be there for her in return.

I turned the air conditioner on high, proceeding to check through the static of radio stations before shutting the entire audio off due to bad reception.
Screw this place. Screw everything that was seemingly familiar. The music, the broken street signs on the edge of each road, the musky smell of the rice mill, and the eyes of a nosy community that were just waiting for a good story to pass along to their friends. I hated it, and yet the pang in my heart said the opposite.

I drove a gentle thirty-five miles per hour down an unpaved road that led to a quiet suburban area in the fancy part of town. Brett Moseby, my guy best friend and fourth cousin by marriage, lived in the nieghborhood and I figured I'd pay him a visit first since he'd be the happiest to see me, throwing my mom out of first by a landslide.

I parked my little vehicle on the side of his mustang in the garage and opened my front door. It was the first time in hours my feet hit solid ground, and boy, did it feel nice. I stretched every inch of my tender body, not caring that every minute extra I spent in this heat was frizzing another strand of my once sleek, bronde hair.

I peered into the front window, welcomed with the sign of a light. Brett was always one to spend extra time at school, so if you caught him at a time when he was home, you would be lucky.

I took two steps up the firm steps before knocking on the door. Not long after, the golden knob on the door began to rattle, and the door squeaked open.

There stood Brett Moseby, the same pale, freckled kid I had shared so many memories with. He stood in front of the doorway, smacking his chapped lips and leaning his lanky body against the frame.

"You buzzed your hair." I blurted, breaking the thin ice that had been built in a few seconds.

"Thank God you didn't buzz yours." His once hostile state turned into giddiness as he threw me in his arms and shook me like a rag doll.

"I missed you, Brett. It's been too long."

"I know, don't apologize; you've been through a lot, Dani." He muffled into my grey sweatshirt.

"I appreciate the sympathy, but I should have visited you more." Since my older brother's passing, I left the world behind me in an attempt to thwart the life I once had from my mind. Along the way, I lost touch with people that meant the most to me, and seeing Brett made me realize this. A sense of melancholy floated in the air, his hands squeezing my back briefly before releasing me.

"All the more reason to catch up. I'll grab my keys and we'll get a drink." He nodded off inside his home, leaving me in his garage waiting for him.

We arrived to the local bar, Annie's, a few minutes later and took our seats at the end of the bar.

"How's it feel to be twenty-two, Dani Cooper? Last time we came here, I recall you were still being carded at the door." Brett smiled, a freckle near his lip rising. He nodded to the bartender, letting the bubbly blonde know he was ready to order his usual cheap beer.