The Breakup Expert ✔️

Chapter Thirteen

Thirteen

"You were out late last night." My mother sat beside me during breakfast, her eyes steadily interrogating my every move. I knew going with Mitch on a whim was going to be a bad idea. Sneaking out my window would have been less trouble than explaining why I was out so late after the barbecue.

"So?" I said, coming out more callous than I meant for it to.

"So nothing. I just thought the two of you seemed cozily acquainted with one another. I was wondering where the two of you are heading. I can tell there is some chemistry between the two of you."

"Mom, stop." Here comes the motherly lecture.

"But honey, I'm concerned. You hardly date anymore, as far as I know, and this amazing guy comes along that you obviously are attracted to. I'm worried that you're straying away for some reason. Are you scared?" She probably wants him to stay with me so he can cook for her. My guess.

"No, I'm not scared. He should be scared, if anything; I'm a mess to deal with. I'm trying to be subtle, and I don't want to rush into anything when I don't know how he feels." I couldn't talk to Laurie, and Brett wasn't much help in the love department. Mom was all I had at the moment.

"Dani, the man spent a whole evening here with you and your mom. He adores you." She smiled, digging her french toast into a syrup cup and elgantly placing it into her mouth.

"You think so? I don't understand why he would like me and not Laurie. Laurie is amazing and beautiful, and he didn't seem phased when she broke up with him. Oh, did I forget to mention they dated? Why would he trade bacon for a coleslaw like me?" I slipped up, big time. My mom didn't seem at all bothered that I was dating Laurie's leftovers, and I assume it was because it was nothing unheard of. In a small town, men go around for the taking. But that wasn't me...I had never liked any one of Laurie's men...

"Mitch knows Laurie is a great girl, but his eyed are focused on you. You're pretty special, too, if you hadn't noticed."

"You're saying that because you're my mom."

"And because I'm your mom, I'm the only one who's going to be upfront about how special you are. There's no one you should trust more than your mother; everyone else is just too jealous to say it or too shy to say it."

"Thanks, Mom." I meant it.

"Don't thank me, honey. But I have a hunch a certain someone will be saying the same thing about you pretty soon. He's definitely thinking it." I was beginning to think she liked Mitch more than I did. Never did she encourage any of my relationships like this one. She wasn't even very fond of Brett being around me alone, and he didn't like me one bit!

"I'll take your word for it. Welp, as much as I'd like to finish this lovely converation, someone put me on grocery duty." I complained.

"Hey, you have to pay your way around here." She said.

"Uh huh. You mean you hate shopping and this is a good excuse?" I teased, going across the kitchen and into the foyer, looking into the wall mirror at my reflection before walking out, only to wish I never had.

The wicked claws of fate and chance had me in its grasp, and I briefly wondered if this was God's way of a sick joke. There, in his prestinely ironed white coat and scrub shoes stood Travis Garver, and to his right was the furious face of Mitch Moncotto suited in the same black leather jacket I had once borrowed. They were polar opposites, and yet they never looked so much alike as the two men stared back at one another like deer waiting to see who was going to buck first. Give them a robe and some boxing gloves and people will line up with money to bet on a winner. My money would be on Mitch, if I had to choose. Okay, bad time to think about this.