My Unexpected Valentine

Chapter 2

Nolan

"Who's ready for some pie?" Sarah asked with a cheerful smile.

"I'm always ready for pie," Caleb replied, drawing a laugh around the table.

"Sure, count me in," Nolan agreed. He wasn't exactly in the mood for dessert, but he could never pass on Sarah's pecan pie. Especially not when she had so happily told him earlier that she made it tonight, knowing it was his favorite.

Sarah rose from her seat, laying her napkin beside her empty dinner plate. She stepped closer to Caleb and asked him to go help her, as she placed a kiss on his temple. It was such a simple gesture, yet the affection passed between the two of them was a prickly reminder to Nolan that he was very much alone now.

He watched the couple leave off for the kitchen, sat there idly for a few seconds, then reached for his phone. He couldn't help himself. He pulled up a social media profile he was all too familiar with.

Soon, he was scrolling through her recent posts. Photo after photo of her looking happy. The emotion radiated from her flawless smile and her bright eyes. Here she laughed as she posed in front of a fountain, frozen over for the winter. Here she nestled a cup of warm coffee in front of her face. Here she had her lips pressed to the cheek of a handsome looking man. A man that was not him.

"You're not looking at her Instagram again, are you?"

Nolan was startled by Caleb's voice and looked up quickly.

"No," he lied, putting his phone facedown on the table. "I was just reading something."

"Bull." Caleb scoffed as he came back to the dining table. He was carrying a plate of pecan pie topped with whipped cream.

"What's bull?" asked Sarah, as she followed shortly after with two more identical plates in her hands.

"Nolan's trying to say he wasn't just looking at Brooke's stuff again," Caleb answered.

"Because I wasn't," Nolan insisted more firmly.

"I know that look, man. You always get that kinda sad, kinda pissed look when you're looking at something about her."

Nolan frowned. He should've known better. Caleb knew him too well. They had been best friends since middle school. They drifted apart for a while during their college years, when they attended different schools, but like friends that were just made for each other, they found a way back into each other's lives. Nolan had even been the best man at Caleb and Sarah's wedding.

Now Caleb was looking at him as if he was concerned, while Sarah's expression was full of sympathy. Ugh.

"Okay, so I was. It's no big deal. And by the way, I don't look like that."

Sarah was quiet as she set a plate down in front of him. She set the other at her own place and reclaimed her seat. Caleb had sat back down too, but he left his pie untouched. He was still giving him that concerned look.

"Yeah, you kinda do. Nolan, listen to me, you need to stop torturing yourself over her."

Nolan exhaled heavily and crossed his arms, leaning them against the table. He knew that his friend was trying to help, but his words were irritating. He was torturing himself? Brooke was the one constantly posting pictures about her perfect life with her perfect new man. Rubbing it in his face. How could she move on so easily?

"We're just worried about you," Sarah finally spoke up. "You guys have been over for like four months already... You shouldn't keep checking up on her like you do."

"And why do you even want her back? After what she did? Bro, find someone better," Caleb added.

Nolan was staring a hole through his slice of pie as he listened, but finally lifted his eyes to look at the others. They didn't understand. They didn't know what it felt like to propose to someone and have them say no. It hurt on so many levels. His reality, shattered. His pride, battered. His heart, destroyed. He thought he was on the road to a happy marriage, like they had, and instead found himself on a dead end.