“Hardy, har har. I should ask you the same thing.” Seth peers into the copper pot bubbling with a liquid goo. “Blueberry jam?” he guesses.

Rushed and hyper, Thessaly replies, “Correct. Sorta. It’s more of a compote to serve with honey cornbread. For tomorrow. That meeting with the wedding planner. Wanna taste?”

“How much coffee have you had?” Seth glances around the tiny kitchen in search of evidence.

“I only had a bottle of Mountain Dew and a Twix – Starbucks and the Beanery were closed.”

“Holy shit, Tess. How long have you been here?”

“I couldn’t sleep. Six, maybe five-thirty.” Thessaly lowers the heat under the stock pot and stirs. “Truth?” she whispers.

“Always,” answers Seth.

Exhaling as she turns toward her friend, Thessaly licks the spoon and then sets it on the counter. “I’m lonely, Seth.” She crosses her arms and raises her voice. “We live in a city with eight-million people but every night I go to sleep alone.”

Lifting her chin with his hand, Seth smiles. “I’ll sleep with you.”

Relaxing her arms, Thessaly leans toward Seth and laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“How about we get some coffee and chat?”

Thessaly nods and then spins around to face the stove. “My compote!” She slides on whimsical dragon oven mitts with a ric rac of tiny teeth, and then chucks the pot onto a cold burner. “That should do it,” she adds, giving the fruity stew another stir.

Offering his arm, Seth leads them through the kitchen, remembering to grab his keys from the island on the way out the door. They lock up the store and then pause on the sidewalk to play rock, paper, scissors. It’s their entertaining way to decide on the insignificant things, like a coffee house – Thessaly prefers Fulton Beanery, but Seth tends to steer toward the cold brew at Starbucks.

“Rock, paper, scissors, and shoot!” they chant.

Thessaly’s paper covers Seth’s rock. “Yes!”

“Then you’re buying,” whines Seth.

The two friends stroll the long block to the Beanery, stopping once to discuss the mannequins posed in the window of an upscale boutique.

“Do you think the mermaid trend will catch on?” Thessaly takes a step closer and shakes her head. “The wigs are literally made from dry seaweed.”

“I think it’s more of an ecological statement about the condition of our oceans and the decrease in mythical creatures. Three-hundred years ago, the East River was crawling with mermaids and killer squids.”

Smiling, Thessaly adds, “I kinda dig those leggings with the emerald sequins.”

“C’mon,” he urges, pulling her from the window. “What time is Meg coming in? Maybe she can bring me lunch later – I mean, I’ll be sweating under a tent selling jam to tourists who want directions to the Brooklyn Bridge, it’s the least she can do.”

“Meg, huh?” Thessaly grins as she opens the door to the Beanery. “Why don’t you want me to bring you lunch?” She winks.

Seth sits at a small table, stretches out his legs, folds his arms behind his head and raises his eyebrows. “Don’t start with me, Tess.”

“Iced coffee?”

“Milk and two sugars,” he adds.

Thessaly orders and pays for their drinks at the cashier, and then waits at the end of the counter while checking her phone for Facebook notifications. Her shoulders drop and her face saddens as she slides her phone back inside her pocket. Forming a polite smile, she takes the drinks from the barista and heads back to the table.

“It’s packed in here, huh?” Thessaly jokes.

Seth pulls out the chair next to him and pats the seat. “Talk to me. No jokes, no shop-talk, no Game of Thrones book discussions – just us.”

Swirling the caramel around in her drink and biting the inside of her lip, Thessaly sits next to Seth. With a wily smile, she whispers, “Tyrion is a Targaryean.”

“Zip it!”

Thessaly takes a sip of her iced latte and crosses her leg. Placing the orange cup back on the table, she probes, “Have you ever been in love?”

“Love? Honestly, I’m not sure. I think I know what it would feel like to love someone, but I’ve never experienced that feeling. What about you?” Seth counters.

“Yeah, definitely. But I guess it’s not really love love if I’m the only one that feels that way.”

“That college boyfriend that works in finance?”

Thessaly nods as she stares out the window. “We have dinner occasionally, and sometimes there are moments when he cares deeply about me, and sometimes there’s more,” she says, twirling her straw. “But I think about him all the time – like when I see a penny on the ground, or a squirrel eating pizza crust. I see Mason everywhere.”

Without Thessaly noticing, Seth furrows his brows and snorts. But realizing that she’s serious, he offers, “Maybe it’s time to move on.”

“Maybe,” Thessaly mutters. “But we were good together – we were comfortable.” She chokes back a few tears and stutters, “We were uncomplicated. I don’t know what love is if it’s not easy.”

Seth sighs and leans forward to rest his arms on the table. “Can I ask what happened?”

“Nothing major. We were and then we weren’t.” Circling her finger over the lid of the coffee, she adds, “Mason decided one day that we needed to pursue lives in New York without being a couple. That we would always fall back together when the time was right. Can I tell you a secret?”

“Kinky sex?”

“Never! I obsess over his Instagram account – he’s so happy without me.”

Seth groans and lowers his voice. “No, Tess.”

Blushing, she admits, “I know. I’m pathetic. I’m pretty much a stalker.” Thessaly slurps her coffee and then slams the cup on the table. “There was a Duke Business Alumni dinner at the Bowery Hotel in March and I didn’t think he would show – totally an event beneath him. And it’s not like we discussed it or anything. But guess who shows up late to the dinner? Mason and his gorgeous date wearing a tiny cocktail dress. I was wearing a Hillary Clinton pant suit.”

“Damn, that sucks, Tess.” Seth bangs the table like bongo drums. “Okay, I guess this is the part where I make you feel better by offering sage advice.”

“I know what you’re going to say – I need to move on. Out of sight, out of mind or something vaguely prolific.”

Seth slaps the table, shaking their drinks. “Yes, move the fuck on! Unfriend him. Unfollow him. And for fuck’s sake, Tess, all squirrels dig the crunchy delight of pizza crust. Stop assuming that the universe is giving you signs.”

Thessaly laughs. “Your advice is to erase him from my life? And then what?”

“If you remove certain toxins from your daily routine, then your body will experience things more freely.”

“That’s a little severe. Mason isn’t toxic.” She squirms.

“Let me put this in a way you can understand.” Seth grabs Thessaly’s orange cup and shakes it. “If you were to remove the sugar, caramel, extra caramel, and milk, the stuff that makes it easy for you to consume, then you would be able to taste the actual espresso bean. Natural and tart, a little acidic, but quite rich. But you like covering things with sweetness because it’s easier.” Seth points his finger and gives Thessaly a stern look. “Give bold a chance, Tess.”

“Give bold a chance, huh? Then ask Meg out!”

“Touché.”

Thessaly’s smile fades, thinking of all the wasted hours she spent pining for Mason. Studying his pictures, memorizing his LinkedIn profile, searching for ways to prolong their connection, and hoping for the future he once promised. Sighing, she concedes, “I guess you’re right.”

“Give me your phone,” Seth orders. “We start now.”

Standing from the table and removing her phone from her pocket, Thessaly whines, “I meant theoretically! We need to go anyway – it’s almost nine.”

Seth tosses the garbage and recycles their cups while Thessaly scrolls through her emails.

“Hey, I need to pick up the new labels at the print shop on Frankfort.”