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Valentine’s Day had not gone according to plan.
Instead, it had been Amber Wong’s worst nightmare.
She returned to her apartment only half an hour after she’d left and shimmied out of her little black dress, then put on some fleece pajamas with penguins.
She glanced at the box of donuts he had given her. No sense wasting them. She pulled out the crème brûlée donut and took a big bite. The caramelized sugar on top was delicious, but she couldn’t fully enjoy it.
Her phone rang.
She let it ring.
When it rang again two minutes later, she picked it up. She couldn’t avoid this forever.
“You and Sebastian?” shouted her grandmother.
“Yes, Ah Ma. Did his parents call you?”
“Just ten minutes ago! Then I called Zach. He is at Cardinal’s for a Valentine’s dinner with Jo, and your parents are there, too.”
So, everybody already knew.
Yep, her worst nightmare.
“But I don’t understand,” Ah Ma said. “Are you still together now? Should I be planning the wedding?”
“We were never really together.”
“Aiyah, I do not understand young people these days. Tell me exactly what happened.”
No way was Amber sharing any of those details.
“You are no fun,” Ah Ma said in response to Amber’s silence.
Amber sank onto the couch. Her head throbbed. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and watch baking shows.
“You better come for dinner on Sunday,” Ah Ma said, “or I will drink two piña coladas.”
Given Ah Ma’s last experience with piña coladas—and that time, she’d only had one—this was a rather terrifying thought.
Amber laughed weakly. “I’ll think about it.”
“You want to get off the phone now and nurse your broken heart?”
“My heart isn’t broken.”
Ah Ma sniffed. “We will have a big talk when you come on Sunday.”
“Maybe. If I come.”
“You will be there!”
Amber finally got her grandmother off the phone and curled up in a ball like she wanted. She turned on the television, but she couldn’t focus on the show.
Instead, she thought back to the day she’d encountered Sebastian for the first time in nine years...