My Sweet Annie

23

With the coffee carafe in hand, I went back out into the dining room with Porkie at my heels, letting the kitchen door swing closed behind me. Ana was still at the table, her plate empty, her cell phone in one hand and her cup of coffee in the other. She glanced up at me as I approached the table and gave me a smile that was tellingly sympathetic.

She'd heard. At least some of it.

"More coffee?" I asked.

"Thanks." She slid her mug toward me. She held out for as long as it took me to warm her cup, but as I filled my own, she said, "That sounded serious."

I sighed, taking a stack of napkins from the holder to rest the coffee pot on. Then I sank into my seat. "Life has really bad timing sometimes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

It felt so awkward. I couldn't deny that I was heartbroken over Colson. Nor could I deny that I was attracted to Anabel. I knew that if I told her the truth, whatever small thing that might have sparked between us would fizzle out and die.

So I had to tell her. I might have been imagining her flirtation. If wasn't, she deserved the full facts. It would prevent her from getting involved and save us both from an unintentional ride on the rebound express.

"I broke up with my boyfriend the day that Gran died," I said. "It sounds so awful, but it just worked out that way. Things were pretty much over. Then I got the call."

She tilted her head, watching me.

"It was a long-term thing. Five years. So we were pretty serious."

"What happened?"

"Just the compilation of little things, you know? We weren't happy together any more. It had been coming for a while. A long while."

"It's just awful that it happened so close to..."

"Yeah. But he didn't know. I didn't tell him. In fact, that's why he called to bitch at me just now." I cast a rueful glance at my phone.

"You didn't tell him?"

"Come on." I raised my eyebrows at her. "Don't make me explain it to you, too. I didn't want to have a sympathy boyfriend."

Ana cracked a smile. "Well, when you say it like that. But five years, Tabitha? Didn't he know her?"

Guilt pierced me. Colson had known Gran. He had never been to her home, but she had visited us a couple of times for holidays over the years, which had made more sense than buying enough plane tickets for all of us to come to Iowa.

It hadn't just been our relationship. Our families weren't bound by law, but they were bound by time. He had lost my grandmother, too. And he hadn't said anything, whether it was because he hadn't realized it, or didn't want to put it on me, or was too manly to mention it. I didn't expect him to be broken to bits over Gran's death, but I thought about how I would feel if his Grandma Gracie passed away, and my heart twisted.

"I'm a wreck and I was awful to him," I admitted, rubbing my hands over my face.

"Don't say that. You couldn't have been thinking clearly, no matter what. You did the best you could."

"It made sense at the time."

She nodded, her smile mild with sympathy.

"And it's highly unlikely that helping me through the loss of Gran was going to change how Cole felt about me, or how I felt about him. It was just the end. The timing sucked, but I don't think there would be any real way it could have been better, either. I just—I didn't think about how he'd feel."