CHLOE BAKER'S LOST DATE

Chapter Thirty-Five: Dinner with a Twist

"You did what?" Kit says that night.

"I broke up with Ben."

"Are you insane?"

"That's not helpful."

She picks up her glass of Chardonnay and tosses it back. We're in a restaurant equi-distance between our apartments, an Italian place she brought me to when I first came to New York. I don't feel like eating. All I've had is wine. They sell a great house red by the liter.

"This isn't a joke?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It wasn't working out."

"Bullshit."

"Tell me how you really feel."

"Okay," she says, and clunks her empty glass down on the table. "I think you're being an idiot. You're afraid to be happy."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. You and Ben are great together. You thought that so much that you chased after him like, frankly, a crazy person, and now you've broken up with him after a week?"

I gulp down my wine. It's not having the effect I wanted.

"Was the sex bad?"

"No."

"It's just okay?"

"No, it's great. The best."

"You really are crazy."

"There's more to a relationship than sex."

"Uh-huh."

"Come on, you're telling me that the reason you're marrying John is because the sex is great?"

She nods slowly. "It's not, not the reason."

"I thought it was because you loved him."

"Yeah, of course. But I'm not marrying someone who doesn't fulfill my needs."

"I wasn't going to marry Ben."

"Sure, that's why you have a whole notebook with your name written as Chloe Hamilton."

"What? I do not."

"Uh-huh."

"Is this helpful?"

"I'm trying to knock some sense in you."

"Well, it hurts."

"It's supposed to."

"I meant, my heart hurts."

"Because it knows you're being an idiot."

"Kit."

"What?"

"Will you just listen to me for a minute instead of judging my decision."

She crosses her arms. "Okay."

"I know you like Ben."

"You like Ben."

"Yeah, I do. I do like him. But that isn't the point. He's not good for me."

"Based on what evidence."

"Based on everything that happened since the day we met. He lied to me, he disappeared, he had a chance to find me, and didn't take it. Then when I found him, he lied to me again, and the only reason we're together is because I went to some concert with tickets that Jack paid for, and we ended up in bed together." Kit tries to start to speak and I raise my hand. "And that's another thing. Jack. Weren't you #teamjack?"