“November third.”
“Oh no, aScorpio. How terrifying. Are you as vindictive and secretive as they say?”
“Yes, but I make up for it with my romantic passion.”
“Speaking of which, you’re single, right?”
“Very much so.”
“And why would a handsome boy like yourself not have a girlfriend?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
“You think I’m a handsome boy?”
“I do.”
“You first.”
“I was engaged a couple of years ago. Before I got sober. It flamed out in a pretty spectacular way.”
“Spectacular how?”
“We had a huge drunken fight three weeks before the wedding and I woke up on my restaurant floor in a pile of glass and my own vomit. That kind of spectacular.”
She sucks in her breath. “Ouch.”
“Yeah. I went to rehab and canceled the wedding. She stopped speaking to me. Bad show. I haven’t been with anyone since.”
She’s quiet.
“Sorry you asked?”
“No, not at all. Sorry that happened to you.”
“It was inevitable. I’d been out of control for years, and our relationshipwas chaotic. Nonstop partying, nonstop fighting. I loved her a lot, but we enabled each other’s worst tendencies.”
“And you haven’t been with anyone since?”
“I’ve been focused on staying healthy, getting stable. My business was an absolute shambles, all my relationships were dysfunctional. So now I’m that guy who works out and does therapy and drinks two liters of water a day.”
“It looks good on you.”
“Thanks. Now it’s your turn. How on earth areyousingle?”
She sighs deeply.
“I had a bit of a heartbreak last year. I’ve been avoiding men.”
“Can I ask what happened, or is it too fresh?”
“No, it’s fine. Classic story. Girl meets powerful book editor boy who promises to help fulfill her writerly dreams. Boy sweeps her off her feet with visions of their perfect life together. Girl moves in with boy and he immediately decides he’s in over his head and breaks up with her.”
“Damn. How long ago was this?”
“Eight months ago. I’m okay now, but things got hairy after it happened. I was blindsided, and leaned hard into drinking away my sorrows at night, and then dabbling in uppers to stay awake and do my job. Rinse, repeat.”
“Definitely been there,” I say. “I’m so sorry.”
