The Ex by Freida McFadden(25)

Anna smiles. “Oh, yes. I would have thought he’d have a few by now.”

Cassie’s brain is spinning. If Joel wants kids so badly, why didn’t he marry Francesca and have some? Did she not want kids? Is that what broke them up? Why won’t Joel ever talk about her?

“Anyway.” Lydia waves her hand. “You have plenty of time to decide. You’re so young.” She narrows her eyes. “How old are you, anyway? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Twenty… seven.” It’s not entirely a lie. Her birthday is in… well, nine months. Right around the corner.

But there was no point in lying. Lydia laughs and exchanges looks with Anna. God, she’s not that young. It’s not like she’s sixteen, for crying out loud.

Cassie glances over at the line for food, willing it to move faster. “I wonder what’s taking so long…” She forces a smile. “I could have cooked my own hotdogs by now.”

Lydia arches an eyebrow. “Oh, do you cook?”

The answer to that is a hard no. Cassie cooks, but only stuff that comes out of a box. “Not… really.”

Lydia lets out a sigh. “I’d kill for one of Francesca’s meatballs right now.”

Cassie thinks back to her first date with Joel, when he’d reacted so strangely to her request for Italian food. Maybe that was why. “Oh, she… cooked a lot?”

Lydia gives her a look of disbelief. “You have to when you own a restaurant, don’t you?”

Francesca owns a restaurant?

The question pops up on Cassie’s lips, unbidden: “Where is the restaurant?”

Lydia and Anna exchange looks. Immediately, Cassie wishes she could take back the question. She doesn’t need to know where Francesca works. It’s better if she doesn’t.

But at the same time, she’s dying for some details about the wonderful Francesca. And Joel won’t say a word about her.

“It’s in the Village,” Anna says. She glances at Lydia. “It’s called Angela’s Ristorante.”

“The food is incredible,” Lydia says. “I’ve been to Italy three times, so I can tell you how authentic it is. It’s like being transported to a restaurant in Naples.”

Lydia’s been to Italy three times? Cassie’s only left the country once. And that was to go to Canada.

She wonders how many times the wonderful Francesca has traveled out of the country. Or maybe she doesn’t want to know.

Angela’s Ristorante. Cassie imagines checkered tablecloths and a candle on every table. She imagines a leather menu written in elaborate script. Dishes with Italian names that the waiters must translate for the customers. A list of specials that changes every night.

“Of course,” Lydia adds, “Angela’s Ristorante isn’t the same anymore, now that—”

“What are you talking about?”

Joel is suddenly standing over them, balancing two hot dogs, a hamburger, and a soft drink in his arms. There’s a smile on his lips that doesn’t touch his eyes. It’s clear he knows exactly what they were talking about, and he’s not thrilled about them gossiping about his ex-girlfriend.

“Nothing,” Lydia says vaguely. “Just getting to know your lovely new girlfriend, Joel. Nothing more.”

“Glad to hear it,” he says, lowering the food onto the table.

Cassie looks down at the plump hot dog in a bun in front of her and her stomach churns. Her appetite is gone. She’ll have to force herself to take a bite.

“I told them to keep the hotdog separate from Violet’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Joel says. “So it’s safe for you to eat.”

“You’ve got a peanut allergy?” Pete asks as he slides in next to Violet.

Before Cassie can answer, Joel says, “Yeah, she does. And when I asked to see her epi-pen a few weeks ago, she couldn’t find it.”

Pete winces. “Ouch.”

Cassie feels her cheeks burn. When Joel asked to see her pen a couple of weeks ago, she was mortified to discover it wasn’t in her purse. She must have taken it out at some point and forgotten to replace it. He nagged her until she called her doctor to get a replacement pen. She didn’t even tell him the part where when she found out how much the pen would cost, she almost left the drug store without it.

“You’ve got the new one, right?” he asks her.

“I do,” she says defensively. And even though he doesn’t ask, she rifles through her purse until her fingers close around the syringe. She pulls it out and holds it triumphantly in the air. “Here it is.”

But when she looks up, she sees the judgment in the faces of Joel’s friends. Lydia especially is shaking her head like she can’t believe anyone with a life-threatening peanut allergy would be so dumb as to not carry around their epi-pen. And yes, it was dumb. But Joel didn’t have to bring it up in front of his friends. I’m sure they were all thinking that the perfect Francesca would never have done anything so stupid.

Cassie feels almost painfully stifled by the presence of Joel’s friends. She wishes she could leave. But if she took off suddenly, that wouldn’t make them like her better. She has no choice but to stick it out.

Hang in there. This will be over soon. Eventually, the sun will go down and the zoo will close.