Page 109 of Pretty Little Thing

“Yo, Clive,” Robbie says. He extends his bandaged hand by accident. “Whoa — wait. Hope you don’t mind going lefty.”

He switches to his left hand and Clive extends his own.

“Nice to meet you,” Clive says.

Their handshake lasts a second too long. I look down to find both of them squeezing each other with white-knuckle grips.

Men.

“Anyway…” Robbie takes his hand back. “Good to see you again, Nor.”

I nod. “You, too, Rob.”

Robbie stands up, purposefully extending his height as tall as he can but Clive clearly towers over him by five inches. He slides his sunglasses free from his pocket and scoots them up his nose. “I’ll see y’all around,” he says, giving Clive a head nod.

“Bye,” Clive says.

Robbie takes off and Clive sits down in the booth across from me.

“What was that about?” he asks me.

“That was just… Robbie,” I answer.

He wrinkles his forehead. “Seemed like he was coming on to you,” he says, gripping his cup.

I set my coffee down. “Clive, no. Trust me. He’s my best friend’s ex-husband. We’ve been friends for a very long time and that’s all we’ve ever been. He’s more like a big brother to me than anything.”

His shoulders relax a little. “And he’s never…?”

“Never. Okay — full disclosure — I have seen him naked but that was a very strange Easter Sunday parade that he will never live down.” I laugh.

“Okay.” He cracks a smile. “Ex-husband?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened there?”

I sigh. “Melanie Rose, despite her profession, isn’t the romantic type and Robbie Wheeler is the tattooed bad boy from the other side of town who knows exactly how to push her buttons. They met out of nowhere one night, a few years ago, and it was like a powder-keg. When they weren’t fighting, they were fucking, and every moment in-between, they were madly in love. In all my years of setting people up, I’ve never known two people more entwined than Mel and Rob.”

“So, what changed?”

“Robbie is an alcoholic,” I say, thinking back. “And after a year of urging him to get help and making excuses for him and his behavior, she had enough.”

He raises his coffee. “Seems harsh,” he says, taking a sip.

I nod. “It’s hard to stand by your man when he can’t even stand up on his own. But she tried. We all tried. One day, she kicked him out. They had a huge fight. They both said some things they couldn’t take back. She filed the next morning and he signed the papers.”

“He didn’t try and fight it?” he asks. “If I was that much in love, I don’t think I’d give up so easily.”

“Oh, Robbie’s never given up on Melanie,” I say, smiling. “When Melanie decides she wants something, she usually gets it. But Robbie is far more patient than she is. He’ll wait.” I shake my head. “It’s only a matter of time until that keg sparks again. I guarantee it.”

Clive’s brow bounces once. “You really are good at the whole dating thing.”

“Only when it comes to others. My own track record is…” I chuckle into my coffee. “Well, fail is such a strong word.”

“And it doesn’t apply,” he says. “I don’t think dating and relationships are things you fail at. There’s far too much chance involved for there to be a definitive formula. Not to throw your livelihood under the bus, of course.”

“You might be right.” I tilt my head. “Just don’t advertise that I said that.”

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