chapter 5

"About what?"

"About you! Duh..."

"Me, riiiight. Well, I grew up in a small town in Oregon, and I came out here for school."

"Parents still in Oregon?"

"Yeah, they love it there. Can't blame them. It's beautiful. I have an older brother and a younger sister. They're still out there, too. I see them all once or twice a year."

"And?"

"A nd I'm a Cancer? My favorite color is yellow? I do yoga twice a week? I have two cats named Newman and Kramer? What else do you want to know?" she laughed.

"Do you have a boyfriend? Husband?"

"Oh, that." She got a little quiet. "I got divorced last December. We'd been married for about five years. It was the right thing. Still kind of a bummer, though."

"I'm sorry. That is a bummer."

"Yeah, we just weren't right for each other. What about you? Girlfriend?"

"No..."

"Boyfriend?"

"Hey! What, is it the pink shirt?" he said, mock-defensively. Then he smiled that smile that made Kate all gooey inside. "No, I was with a girl for a couple of years, but, same thing. We just weren't right for each other. We broke up about six months ago."

"Sorry to hear that," Kate said, not really sorry at all. Inside, she was doing a little happy jig.

She was working slowly on her French toast so that Matt wouldn't notice that she had only eaten one plate to his three, but when his fourth plate came out, she couldn't fit in another bite. All she could do was watch him eat, and try not to ogle his stomach too badly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you finished?"

"No, no, I'm fine. You eat. You look hungry."

"Yeah, well..." he trailed off. "I used to play a lot of sports, especially in college, but I've given most of them up. I guess my appetite hasn't gotten the memo that I'm not in training anymore." He laughed and patted his belly. "I keep telling myself I need to either buy bigger clothes or get myself to the gym, but so far, I haven't done either."

The belly pat was almost too much for Kate to take. She held herself back from lunging across the table at him. "Hey, post-college life is rough, adjusting to the real world. I get it." She bit her lip and smiled. "Well, I think you look great," she said, hoping he wouldn't notice her blushing.

"Um, thanks," he said, sounding a little surprised. "Sooo, should we be getting back? I haven't even given you the details on the Johnson account."

"Oh, right! Are you finished? Alright, let's get going."

"Thanks for breakfast, Kate. I guess it was technically brunch."

"Yeah, brunch. We'll have to make that our Friday tradition or something. What do you think?"

"Sounds good." Almost imperceptibly, he touched her lower back, guiding her to the car. It sent little chills down her spine.