In the Age of Love and Chocolate

waist. Mr. Delacroix and Win stood. I smiled (in a way I hoped was) graciously at the table and put on my best hostess voice. “Mr. Delacroix, Mrs. Delacroix, so nice to see you again. Win, what a surprise. And you must be Win’s girlfriend?” I held my hand out for the Viking to shake.

“Astrid,” she said.

“Anya,” I said. “Amazing to meet you.”

“This place is so charming,” she said. “I love it.” Her hand was resting on his thigh. He brushed several long, blond strands of hair from her face.

“Charming is the word,” Mrs. Delacroix agreed. The last time I’d spoken to her, she’d seemed nonplussed about the club and her husband’s role in it, but she seemed to have made peace with both. “You’ve done a wonderful job. You and Charlie both.” She looked at her husband. Mr. Delacroix’s expression was cryptic, and I did not know him well enough to decipher it. He had not even greeted me when I’d arrived at the table, but had kept his gaze toward the window, as if the real party was going on just outside.

“Thanks,” I said. “We’re proud of it.”

“It’s great,” Win said without much enthusiasm. “I’m glad I got to see it.” He paused. “You changed your hair.”

“I did.” I put my hand on the back of my neck.

“Well, it suits this club at least,” Win said.

“Drink up,” I told the table. “And a very happy New Year!”

I walked to the bar. “Sorry about that,” Natty said. “So awkward. I didn’t know his girlfriend was coming to the city.”

“It was fine,” I said. “I’m happy he saw the club, and I knew about the girlfriend already.”

Natty was about to speak, but then she shook her head. She ordered two Theobromas for us. “I was surprised to see Mrs. Delacroix here, though. Win says his parents are getting a divorce.”

“Oh, I hadn’t heard.” Mr. Delacroix was pretty tight-lipped about his personal life.

“Yeah. Win’s not that upset. He says it was a long time coming. It was his mother’s decision, I guess.”

“You and Win talk a lot?”

“Some. I’ve always liked him, as you know,” she said. “And when I see him in Boston, it makes me feel less homesick.” She sipped her drink. “Thank you for sending him to me, by the way.”

“Natty, I don’t know if you’ll even be able to answer this question. But do you think Win understands now? Does he understand why I had to do this?”

“I think so,” she said slowly. “He’s moved on, obviously, and he seems less bitter.” She rested her chin in her hands. “I thought you’d be with him forever.”

“Well, that’s because you were a little kid when he and I met,” I said. “I’ve thought a lot about it. The truth is, sometimes too much can happen in a relationship, and then there’s nothing anyone can do or say. It’s broken.”

“You don’t believe that could ever happen between us?” Natty asked.

“Of course not, you goose. You could be awful forever, and I’d still love you. Things are good at the new school?”

She took a long drink, and then she laughed. “I hate to say it, but you were right. It was getting too serious with Pierce. Once I got away, I could see that, and he started to seem a lot less important.”

“Funny,” I said. “Maybe if someone had sent me away to school, it would have been the same with Win.”

Natty shook her head. “Probably not, though. Win’s kind of, sort of wonderful, and Pierce is just some dumb boy.”

I laughed at Natty. “You can’t have Win,” I said. “He’s too old for you. Plus, he’s dating a Viking.”

“She does look like a Viking. I wouldn’t want Win anyway. I would never date the boy who broke my sister’s heart.”

He hadn’t broken it. I knew that now. If I was honest, I had done it to myself. (NB: Who needs a heart anyway?) It was important for her to know this, so I said it aloud. “He didn’t break it. No one can break your heart except you.”

“Maybe she looks more like an Icelandic princess,” Natty said.

Theo joined us at the bar. “Who looks like an Icelandic princess?” he asked.

Natty pointed to the Delacroixs’ table.

“Stop it,” I said. “We don’t want them to know we’re talking about them.”

Natty waved. “It’s fine. They can’t hear us. Hi, Icelandic princess!”

“Very pretty girl,” Theo said, “but you are both wrong. She looks like a mermaid.”

“No date?” I asked him.

He shook his head.

“What? Have you run through every girl in New York? Theo’s a big slut,” I informed Natty.

“Si. You will have to open a new location in another city so that I can find some new women to date.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

“Maybe Canada. I would like to see Canada before I die,” Theo said.

“Or Paris!” Natty said with a squeal of delight.

“Unfortunately, chocolate’s legal there. What would be the point?”

I excused myself to go talk to the DJ. She’d been playing too many slow, romantic songs. It was a party; I wanted party music. On the way back, I ran into Win, who was by himself.

He didn’t look like he wanted to talk to me, but whatever. I still hadn’t thanked him in person for going to see Natty. “Hey, stranger,” I said.

“Hey.” He barely looked at me. Instead, he looked over at the table where his parents and the Viking still sat.

“I wanted to thank you in person for visiting Natty.”

“It’s nothing,” he said. “Her school’s not that far from mine.”

“It is something,” I insisted. “You and I didn’t exactly end on good terms—so I appreciate you doing this.”

“Doing things for you is a bad habit with me. I should get back.”

“Wait.” I tried to invent a reason to prolong our conversation. “Win, how do you like school?”

“Good.”

A one-word reply, but I pressed on anyway.

“Astrid is really pretty. I’m happy that you met someone,” I said. “I hope me and you can be friends someday.”

Silence. “I don’t need a friend like you,” he said finally. He sounded angrier than when we had broken up. “I should not have come here tonight.”

“Why are you still so angry with me? I’m not angry with you.”

I heard him take a deep breath. “How about my parents’ divorce?”

“That is not on me, Win. Your parents have been unhappy for years. You told me as much yourself.”

“They seemed better after he lost the election. But all that went to Hell after you and your big idea.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am sorry I ever met you, Anya. I am sorry that I pursued you and that I didn’t leave you alone when you asked. I wish I’d never had to move from Albany. You were not worth getting shot for. You were not worth waiting for. You were not worth this trouble. You are the worst thing that ever happened to me. You have been a hurricane in my life and not in a good way!” He was almost screaming at me, but maybe that was the effect of the loud music. The DJ had honored my request to play party music, and the bass was literally deafening. “But hey, it’s not like I wasn’t warned. My father only told me about—I don’t know—roughly one million times to stay away from you. So no, I don’t want to be friends with you. The best part about breaking up with you is that we don’t have to be friends.”

And then he left. It would have been pathetic of me to run after him, to insist that he accept my friendship when he clearly thought it was worth so little. Even if I felt like it, I couldn’t leave the party I had thrown. I couldn’t go home, get into bed, pull the covers over my head, and cry. I put a smile on my face and went back to my