Welcome to the A to Z Challenge! I am excited to share with you some meet cutes (and maybe some sexy scenes) throughout the month of April! Richard is going to be chiming in with a few of his characters from his Hallmark story, too! Here is the next installment, but stay tuned every day (except Sundays) this month for a short scene! Like and comment, and maybe I’ll continue the more popular stories in May!

– Jayden

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Romance is dead.

Or at least, it feels that way to me. I just found out that my boyfriend of three years has been cheating on me. He was so romantic, too. He was always sending me flowers, taking me out to dinner, bringing me gifts. But it turns out that all those times he was traveling “for work,” he was actually with another woman. And they were married! Can you believe it? I am so angry that I’m surprised smoke isn’t coming out of my ears. It certainly feels like it should be.

When I found out, I wanted to slap him or hit him or run him over with my car. Of course, I wouldn’t actually do that, but it was a tempting thought. How could he do this to me?

But at least we didn’t have kids. I mean, of course we didn’t have kids. He didn’t want to have kids, ever, he said, but his wife has kids. With him. He just didn’t want any more kids. But he didn’t say that to me. He just said that he didn’t want kids, and since neither did I, we just left it at that. I still can’t believe I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. 

I sat down at my favorite bar, waiting for Pete, my regular bartender to bring me a drink, except… “You’re not Pete!” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

The bartender smiled and said, “I’m not. I’m Ramon.”

“Hi Ramon,” I said, trying to recover. I ordered a drink, explaining how I like it (which I never have to do with Pete), and looked over the menu I had long ago memorized, but it gave me something to do.

I ordered my food when my drink came out. It was a slow afternoon and Ramon leaned against the bar nearby, giving me enough space that we didn’t have to make small talk, but standing close enough that I could talk to him if I wanted to.

“So, Ramon,” I said.

“Yes?” he asked, sounding eager to strike up a conversation.

“Why are men so awful?”

He smirked at me. “What did he do?”

I wanted to be mad at the smirk, but I wasn’t. I got the humor in it, especially in my question that was bashing his whole gender. I launched into a tirade about my ex and the shit he put me through. Ramon listened, responding occasionally with the appropriate noises.

When I was done, he slid another drink across the bar to me without asking. “This one is on me. It sounds like you need it.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it,” he said with a smile. Then he leaned closer. “No, really, don’t mention it. I’m not supposed to buy drinks for the customers.” He winked at me as he pulled away, and I wondered if I should give him my number. Maybe romance wasn’t totally dead.

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Check out what’s going on with other A to Z Bloggers on the Master List, and come back all month long! Leave us a comment if you’re participating, and I promise to visit your blogs, too!