He laughs at the charge and gladly pays. "Wouldn't dream of denying you it."

And off to their table they go. She picks up her milkshake and has a merry slurp.

He grins at her. "So! How've you been?"

"Oh, nothing new, really. Baking tasty treats, gradually conquering the latest Candy Crush."

She idly pulls a sketchbook out of her pocket and starts drawing the view out the storefront as she talks.

"I wasn't kidding about the breakup chocolate, by the way. The secret to success is always having a little something around in case of emotional emergencies." She points the eraser end of her stubby pencil at him. "You should consider it."

"Am I giving off emotional emergency vibes?"

She laughs. "No, no, not at all. But that makes the suggestion all the more appropriate, doesn't it? The best time to plan ahead for a bad day is when you're having a good one."

"If I didn't know better I'd say you're trying to sell me some of your delicious expensive chocolate," James says, smirking as he sips from his coffee.

Another laugh. "I am not! I get my breakup chocolate from Costco like anybody else."

He grins. "Well, I deal with my bad days in a different way."

She raises her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"I just don't have them."

She gives him an amused yet deeply skeptical look.

He laughs. "Oh, fine, maybe sometimes I have bad days."

"Well, it's good that you acknowledge that, or you'd be going home with a package of emergency truffles whether you wanted them or not," she says, smirking.

"Wait I think I changed my mind my life is perfect and nothing ever goes wrong!"

She cracks up and drinks her milkshake rather than dignify that with a response.

James laughs, too, and says, "So no truffle package, then?" He sips from his coffee again.

"Emergency chocolate is for emergencies! It rather defeats the purpose otherwise!"

He laughs again. "Fine, fine. I do have something other than chocolate for bad days, though," he says, leaning forward and propping his head onto his elbows. "But it's not polite to talk about it in public."

Here come the skeptical eyebrows again.

He leans back, grinning. "You have to admit it's pretty good for cheering up!"

"Well, you're not wrong," she concedes. "But personally I find chocolate much more dependable."

"Mmmm, perhaps, but it can always be the fallback plan."

"I suppose." She laughs and shakes her head. "You must lead such an interesting life."

"More interesting than I can get any credit for, even."