The Sweet Taste of Rain

From the back cover

Maya runs into her ex-boyfriend Caleb outside an ice cream parlor, where a Couples Special sundae leads to a joking suggestion that they get back together. Caleb coldly says he is spoken for, then drives off, leaving Maya with a dropped dessert and memories of a breakup six years earlier. At home, she throws away an old framed photo of the two of them and feeds the stray calico she took in.

Caleb calls that night, but a woman's voice interrupts and he hangs up. Maya finds he had deleted her from his contacts, and when she looks at his social media, she sees a vibrant girl in a red dress who resembles her old self. He blocks her again. Maya teaches at Lincoln High, their alma mater, and her friend Chloe insists Caleb once loved her more than anything, though Maya denies cheating.

When Caleb texts to arrange dinner, Maya declines, and he warns he will only wait three minutes. She tries to explain the ice cream joke but sends only a brief apology. Then Caleb appears at the school gates, mocking her nostalgia and money-mindedness, and offers her a ride for a half-price seafood boil.