Page 49 of Sure, Pal

23

Sienna

Evan’s dad was gone.

I cried for a solid hour when Rob called to let me know.

After my river of tears dried up, I tried to call Evan. It went straight to voicemail.

Of course it did.

Rob called the next day, too. “The funeral is on Tuesday at 1:30. I’ll text you the address.”

I closed my eyes against my tears. “Thanks, Rob. How is he? Have you seen him?”

Rob sighed into the phone. “No, I haven’t seen him. He texts me bare minimum details, then doesn’t reply or answer his phone. I’m trying to decide if I should show up at his house.”

I let out a shaky breath. It didn’t make me feel better that Evan was ignoring everyone’s calls. I wanted him to have someone, even if it wasn’t me. “Shit,” I whispered.

“Yep.”

“Okay, Rob, thanks for letting me know. I’ll see you on Tuesday, I guess.”

???

I sat alone, in the back of the funeral home, with tears streaming down my face. Evan sat in the front row with his family, looking completely numb and stoic. God, it was good to see him, even though I hated the reason.

Ava sat in the second row, sandwiched between Rob and a few other friends from our high school days. She sat in the second fucking row like she was important to Evan.

She sat in my place, with our friends, and I let her because I was too damn broken to fight her on it.

Or was I?

I stood on shaking legs and made my way to the front of the room. I took the last seat in the second row, next to Trey from the old high school soccer team. He gave me a sad smile and a little wave.

Ava caught my eye with an arctic glare. She stared at me for a minute, challenging me, but I turned my gaze forward, back to Evan. I wasn’t here for Ava or her drama. I heard her irritated little noise, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her scoot down the row and trade places with Mia to get further away from me.

That’s right, Aves. Back up.

Evan turned and looked at me for a split second before the service started. My heart skipped a beat, and I wanted to hold him. I knew at that moment that we belonged together, even though we’d both screwed up too many times to count.

He dated Ava and broke my heart. I chose Ava and broke his. He didn’t tell me about his dad. I didn’t tell Ava about us. He pushed me away, and I let him.

But nothing was unforgivable.

We fucking belonged together.

???

After the service, I stepped outside for some air and spotted Ava and Evan on a bench outside the funeral home. “It’s raining today.” Ava sighed. “That’s unbelievably cruel.” She rested her head on Evan’s shoulder. He didn’t respond or react to her touch.

Ava kissed Evan’s cheek and then stood. “I should probably leave you to be with your family now. Please, please call me if you need anything at all.” Ava’s beautiful eyes pleaded with him, and I saw how much she still loved him. I would have felt bad for her if she’d shown a little more grace during my confession, if she’d been there for me in the last year, and if she hadn’t sicced her hundreds of thousands of angry fans on me.

Maybe the things Evan and I had done to each other were forgivable, but the things Ava and I had done weren’t. I poured gasoline on the bridge, and she threw a match on it. There was no coming back from that.

I watched Ava trying to force open her pink polka-dotted umbrella. I took a step toward Evan, and he stood, turning to look at me.

Ava let out a sharp breath when she saw me and hurried off into the pouring rain. She finally got her umbrella open when she was halfway to her blue Prius. Evan and I stood in silence and watched Ava drive away.

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