Page 11 of Yes, Love

At the time, I didn’t know he’d just told Sienna he loved her before showing up at my house or that she’d told him off and ripped out both of their hearts, too. I didn’t know that she’d sacrificed the actual love of her life for me. Nor did I realize that Evan was never my soul mate.

I thought I’d love him forever because everything feels final when you’re seventeen.

I tore my eyes away from the shiny black car and pulled open the door of ‘69. Evan’s little sister, Charlie, was sitting on the bar, folding black napkins. “We’re not open yet—” she started to say, then looked up and saw me. “Whoa.”

“Hi, Charlotte!” I smiled. “Uh, sorry. Charlie. I always forget that you don’t like to be called Charlotte.”

Charlie watched me with a bored expression. God, she was gorgeous now. I knew she’d grow up stunning. Everyone in the Cox family was fucking beautiful. They were all poured from the same perfect mold.

“Yeah, no worries.” Charlie went back to folding napkins. “You looking for Sienna?”

“Yes. She asked me to meet her here.”

“K.”

Why did Charlie hate talking to me so much? I should have taken the hint and waited quietly at one of the empty tables by the door, but I opened my big mouth again. “Sooo, how are things going with your sexy boyfriend, girl?” I laughed and tossed my hair over my shoulder.

Charlie raised a single eyebrow at me. “Good.”

“Amazing! How much older is he? I was seriously impressed when I saw him at the wedding!”

Charlie looked like she would rather chew a bucket of nails than answer my question.

I let out a small sigh of relief when I heard the bar door open, but my relief quickly melted away when I saw that it was Bea, not Sienna. Bea probably liked me the most out of everyone in the Cox family, though she was far from my biggest fan. Things got tense between us after I accidentally crashed into her car back in high school. She parked in my spot in the driveway, though! I didn’t see her damn Hyundai until Sienna screamed at me to brake from my passenger seat. But it was too late…

Bea shot me a look of confusion and said, “Um, hi, Ava. How are you?”

“Hi, Bea!” I smiled and waved. “I’m great! How are you?”

Bea shrugged. “I’m fine. Can we help you with something?”

“Oh, no, I’m just waiting for—”

“Bea, is that you? How did your job interview go?” Evan entered the bar from the back room. The smile slid from his handsome face when he caught sight of me.

Fucking hell. Could I crawl under a rock and die now? This was so painfully awkward.

“Ava? What are you doing here?”

I fought to keep my smile in place. “Hi, Evan! Good to see you! Sienna asked me to meet her here. Don’t worry. I’m not staying.” I let out my beauty blogger laugh and didn’t miss Charlie’s massive eye roll.

“Right. Um. Okay.” Evan patted the bar and exchanged a look with his sisters. “Well, she should be here any minute.”

“Great!” My voice was too high. It was borderline irritating.

Silence followed.

Finally, Evan cleared his throat. “Do you want me to call her?”

“I—” Just then, my phone rang and saved the day. “Here she is now!” I smiled at my attentive audience of Cox kids and turned to answer Sienna’s call.

“Aves!” she yelled into the phone. “I’m so sorry! There was this huge accident on the way to the bar, and then I dropped my phone between the seats so I couldn’t call! I’ll be there in like two minutes.”

“Oh thank god. I’ll be waiting for you outside then!” I waved over my shoulder at my ex-boyfriend and his sisters and hurried out of the bar. As soon as the door closed behind me, I yelled into the phone. “Holy hell, Si! I just had the most awkward ten minutes of my life with your husband and in-laws! You little asshole! Don’t ever do that to me again!”

Sienna burst out laughing. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I bet that was awkward, especially since I forgot to tell Evan we were meeting at the bar.”

“Whatevs. I forgive you. Just hurry your cute little ass up.” Ew. I just said whatevs.

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