“Hey—”
“You’re in emotional crisis,” she says. “You’re not capable of appreciating this properly. I’m stepping in.”
I shake my head, a weak smile pulling at my mouth.
We eat in silence for a minute, the bar noise swelling around us—clinking glasses, a bad country song on the jukebox, someone laughing too loud.
“What are you gonna do?” she asks finally.
I think about Lola’s smile. About Patrick Martin’s hand on her back. About the way my heart still moved toward her like it didn’t get the memo that it shouldn’t.
“I don’t know,” I say. “Pretend she’s just…some girl I used to know?”
Goldie raises her water glass. “To catastrophic love and cheese curds.”
I clink mine against it. “Too squeaky to survive.”
She grins.
A throat clears, and Goldie and I look up at the same time.
Erin and Ava.
Erin gives us a pointed look. “No one told us there was a party tonight.”
“Hi, guys,” Ava says.
I stand up and hug Ava. We only recently found out that Ava’s our sister. My mom had Ava before she got with my dad, placed her in adoption, and then never got a chance to meet Ava before she died. Her dad, Bruce, is someone who’s been an enemy of our family for longer than I’ve been alive,and he tried to do everything he could to keep her from being a part of our family. Once Ava saw the truth about him, we were able to move forward. It’s been a little surreal to meet a new sister as an adult, but I think we’re all adjusting as well as can be expected, given our rocky start. Better, even, but it’s taken some time.
“Hey,” I say. “Have a seat.”
I hug Erin next, and she pinches my cheek before sitting next to Goldie. Erin’s my sister’s best friend and may as well be family. Ava sits next to me.
“This is more like a last-minute dinner,” Goldie says. She turns and looks at Erin. “Nice victory rolls.”
Erin pats her hair and grins, her teeth white against her apple-red lips. “Don’t think you can soften me with compliments.” She lifts an eyebrow at me. “But you do owe me one now.”
“Nice outfit,” I say, pointing at her shirt, which saysMain Character Energy.
Erin reaches for a curd without breaking eye contact with me. “So. Why does this feel like a soft intervention?”
I blink. “What?”
Ava puts her hand on my back. “You look so sad.”
I freeze. Goldie looks at me, and we have a whole conversation in one glance.
Erin narrows her eyes, and her fork pauses over Goldie’s hotdish. “Oh no. Tell me you didn’t do something to wreck your beautiful aim with a hockey stick.”
I exhale through my nose and chuckle. “No. I did not.”
“Whew. Okay. Then we can handle anything. Tell Mama Erin what’s wrong.”
I glance around the restaurant. “My ex is at Windhaven.”
Ava squeezes my shoulder, and Erin blinks and turns to Goldie.
“Lola?” she whisper-shouts.
