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“She’s right. And ladies first,” Mario said, magnanimously waving a hand over the food that wasn’t even his to offer.
Yet Rachael looked at him like he’d offered her the world.
Sofi refrained from rolling her eyes as she also took what she wanted. As soon as Rachael had helped herself, the boys dug in.
Mario quickly fell into conversation with Rachael, a mixture of actual questions and flirting that tried Sofi’s gag reflex. She turned to her right to see that Leia and Daniel were talking too. Sofi caught the word ‘football’ and tuned it out. Football only made her think of a certain person. Her brain, against her protests, reminded her of how they used to plop down on his couch and turn on the tv, cheering for the players and screaming at the refs together.
So without a conversation buddy, Sofi focused on her food as well as the views. Since the boys had joined them, shifting them all around the table, Sofi now had a view of the front door as well as most of the patrons in the place. She recognized quite a few as customers from the mercado, people she’d gone to school with, or just because she’d lived in town her whole life. She watched each of their conversations, guessing that with the way Tony waved his arms he was telling the only story she’d ever heard him tell, the time he’d fought off a bear while camping in the mountains alone. Suzy Hapsworth was surely recounting her pageant days by the walk she was showcasing to her group of friends, touching an invisible tiara on her head. There was something wholly comforting about being surrounded by people she knew so well.
Suddenly, she felt a tug at her attention. Even though dozens of people had gone in and out of the front door since Sofi’s brothers had arrived—the place really was packed—Sofi’s eyes were drawn to the door and she couldn’t pull them away as it opened once more.
She didn’t know how she knew, but sure enough, as the booted foot came into view she already recognized him. After four weeks of no connection, Sofi couldn’t help that just the sight of his leg drew her to her own feet.
“Sofi?” She dimly registered Daniel wondering at her strange reaction. But her attention was fixed on the man entering the bar.
She watched as the rest of Austin came into the room, her heart beating wildly. This was it. He was here for her. He had to be. Too many things were lining up for Sofi to deny that this was their moment. Finally.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she waited for him to turn in her direction. Their eyes would meet and he’d push through people in the bar to get to Sofi.
But then Sofi noticed that as Austin came in the door, his hand was connected with another. He pulled someone in behind him. A blonde, busty, gorgeous someone.
Sofi didn’t even realize she’d slammed back into her seat until Leia’s and Rachael’s arms encircled her from either side. Her brothers’ backs were to the door but they’d turned to see what Sofi had been watching and even over the noise of sports and loud conversation Sofi heard her brothers growl in unison.
“He gave me no promises,” Sofi said, more to herself than anyone else, as she swiped her tears away. She wouldn’t cry. She’d promised to give him time. She hadn’t asked him to check in with her when that time was up. Evidently he’d made his decision and just hadn’t notified Sofi.
No, that wasn’t okay. Sofi tried and failed to come up with excuses for him. He was her best friend. He’d never hurt her. Yet this moment was defying everything she knew about him. Why he’d ignore her while going on dates with other women when he knew full well that Sofi was in love with him.
She began to shake.
“Sof,” Leia said, just loud enough for her to hear.
Sofi wanted to lean into her friend, to turn away from the view of Austin with another girl, but she couldn’t do it. She had to witness all of this with her own two eyes. So when Austin came back to her, if he came back . . . what if he never came back to Sofi? Even for friendship? Her body trembled harder as she realized that even if Austin came back for her, Sofi couldn’t accept him. Not after this. He’d been the one man she’d been sure would never harm her, the person she could always trust. But all of that had broken and she knew it couldn’t ever be repaired. This moment would be seared in her mind and now when she thought of Austin, their catalogue of the best memories in Sofi’s life wouldn’t be what played, but she would see this instead.
Austin led his date up to the bar, calling for the bartender’s attention as Daniel and Mario rose to their feet.
Sofi gave the slightest shake of her head. She couldn’t have her brothers confronting Austin—that was her job. Rachael and Leia understood and in unison they moved into action, pulling at the backs of Sofi’s brothers’ shirts and tugging them back into their seats.
“I have to see how it plays out,” Sofi said to her brothers as well as her friends.
Her friends nodded in understanding, but Mario and Daniel both looked ready to tear Austin limb from limb. They might annoy Sofi nearly to the brink of sanity, but they were proving what she’d always known—her brothers couldn’t bear to see her suffer. And they knew hurt from Austin would be the worst pain of all.
Austin’s date leaned over and whispered something in his ear, sidling closer to him even as she spoke. She snuggled into his side, leaving her barstool altogether. Like she hoped to share the one Austin sat on.
She was in the process of looping one of his curls around her pinky, the curls Sofi had often daydreamed about fingering in the same way, when Sofi stood. She’d seen enough. Her feelings for Austin hadn’t died, and they probably never would, but all hope was officially extinguished. She was done. Her eyes were burning with unshed tears, her body still quaking in disbelief.
She’d steeled herself for all possible outcomes after she’d declared her feelings for Austin. She was prepared for him to tell her they were better off as friends, for trying to date and having it fail, and for trying to date and all of her dreams coming true. She’d obviously dwelt on that last one far too much, because maybe if she hadn’t had her head in the clouds, she might have foreseen this. Austin cutting her straight to her core.
Sofi’s standing seemed to give her brothers the idea that they should do so as well, but instead of staying at the table, they leapt into action, breaking free of Leia’s and Rachael’s grips to shove their way through the crowd, their focus solely on the man at the bar.
“Daniel! Mario!” Sofi cried out. The last thing she wanted was a scene. But the place was too loud. Her brothers wouldn’t be able to hear her over the insane amount of noise.
Sofi knew there was only one thing to do. Even as her legs felt shaky beneath her, she strode through that bar after her brothers, grasping onto the backs of chairs for support instead of pushing people out of her way. By the time she reached Austin, he was already on his feet as well, his collar in Mario’s fist as Daniel looked ready to throw the first punch. Austin’s date had begun screaming bloody murder, but when Sofi looked at Austin’s face, she saw all of his attention on her.
She tried to ignore the tiny skip of her heart that said maybe all wasn’t lost. It was the same poor, stupid heart that had led her astray for all of these years. She’d feel more anger toward it if she didn’t feel so much pity.
“Don’t,” Sofi urged, pushing herself into the situation, her body between Austin’s and Daniel’s, her face turned up to Austin’s.
Daniel took a step away from the situation, his sister’s appearance allowing his cooler head to prevail, but Mario didn’t move. He clenched Austin’s shirt even tighter.
