Chapter 3
Chapter Three
MELLIE
The rest of the evening passes with much less drama. Ronin and I don’t speak again, but that doesn’t stop our gazes from clashing across the room from time to time. Each glance is a jolt to my heart.
Evan and his girlfriend, Catalina, arrive shortly after my encounter with Ronin, striding into the diner with Evan’s typical loud and boisterous demeanor. Seeing us sitting at the bar, he beelines straight for me.
“Mellie!” Evan calls out as he and a beautiful woman of Mexican heritage and warm tawny skin heads toward the bar. He smiles as he takes her hand. “This is Cat, my girlfriend.”
Cat’s wide umber eyes seem to dance as she pulls me in for a hug, curly chestnut hair brushing against my cheek. She grins at me when she pulls away. “I’m so excited to finally meet you! Evan doesn’t stop talking about you. We’re so glad you could be here with us for the holidays!”
Her smile is infectious, and I find myself grinning right back. “I am, too!”
She pulls away and Evan’s arm snakes around her waist, fitting her to his side like a perfect missing puzzle piece.
It’s strange to see my brother in love—not in a bad way, but in a way that is wholly new to me.
When I left Blue Fields, he was almost twenty and still thriving in the bachelor lifestyle of the college-aged man.
But now I watch him lean down and place a tender kiss on Catalina’s head. His cheeks pink as he catches my gaze.
My throat feels full with a sudden swell of emotion. My little brother is all grown up.
Almost against my will, I scan the bar and startle when I make eye contact with Ronin.
He’s a few people away, nodding as he leans over the bar to catch someone’s drink order, but his eyes are on me.
I can feel my face flush, but I don’t look away.
Not until he breaks our stare, turning his back to me as he continues his work.
I take a deep breath before refocusing on our group.
It’s Friday night, and since I’ve arrived, the chatter and commotion of the crowd has swelled to an overwhelming cacophony. We may be a small town, but the residents still show up for a good night of socializing on the weekends. Not like there’s anything else to do around here anyway.
Ronin has disappeared into the kitchen, so Evan and Cat order drinks from the other bartender, and the five of us make our way to an empty table in the back next to the jukebox.
“So, Cat. You and Evan met at the school, right?” I question, sipping my beer. The alcohol buzzes in my veins, making my limbs feel loose.
“Yes!” Catalina’s face lights up at the mention of her and Evan.
“I’m an art teacher at the high school. We started working there around the same time.
It took this guy here almost a year to work up the nerve to ask me out, though,” she teases.
“I’d been dropping hints for at least six months about taking me to dinner! ”
Evan blushes, the fair skin we share giving away his brief embarrassment. “Hey now, you can’t blame me for not believing she was serious! Look at her, she’s way out of my league.” He smiles at Cat and blows her a kiss.
“How do you like teaching in high school? You teach science, right?” Bree directs her question at my brother. She and Brooklyn are seated close together, holding hands on top of the table.
“I do, and I love it,” Evan replies. “The kids can be assholes sometimes, but it’s surprisingly fulfilling knowing I’m teaching them stuff that will be important for the rest of their lives.
” He drinks from his own beer and burps, glancing sheepishly at Cat.
She playfully smacks his arm. “But I give them shit right back. I think that’s why most of the kids like my class. ”
“Well you’re so mature, it’s no wonder they love you,” I observe, gesturing to him as he burps again.
Cat rolls her eyes at my brother, reaching out to ruffle his floppy brown hair.
He catches her hand, holding it to his chest for a beat before flipping it over and brushing his lips across her palm.
My stomach clenches at the effortlessly intimate gesture.
I look away, only to see Bree and Brooklyn making moon eyes at each other.
Why did I decide to come out with two sickeningly in love couples? To torture myself, apparently. I take another huge gulp of my beer, willing my gaze to remain on Bree instead of seeking out Ronin like I want to.
Cat changes the subject, asking Bree and Brooklyn how they met. Bree launches into her tale about meeting Brooklyn at the animal shelter. I hear her voice, laugh at all the appropriate spots in the story, but her words are muffled as my focus blurs.
I may have been living in a big city for the last few years, but I suddenly feel extremely small and trite.
It’s a feeling I’m not used to, especially when it comes to Evan.
I’m the big sister, I’ve always been the one to lead him with my example, to show him how to navigate life.
But now he’s here at a point in his life I have yet to experience.
I’ve never known the comfort of companionship, of love, the way he clearly does.
Even Bree and Brooklyn, who are brand new, radiate a level of closeness that has eluded me.
That’s not true.
It was offered to me, and I refused it.
Giving in to the impulse eating away at me, my eyes drift across the room.
Like a magnet, my gaze is drawn across the diner, finding what I seek behind the bar, elbows on the counter and gazing right back at me.
I hold Ronin’s stare for a few thudding heartbeats before glancing back down at my beer. This is going to be a long holiday.