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with you?” Brady asked. Ellie and I had matching looks of Damn! Though for terribly different reasons, I’m sure.
    “Naw, now. Y’all just sit right down here. You want that fancy margarita with brandy, right Ellie?” Tarsha asked, giving me a knowing look. I shot daggers with my eyes.
    “Yeah, Tarsha. And he’s on my ticket,” Ellie said pointing at Brady who shook his head.
    “That’s not necessary. Just a draft, please. Yuengling if you got it.” He threw his jacket over the barstool beside me and sat next to me. Ellie sat on his other side and shot him an annoyed look before delving into the margarita Tarsha passed her. When I looked to him he was smiling into his beer. It took me back to a time we’d all three been at this very bar, way before I could consume alcohol . He’d looked at me with such adoration then it hurt my chest. Which he did now, too. Fuck.
    “I have to pee.” I said, getting up and heading for the bathroom. I locked myself in a stall. What the fuck was I doing? He’s at lunch with my sister and just like before I was pining for him. Only now it made me feel like a bigger asshole because I wasn’t a silly eighteen year old with a crush, I was a grown man who was making goo-goo eyes at the guy my sister was trying to rekindle things with.
    My phone buzzed. I pulled it up and looked at the text from Tarsha. Stop being a bitch. He’s into you. Bad.
    How do you figure? I text back.
    He watched the whole time you walked off.
    Fucking idiot. My sister was going to catch on.
    Yes, your sister noticed.
    Fuck.
    I actually did have to pee so I did my business, washed up and went back out. When I got to the bar Ellie was gone. “Where’s my sister?”
    “Apparently she had to pee, too,” Tarsha said, nodding her head, not-so-subtly at Brady which I knew to mean she was telling me to talk to him.
    Brady shrugged. His eyes never leaving mine. I wanted to melt at the sincere adoration I saw there. “It’s good to see you, again, Ryan.” His deep voice licked me from head to toe.
    “Yeah,” I mumbled as I sat back down.
    “You know, I meant it. Your sister and I are just friends.”
    I shot him a bitchy glance. “I’m not sure why that matters.”
    A cocktail straw came sailing and whacked me in the face. “Hey!” I bitched, rubbing my face. Tarsha nudged her head toward Brady who was chuckling. I said nothing, just sipped my drink.
    “Boys are stupid,” Tarsha complained as she walked off. “Stupid.”
    Brady laughed again then put his hand on my shoulder. Fuck it felt good. I looked at him. “Seriously,” he said, “It’s great to see you and thanks so much for helping Lila.”
    “She fessed up, did she?”
    “Yep. Never was good at lying to me. I think you rubbed off.”
    I snorted. “Hardly. I didn’t even know her long enough to remember her face. I’ve seen her for weeks and didn’t put it together.”
    He pulled his arm back and looked sadly at his beer. That blow landed right where I’d wanted. I had wanted him to hurt, right? Yes. Yes, he needed to back off.
    “Well, thanks for helping all the same. I’m pretty sure part of you knew it was her, though. You always was one for spoiling her.”
    I smiled, remembering the cookies and cokes I used to sneak a six-year-old Delilah. “Yeah,” I said fondly. I had missed her as much as I’d missed her daddy. I think I was most ashamed of the fact I hadn’t recognized her when I first saw her. I guess I was just so comfortable having forgotten them. My heart couldn’t handle the hope that they were back.
    “ We should have a movie night or something, like old times.”
    I scowled. “It’s nothing like old times, and you know it.” With my scowl and snapping tone he retreated back to his beer. “Where is my sister?” I looked toward the bathroom. Damn her for always taking forever. She was probably texting someone and reapplying make-up.
    “I told her.”
    I turned to him, sputtering. “You what?”
    His eyes