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‘How was he?’
‘Good.’ She shifts on her heels, uncomfortable, like she’s reluctant to part with any more information.
I try not to laugh at the strange way she’s behaving and instead look around the shop to see if any of my favourites are in. I’m meant to have a chat with Samantha but we keep missing each other, and as far as I can tell, she’s not in here at the moment either. When I spot a man in a green plaid shirt at a table in the back corner, I almost do a double-take.
‘Ava,’ I say carefully. ‘Could that vaguely intimidating man in the corner possibly be your brother?’
Ithasto be. His legs are stretched out under the table as he lazily scrolls his phone, dark hair falling into his face no matter how many times he pushes it away. Even from this distance I can see they share the same eyes, same furrow between the brows as they concentrate. Strong, beautiful genes, clearly.
She shrugs when I look back at her for confirmation. I remember she mentioned he travels around a lot, which makes him the perfect companion for an activity, and the perfect person from whom to extract vital Ava information. For platonicreasons, obviously. ‘What’s he doing today? Would he want to help with the list?’
‘He probably would, actually,’ she mumbles. She looks over at him and her expression softens infinitesimally. ‘But he can’t. He has plans.’
I nod, fingers tapping the counter. I want to find out how similar they are; if they share the same mannerisms, the same constant flow of dry rebuttals, but before I even finish the thought,she cuts in. ‘Don’t you dare accost him.’
‘I wasn’t going toaccosthim.’ My shirt tightens across my torso as I cross my arms. I can’t be sure, but I swear her eyes drop to my biceps for a split second.
‘I expressly forbid you to communicate with him in any way.’
‘But—’
‘This includes flirting with him.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Is it your mission to ruin all my fun? Someone as good-looking as that needs to be told.’
‘Trust me, he’s been told often enough. Please don’t give his ego any more fuel.’
I analyse him again, tilting my head. ‘You’d make an incredibly attractive man.’
‘Appreciate that.’
‘And you don’t want me to talk to him. Why?’
‘Because,’ she says, turning away from me to load some mugs into the dishwasher against the back wall, ‘you’ve already met my best friend, weaselled your way into both my work and free time, and have generally become an incredibly talkative, frenetic addition to my very quiet life. I don’t need you to scoop Max up in your whirlwind too.’
‘If we’re getting technical, me meeting Josie was mostly your fault,’ I reason.
‘A series of events I have regretted setting in motion every day since.’
She closes the dishwasher with a slam. Fortunately for me, it’s at this exact moment her brother stands up and heads towards us. This guy istall.He hovers for a few moments, clearly unsure if Ava’s in the middle of serving a customer.
‘Go ahead,’ I say to him, which Ava answers with a glower. I take her moment of distraction to add, ‘Ava and I are friends. But she’s forbidden me to talk to you.’
‘Finn,’ she says slowly, ‘did youmisunderstand what “forbidden to talk to him” means?’
Max’s eyes glitter. ‘I’ve learnt the hard way what happens when you don’t listen to her.’
‘Doyouwant to find out what happens?’ Her smile is sickly sweet.
Before I can answer, Max stretches out his hand for me to shake. ‘I’m Max, Ava’s brother. Twin. Not identical, in case you couldn’t tell.’
From afar, they looked deceptively similar, but up close, I’m able to see the differences. Ava’s face is fuller, while Max’s is defined by diamond-cutting cheekbones and a sharp chin. He’s also more tanned than she is, a fading sunburn across the bridge of his nose. Their smiles are different, too.
‘She’s told me so much about you.’ I pointedly ignore what I can imagine are pure laser beams shooting from Ava’s eyes.
‘And she’s told me absolutely nothing about you,’ Max replies matter-of-factly.
‘Can’t say I’m surprised,’ I say. ‘We’ve only hung out a few times. I think she’s embarrassed to be my friend. Right, Ava?’
