What was she thinking? She’d totally forgotten about Evan. She didn’t have the money to buy these drinks now that Evan was unemployed. He hadn’t had to rely on her for anything yet, but they were building a life together, and she should be thinking for two. It shamed her that she’d forgotten his money situation and the potential hard times he was going through when she agreed to go out with her friends. She’d ditched him tonight. In more ways than one.

“What can I get you, beautiful?” the bartender asked, leaning over the bar toward her. He was older, maybe forty-five, and very handsome. He had silver in his hair and tattoos on the backs of his hands.

Via blushed at the endearment, even though she was pretty certain that it was the kind of thing bartenders said to women all the time.

She placed her order and his eyes widened. “Wow, hard day, huh?”

She laughed. “It’s not all for me. I swear.”

He tapped the bar with the flat of his hand. “You got it, gorgeous. I’ll be right back.” A moment later he tossed a tray onto the bar and started loading drinks onto it. “You a yoga teacher?”

She looked down at her apparel. “Nope. I just led a class for my colleagues. We’re teachers at PS 128.”

“No shit? I thought y’all usually came in on Fridays. We’d have held a table for you if we’d known.”

“We got a table just fine. And after the yoga, apparently they all needed a drink.”

“After the yoga, I needed an IV and about a week of vacation,” Sebastian’s voice came from over her shoulder. Via and the bartender laughed.

“I hear that—I used to date a yoga teacher. Went to a class thinking I could impress her. Damn. Big mistake. It was one of them hot yoga classes? I saw spots for a week.”

Via grinned at the bartender, noticing his eyes dancing between her and Sebastian. She took a step toward the bar and signed the bill he passed over to her.

“I’ll carry that for you.” Sebastian batted her hands away from the tray and grabbed the drinks. “It’s why I came over.”

The bartender handed over her copy of the bill and she smiled at him, trailing after Sebastian. The women cheered when he slid the drinks to the middle of the table, and Via found the two of them sliding into the last available seats, right next to one another. Well, fine. That was just fine. She couldn’t avoid him forever just because he looked like a Greek flipping god when he chaturanga-ed.

Via looked down at the receipt in her hand, about to fold it into her pocket. “Oh.”

“He charge you for something wrong?” Sebastian asked beside her, looking over her shoulder.

“No, he, uh, never mind.”

“Ohhhh.” Sebastian grinned at her, leaning over to read the receipt. “Christian the bartender left you his number.”

She pursed her lips and shoved the receipt into her pocket, a little mortified.