I joined the Twitter, baby! What’s up?
He laughed in disbelief. Shaking his head, he backed out of the Twitter app—definitely going to strangle Kenna—and texted his mom.
You know that Twitter isn’t like texting, right? That everyone can see what you’re doing?
In less than a minute he got another Twitter notification.
So are you busy?
He had to laugh as he called her. “Mom, you can call me whenever you want. You don’t have to use Twitter to talk to me.”
“Oh, baby, I know that. But calling is passé. No one calls anyone these days. It’s all about social media.”
For the first time, he wondered just how much trouble his mom had managed to find over the years. He’d always assumed that he’d taken the much harder road than Hudson, being in the military, living that life.
But honest to God, he had to wonder if he hadn’t had it easy in comparison to his twin. “How about we keep things old-fashioned?” he asked.
“But, honey, you’re never going to catch a girl that way.”
He’d caught one fine. He just had no idea how to keep her. “I’ll manage,” he said.
“Fine, but you don’t have the best of tastes. You remember last year when you were into that Weston girl? She dumped you at recess and crushed your heart. I want to meet this next one and make sure she’s good enough.”
Kim Weston had been his sixth-grade crush. “Got it, Mom. You’re in charge.”
“I mean it. I’m watching you,” she said, a note of teasing coming into her voice.
His heart squeezed. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Good. I picked a girl for your brother and he’s going to marry her. So see, you can trust my judgment.”
When she disconnected, Jacob stared out the window at the lake for a long time.
He knew Hud was serious about Bailey, but only because he could see it with his own eyes and because Kenna had told him so.
He hadn’t known they were going to get married.
For some reason this hurt more than anything else, that they were so distanced from each other that Hud wouldn’t have told him such an important thing going on in his life.
Jacob was willing to take his part of the responsibility, and yeah, his part was more than fifty percent.
But Hud wasn’t giving an inch here. He needed an inch, dammit.
Ever think that maybe you’re projecting?
On that thought, he picked up his phone again and called the guy who’d leased him the cabin.
“When I first contacted you about renting this cabin, you asked if I was interested in buying,” he said. “I wasn’t ready then, but I’m ready now.”
Sophie’s visit to Dallas went predictably. It’d been great to see her sister. Good to see her parents. And bad for her mental health.
Par for the course.
As she got back to Cedar Ridge, she felt…like she’d come home.
The boat itself, not so much.
She got back just in time to take an afternoon shift at the assisted-living center attached to the hospital. A flu had knocked out the girls at the front desk. Sophie sanitized the entire place and then got them all caught up on paperwork.
While on break, she wandered down to the residents’ social room to see if she was needed. It was here that the residents watched TV, played games, or just sat around and talked.
Her gaze was immediately drawn to the chess table, where Carrie was currently in the middle of a game.
With Jacob.
She’d missed him.
Carrie made a move, beamed, and then rose to her feet. Leaning over the table, she cupped Jacob’s face and kissed him on the top of his head.
Sophie froze for a beat, torn between not wanting to intrude on what was clearly a private moment and melting into a pile of goo at the sweetness between Jacob and his mom.
But then Jacob’s gaze slid to hers and he, too, rose to his feet.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to—oh,” she breathed when he smiled and she realized her mistake.
Not Jacob, but Hudson. He’d cut his hair, and she hadn’t immediately seen the difference in his eyes and smile—which were friendly and warm but not…Well, she wasn’t sure she could accurately describe the way Jacob looked and smiled at her. Mostly it was with the heated, personal knowledge that came from having been as intimate with her as a man could get.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “You two look so much alike…”
He smiled. “Twins.”