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Chapter Seventeen

Ryder

The stars filling the nighttime sky looked down on me and I wondered, not for the first time, if Mom and Dad were looking down on me. What they thought of my first date in more than four years. What they thought of the woman who accompanied me.

Honestly, though, I knew my mother would’ve been a little worried. If she were here, I’m sure she’d have many things to say about the whole ordeal. But I also knew that she’d be happy for me. She’d be standing there, in her worn gingham apron with splatters of the day’s homemade meal on it, and smile at me.

I could imagine her, as she swiped the piece of her hair that always annoyed her out of the way, as she nodded in approval. My father, however, would have been sitting in his usual spot, with his feet propped on the railing beside me, a glass of his favorite whiskey in hand.

‘She seems like an interesting lass,’ he’d tell me. ‘A bit flouncy if nothing else, are you sure you want to get involved with her?’

I would respond to him with, ‘Well, yes, Dad.’

I was willing to admit it, I wanted to give it a shot. I nodded at the stars, hoping that they understood my choice, even if they couldn’t answer me.

“Well then, Romeo, how did tonight go?”

Looking over my shoulder, I watched as Van approached. Once she was beside me, she turned and leaned her lower back against the porch railing beside where I was. Right where Dad’s boots would rest. Her hands were cocked at an angle, so they held the rail. She was looking at me with a small smile on her face. “It was great.”

Shaking her head from side to side, she clicked her tongue, then continued. “Come on. I need more than that. I deserve more than that, after what I helped pull together in the space of an hour. Let me live my love life through you, Ry.”

I chuckled at her voice that was almost a whine. I never thought my love life would be the topic of conversation, since it had been a pretty long drought the past few years. But I could tell she was desperate for all the details. Although I wanted to share some of them with her, that just wasn’t the kind of guy I was. “A gentleman never kisses and tells.”

“Come on.” Her hands came off the rail and crossed in front of her chest. “Hold up.”

I stood a little taller, preparing for whatever was going to come out of her mouth next. With my twin sister, it could be anything, completely on either side of the spectrum. “What?”

Leaning in closer, her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “Are you saying you kissed Sienna?” Her lips lifted in a curious smile. “Because don’t think I didn’t hear you pull up a good hour before she came inside.”

Fuck, she was perceptive. I truly should have worded my response better. “I’m not saying anything.” Pushing away from the railing, I turned, then headed down to the truck and started to pull out folded blankets. The crunching of sneakers on gravel alerted me to my sister’s presence. “Make yourself useful and help me with this, will you?”

“I’m not asking for all the juicy details. They are yours and Sienna’s anyway. I just want to know if the date went well, if there will be another one? Surely you can tell your twin that?”

Looking up from the truck bed, I saw her eyeing me curiously. I could keep it all inside, but then, what good would that do me. I had questions. I wanted my sister’s opinion. I was also dying to tell her about my conversation with Sienna, about whether we were more than just friends. “Tonight, well, it went well. Well enough in fact, I hope to enjoy another date with her again. Soon.”

Beaming at me, she threw one of the cushions my way, I deflected it with my forearm, where it fell to the gravel at our feet. “So the sandwiches didn’t scare her away then.”

I laughed again, and it felt incredible. I was so happy right now I didn’t care that she just insulted my culinary skills. “She loved them.”

“She must like you then.” She bent and picked up the pillow, brushing the dirt off it.

Her comment hit home, but instead of letting her see it did, I deflected with humor. My go-to for all my life. “Who wouldn’t?”

“I’m being serious.” She pinned me with a look.

Smiling at her, I sobered a little. She wasn’t going to let this go. “I like her,” I confessed to the quiet of the night surrounding us.

She looked at me and smiled some more. “Wow.”

“What?” I wondered aloud.

“It’s been years since I’ve seen you taken with a woman. After what Anna—”

“Please don’t,” I told her. I didn’t want her name tarnishing tonight. “Not tonight.”

“Okay. I understand.”

I believed her; she was the one who I’d shared a womb with. She and I had our own language when we were babies, and it seemed that occasionally we had shared thoughts too. It seemed now, when she said she understood, she truly did know how I felt, and let the conversation drop even though I knew she wanted to say more.