Page 108 of The Business of Love Box Set 1: Books 1 - 4

JACKSON

I ’d spent more time in airports this past month than I had in my entire lifetime. From flying to New York to first scout out business and potential apartments, to going back to Nashville and flying out to the Virgin Islands to see Katie, I was over the hustle and bustle of the waiting terminal.

Travelers were always the worst kind of people.

A middle-aged woman in a yellow cardigan rolled over the toe of my shoe with her suitcase. It must have weighed seventy pounds. How she’d gotten it cleared at check-in, I had no idea. Perhaps she hadn’t made it there yet. If that was the case, she was in for some bad news.

Please rid your suitcase of twenty pounds before you proceed, ma’am.

Another man in a business suit with a designer briefcase practically knocked me off my feet as he rushed past me to get to his gate.

Yes, I was definitely tired of airports.

I stood surrounded by people on cell phones saying their final farewells to family before they boarded and parents barking at their kids to stop chasing each other around the rows of waiting chairs.

They didn’t listen, of course.

I moved out of the busiest section near the terminal exit where my sister would be arriving any minute and I opted for a quieter spot farther back where I could lean against the wall and watch the chaos from a safe distance.

A few minutes passed before the passengers on my sister’s Virgin Islands flight started leaving the terminal and reuniting with family on the other side.

Couples embraced, children ran into their fathers’ arms, and Katie, my twin, stretched to the tips of her toes to peer over the heads of strangers to seek me out.

She spotted me right away.

Katie and I had a weird bond like that. Whenever we walked into a room, we would find each other instantly.

Our parents claimed it was a twin thing.

Hailey seemed to think that was the case, too.

But Katie and I had never much believed in that.

We didn’t feel each other’s feelings. We didn’t get sinking feelings when something was wrong.

We didn’t have a twin-like sixth sense. We were normal siblings.

We just happened to be skilled at finding each other.

She flung her arm over her head and gave me an enthusiastic wave.

I grinned and pushed off the wall to meet her in the crowd. She only had one bag with her that crossed from her shoulder to her hip, and as soon as I reached her, I lifted the strap from her shoulder and pulled it over her head so I could sling it over my own shoulder.

She gave me a tight hug and I could have sworn I smelled airplane on her.

“How was the flight?” I asked into her shoulder.

We broke apart and she reached behind her head to tighten her messy bun with a quick pull of her hair. “It was okay. No crying babies and no coughing assholes, so I’d consider it better than most.”

“Jackpot.”

She reached for her bag. “I can carry that, Jack. It’s not heavy.”

“Nonsense. I’ve got it. Come on. Let’s get out of here. You hungry?”

“Am I ever not hungry?”

“Fair point. What are you in the mood for?”

We wove through the throngs of people and made for the closest doors so we could cross the ramp and get to my car in the parking garage. Katie took her hair down as soon as we were outside and breathed in the fresh air.

She sighed. “There’s nothing better than the smell of pavement after rainfall.”

“The Virgin Islands smells better than New York City,” I said. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”

“They both have something to offer.”

“New York smells like concrete and carbon emissions. Your island smells like salt water and tropical flowers and grass. There is no comparison.”

She laughed and shoved at my shoulder when we reached my car. “Come live on my island if you love it so much then.”

“I seriously doubt my business would be as lucrative. Do you know how much easier it is to fall in love on a sandy beach under blue skies? There’s psychology behind this shit.”

Katie opened the passenger door to my Mercedes and slid into the seat.

As soon as I turned the car on, she cranked the heat and pointed the vents at herself so she could warm up.

She was used to warm-weather living, not this gloomy weather we’d been having in the city.

I buckled in and we hit the road to make for someplace cozy to sit down and share a meal.

We only had tonight together. Tomorrow, she would meet with her clients, and before we knew it, she’d be back on a flight before sundown.

It sure seemed like a hell of a lot of work from where I was standing. But it was work Katie loved more than anything. I understood that. My business was my baby too and I’d have done whatever it took to make my clients happy.

At least I got to see her.

We ended up at a burger joint not far from the airport.

It lured us in with a neon sign of a burger spitting fluorescent green lettuce and red lines of ketchup.

We parked and passed under the buzzing sign before ducking inside.

It felt humid, a combination of all the bodies of patrons and the humidity of rain-soaked clothes, and it smelled like cheese and frying onions.

We found a table near a cracked window for some fresh, albeit cool, air. Katie draped my jacket over her thighs to keep warm. By the time we were each halfway through our first beer, she’d warmed up.

“Have you talked to Hailey recently?” Katie asked after our food arrived and she’d popped a piping-hot French fry in her mouth. She fanned her mouth and struggled to swallow the morsel. “Holy hell, that’s hot. Be careful, Jack.”

I didn’t heed her advice. I burnt my tongue too but put on a good show that the heat didn’t get to me. “Not recently, no. Not since she packed up and left actually. I don’t know. It’s weird, Katie. Like all of a sudden, she and I don’t know each other as well as I thought we did.”

Katie smothered another fry in ketchup. “Well, she did give up her entire life to follow you to New York. I highly doubt when she first followed you out here that she expected it to end so badly.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I feel like an ass for not thinking about it that way until now.”

Katie shrugged. “Relationships are always more complicated for the people who are in them than the ones standing on the sidelines. You and Hailey will work this out. Maybe time is what you both need to get your priorities straight.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Priorities?”

“Don’t make me say it, Jack.”

“Say what?”

She rolled her eyes and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table.

It creaked softly and tilted in her direction.

“You and Hailey are more than just friends. You always have been. The two of you are better together than half the couples I see at my resort. But you’re both wasting so much time worrying about shit that doesn’t matter that you can’t see it for yourselves.

” Katie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and slumped back in her chair.

“You know, when you first told me Hailey was coming to live with you in New York, I thought that might be it. I thought the two of you were finally just going to do the damn thing.”

“We’re just—”

“If you say friends , I swear to God, Jack, I’ll drown you in your own beer.”

I blinked. “Who shit in your cereal this morning?”

A smile tugged at her lips. “Nobody. But I was on an airplane and I’m stuck here having the same conversation with my brother that I’ve had a dozen times over. You need to decide what you want. And if you want Hailey, then it’s time to stop pussyfooting around and just go for it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

Good question. Why couldn’t I just take that plunge and confront what this thing was between Hailey and me? I couldn’t deny things had been getting more and more tense between us, and I’d be a fool not to acknowledge that it all started when we hooked up.

I didn’t regret it.

Did Hailey?

Did she wish we’d never had sex?

“She doesn’t want to ruin our friendship,” I said. “I don’t think we want the same things. Besides, I’ve gone on some dates since she left. I think it’s best for both of us if we just move on. Give it a little time. Then we’ll be back to our old ways in no time. I’m sure of it.”

I couldn’t read the expression on my sister’s face.

It was too neutral. She licked her lips and shook her head before she picked up her burger and took a massive bite.

She wiped mustard and ketchup from the corner of her mouth with her napkin and washed the bite down with a sip of beer.

“You guys have been giving this thing nothing but time since the good old days when we were all kids. Are you seriously telling me you’ve been having a better time on these dates than you do when you’re with Hailey? ”

Damn it. “I didn’t say that.”

“Exactly,” Katie said pointedly. “I don’t want to tell you what to do.

But you need to seriously consider this, Jack.

Who do you want to spend the most time with?

Who do you want to call when something good happens?

Or something bad? Who is that person who is on your mind more than anyone else? Who do you dream about?”

Katie was watching me like a lioness watched her prey. She’d backed me into a corner and she knew it.

“The girl I met last week was fun.” I was lying through my teeth. Lacy had been anything but fun. “We had a good time.”

“You’re being evasive.”

I stared into my basket of fries and half-eaten burger.

Hailey was the girl that lived in my mind.

I’d thought about her throughout the entire course of my date with Lacy, hadn’t I?

Hell, I’d thought about her when I first woke up this morning because birds were chirping and rain was pattering against the window and I knew those were the kinds of sounds Hailey loved most.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

Katie smirked and rested her chin in her palm. “What?”

“Am I in love with my best friend?”

Katie plucked a fry from her basket and threw it at me. It hit me square in the nose. She laughed and gave her head a shake. “Yes, Jack. You absolutely are.”