I wondered whether the image of her—the memory—would eventually fade from my mind. Would I ever forget the little details about her? The sound of her voice? The way she punched me in the arm when I annoyed her? The way her nose wrinkled when she was concentrating hard on something?
I hoped I never would.
“Do you have any idea how long you’ve been standing out here?”
I didn’t stir at the sound of my brother’s voice. I’d heard him approaching from behind me, his footfalls crunching on the grass and leaves in a gait I knew better than my own.
August stepped beside me, and I glanced over at my twin brother. His bulky biceps and forearms strained against his flannel shirt as he crossed them over his chest. His light-gray eyes—the only real physical similarity between the two of us—darkened as he stared at Thea’s gravestone.
The loss of our sister had rattled our family to the very core when she was murdered as a young college student. Murdered by a copycat of a serial killer who had gotten away with his crime for far too long. She was the youngest of the six of us, and my brothers and I were always protective of our only female sibling. It could’ve wrecked us, but our parents were like two strong pillars, holding us up as our foundations were shaken.
At my silence, August arched a brow.
Of course I knew how long I’d been here. Longer than I normally would, but it was my day off from working as the chief technical officer of Hearthstone Security and Investigation, a company August ran and most of our brothers participated in.
“What do you need?” I shifted my gaze back to Thea’s grave.
“What makes you think I need something?”
It was my turn to give him a questioning look. I loved working for my brother; I really did. The family business gave me purpose. My skills in cyber security weren’t wholly needed in such a small, local setting as Ember Hollow, but my work did make a difference. I got to see that impact personally.
But working for my brother also had its challenges. August, for one, was a great boss but he was often…needy. It wasn’t unusual for us to work our off days. Which was why I’d assumed he had shown up here. I allowed him access to my cell phone tracking most of the time so he could find me if he needed me.
August shifted slightly on his feet. “Okay, maybe I initially needed something…” He sighed. “I was waiting for you to leave the cemetery and when you didn’t…”
Maybe I should’ve turned my location off when I’d gotten here. My chest felt tight and uncomfortable but I forced myself not to fidget. The pinch of worry in his expression was unsettling. Maybe I had been in the cemetery longer than I thought.
Saying a silent goodbye to my sister, I turned toward him. “I’m done now. What’s going on?”
August clenched his jaw. That worry in his expression intensified as he scanned my face.
One of the hardest things about having a twin brother was that I couldn’t hide from him like I did the rest of the world. No matter how hard I tried, he knew me better than anyone.
Almostanyone.
“Fox…” He started, but I shook my head. He shouldn’t be worrying about me.
“I’m fine.”
And I was, or at least I would be. This time of year was hard. The anniversary of Thea’s death was coming up and it reminded me of all I’d lost…all I let slip through my fingers.
Reminded me of everything I couldn’t keep.
A flicker of suspicion crossed August’s face, but he didn’t push. He sighed, a long, drawn-out thing. “Come to Latte Pages with me. I owe you coffee.”
I blinked at him. “Did you have work stuff to ask me?”
He grimaced. “Who said it was work stuff?”
“It’s always work stuff.”
He rolled his eyes. Then grabbed hold of the sleeve of my jacket and pulled me away from Thea’s grave.
“Come on,” he grumbled. “I’m taking my grumpy, nerdy brother for a coffee.”
Augustofferedtodrive.I was still in a mood, and when he parked outside the coffee shop, my unease intensified when I glanced inside the large windows. The place was packed.
“Can we get it to go?” I asked.
