“Wait, she didn’t break up w—”
“She did.”
My shoulders dropped. Jack had been through a lot too. We both had. Even though we fought sometimes, I wanted to see him happy. My defenses started crumbling as compassion for him surged in me. “Oh, man, I’m sorry, Jack.”
“That’s alright.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. Forever a tough guy. “It wasn’t the first time I’ve been dumped.”
He was talking about his divorce. I studied his blue eyes, mirrors of my own. “Maybe you should start listening.”
Jack shrugged again. His chest expanded with a deep breath, pulling his shirt tight from shoulder to shoulder. “Look”—his eyes flitted around the room before landing on me—“I’m sorry, Jules. I just destroyed my relationship with Sadie. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
“Our relationship will be destroyed if you don’t lay off.”
“I’ll lay off.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Will you give Pat a chance?”
He sucked a breath through his teeth. “That—that I’m not sure about.”
“Try.”
The breath escaped on a guttural moan, his brows furrowing with indecision. He spoke slowly as he rolled his eyes. “Ugh, I guess I’ll try.” He pointed to me. “Only for you though, not because I like him. Because I don’t.”
“Noted.”
He stood straight and came toward me, arms outstretched. “Hug?”
“Fine.”
He pulled me into a twin hug. One of my favorite things in the whole wide world. I loved my brother. We had so much history and so much friendship. It was only the past few years that things had gone south between us. His divorce, Cam’s death, my stupidity, his overbearing tendencies. The rift between us was a constant bleeding wound in my heart. Being at odds with your twin was the worst. Felt like I was at odds with another part of myself.
He put his chin on the top of my head and said softly, “I’m sorry. Forgive me?”
“Yeah, I forgive you.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“We are all the family we really have, you know.”
“We have Dad,” I reminded him.
His chest pulsed with a puff. “Barely.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
I pushed him away to look in his eyes. “Sorry about Sadie. You must be sad.”
He shrugged, but said nothing. Jack not talking said everything. He was hurting, but chose to change the subject. He nodded towards the red and yellow tulips. “You like your flowers?”
Tulips were my favorite. “I love them. Thank you. Been a while since I’ve had some flowers in here.”
“Moore hasn’t brought you any yet?”
