“Hey, you survived my family and came out without a scratch. I’m impressed.”
He laughed. “Your family wasn’t so bad. Though it helped that you coached me before we went. I knew what to expect of your parents and sisters. And yes, before you ask, Angela is desperate to be your father’s clone, and Mallory just wants approval. Your mother loves everyone but dances to your father’s tune. And she’s happy to do that. You, on the other hand, are not.”
“That caps it. See? Super-therapist. But I got sidetracked. We’re not done the Xavier-Christine story. So how did you break up? You tell me your story and I’ll tell you about me and Mitch.”
“Deal.” He launched into his breakup, apparently eager to hear all about hers. “It was coming for months. Plus, Auggie kept riding me about her. She never liked Christine. Said we didn’t fit. And Christine never understood my bond with my sister.” He looked into Justine’s eyes, and she encouraged him to continue by quietly listening. “I love Auggie. She’s my sister. My twin. We obviously don’t do everything together. But we do spend a lot of our free time hanging out.”
“I don’t understand why that’s a problem.”
“I didn’t either. I guess Christine took my closeness with Auggie as some kind of slight against her.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I only knew I had to call things off. I thought she’d be on board since she’d seemed so unhappy. Except she burst intotears. When she saw that didn’t move me, she left after calling me a lot of not-so-nice names.”
“Oh, nowthoseI want to hear.”
“I’m sure.” He chuckled. “I had no idea I’d see her again after that. But not a few days went by before she was calling and begging to get back together. Her desperation made it all worse.” He grimaced. “That sounds terrible, but it’s true. She came across as shrewish and nasty, a total one-eighty from the woman I’d dated. It made no sense. She’s a beautiful, intelligent woman who could easily be out dating someone else.”
Justine squelched the irrational jealousy that surged. Xavier had had a life before meeting her. And he’d broken up with Christine after all. Not that it should matter, since Justine and Xavier were only pretending to date. How sad she had to keep reminding herself of that.
“She managed to come over to pick up something she thought she’d left behind.”
“Nice gimmick.”
“I know. Auggie read me the riot act about it. She’s really into the phrase ‘I told you so.’”
Justine like Auggie even more.
“Then you managed to see me and Dan, her brother, nearly fight. Great first impression, huh?”
“Well, it could have been worse. He could have beaten you up.”
“Good point. He tried to get me to go back with her. As in, she sent him over to convince me I’d made a mistake.” He looked baffled. “I hate that she was hurting, but all her actions after the fact showed we weren’t right together.” His arm around Justine’s shoulders tightened, hugging her to him.
He stared at the road while she studied his profile.
“What about you and Mitch?”
Her turn. “Mitch? Talk about a fiasco.” She snorted, remembering how Dr. Mitch Dunderhead had first snared her. “We met through my mother, believe it or not.”
“Oh, I believe it. Your mother is as shrewd as your father.”
“She totally is. She tries to disarm you with a bubbly smile, pretending she’s the nice parent. All while she subtly maneuvers you until you’re doing exactly what she wanted in the first place.”
“Like dating Mitch.”
“DoctorMitch,” she corrected. “She met him at some fundraiser and insisted I attend the next one with her. Then I was out on a date with him without being sure how it happened.” She still couldn’t remember if it had been Mitch’s idea to take her out or her mother’s. “He was charming and smart. Totally handsome.”
“Oh, please. Tell me more,” he said with the the least amount of enthusiasm, which had her snickering.
“Don’t worry. His personality offset all the good stuff he had going for him. He was nice at first. But when we started dating, after I moved in with him, I realized our lives would always be centered around Mitch and Mitch’s needs.” She paused in thought and added, “I should have seen it so much sooner.”
“Oh?”
“He was nowhere near your skills.”
“My skills?”
She gave a sly grin. “In the bedroom.”
Xavier tripped and hurried to right himself.
