OLIVER
“Hello? Earth to Oliver?” Jane bangs something in the background, grabbing my attention.
“What?” There’s an edge of frustration in my voice that I wish wasn’t there. It’s not Jane’s fault I’m cranky. Even though my date with Colt—well, and Aaron—didn’t end disastrously, I’m still reeling from the experience. Somehow, I managed to run off two eligible men in one night. That’s impressive in all the wrong ways.
“Are you okay?” she asks, concern filling her voice. “Do you need me to come down there?”
Nope. Absolutely not. The last thing I need is my oldest sibling in my space, trying to make me feel better about my sex life. It’s bad enough she knows I have a sex life. “I’m fine, just a little unfocused. Really.” As the baby in my family, my siblings have always felt the need to protect me. Sometimes a little too much.
I close my laptop and move from lying down on the sofa to sitting, hoping that will help. It’s not like I was working anyway. I’d been going through a series ofWikipediaarticles when she called. They started as research but ended up somewhere vastly different. Hey, you never know when all that useless information might come in handy.
“What happened? Is it the author you work for? Is he working you too hard again?” Spend one family vacation reading and making notes on a manuscript, and everyone starts to think that my boss is a tyrant. Maybe I prefer reading to the interrogation I get when we’re all together.
Or maybe I fell so far behind on my deadlines after the newestFinal Fantasygame release that I didn’t have a choice.
“Jane, you work twenty-four-hour shifts in the hospital.Ishould be the one askingyouthat question.” All of my brothers and sisters are impressive, but Jane’s the oldest and needs to win everything. Which is why she’s a neurophysiologist—whatever that means.
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because it is,” we say at the same time.
“Little brother,” she warns.
“Everything’s good. Really. It was just another bad date.” I grab my headphones and connect them to my phone. I’m too restless to sit still while we do this. Might as well use the time for something productive.
Okay, semi-productive.
I grab the crochet project I’ve been working on, a rainbow dinosaur, and start working on the body. It’s easy rounds of stitches, so I can listen and work at the same time.
“What kind of bad?” I can practically hear her sitting up straighter.
“Oh. My. God. Leave it alone. I’m fine. He’s fine. Everyone’s fine. It just wasn’t a good fit.” I need to stop sayingfine, but it’s the only word I can think of. That’s true with Colt. We got along well enough, but there was no spark. Nothing to make me believe that it would be anything more than a pleasant evening.
Aaron, on the other hand, I’d felt something with him, a connection that made me think that maybe we could be together. Romantically. I spent twenty minutes with Colt, dragging out every word of our stilted conversation. With Aaron, the hours we spent together flew by. When he left, all I wanted to do was figure out how to invite him back here.
And not even for bedroom activities, but to keep our conversation going.
Though the bedroom activities were a huge plus.
“Let me set you up.”
“Excuse me? Jane, I love you, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you pick out a date for me.” She’s got great taste in her own husband, David. He adores her and their children. That part I want, but I find David dull as a box of rocks.
“I have a great track record for setting people up. My friend Stephanie’s married to the woman I set her up with. And you know I found Henry’s wife.” Henry, our brother, is five years younger than Jane, the third kid in the bunch. His wife is fantastic. Whether Jane actually found her is a hot-button issue in our household. Henry claims they would’ve gotten together on their own even if Jane hadn’t butted in.
“Yeah, but I’m not looking for a wife.” I throw myself down on the couch.
“Oliver.”
“Jane.” Two can play this game. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as the baby in the family, it’s that I can annoy my siblings into bending to my will.
“Fine. Let me know if you change your mind. I know people at Cardinal Falls Hospital.”
Yeah, so do I. Technically, that’s where Colt works, though I doubt she knows him. I certainly hope she doesn’t. The last thing I need is for her to hear about the disastrous night through the grapevine. Or one of his work friends. I prefer to keep far away from my siblings’ friends. They’re already too involved in my life; the last thing I need is for them to have a reason to get more details.
“So, tell me what my nieces have been up to?”
