When she’d been four, her mother had come to her and asked what she thought about having a sibling. Annette had explained she would use the same sperm donor so the baby would be a full sibling. Jax had thought about it for a few days and then had decided she would very much like a sister. Her mom had promised to do her best and nine months later, Ryleigh had been born.
“She would have gotten pregnant,” Jax said. “But she wouldhave waited awhile to try to talk me into it. That means she would have had a different egg with a different set of genes and you would be someone else.”
“That would have been very sad,” Ryleigh said. “Because you couldn’t do better than me.”
“No, I couldn’t. You’re my baby sister.” Jax had always been protective of Ryleigh, even after her “baby sister” had grown three inches taller than her own five-five.
“Did I make a mistake?”
The plaintive question made Jax’s heart hurt. “No. Sweetie, if you were desperately in love with Dustin, you would have said yes before he was done asking the question. You would have been sure. You weren’t, so you did the right thing.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you miss him? Right this second, do you wish you were with him?”
Ryleigh sat up and sighed. “No.”
“What if he showed up and proposed a second time?”
Her sister shifted uneasily. “I’d say no.”
“I kind of think that’s your answer. Marriage is a big deal. In a perfect world, it’s forever. You have to be sure, and you’re not.”
Ryleigh eyed her suspiciously. “You’re thinking about the spark thing, aren’t you?”
“I’m not,” Jax protested, pleased she was telling the truth.
“Not everyone needs sparks. Maybe they’re not a good thing. Maybe they blind you to the truth. You and Harris had sparks and you still didn’t make it.”
Jax winced. “Harsh, but yes.” What she didn’t say was that Dustin and Ryleigh never seemed like a couple. They never had that unspoken connection that told the world they were meant to be together. Not that her sister needed to hear her say that.
“I don’t mean to be harsh,” Ryleigh said. “It’s just everything is suddenly confusing.”
“I get that. You need to give yourself time to deal with what just happened and to think about what you want for your future. At some point you’ll start dating again and—”
“Please don’t talk to me about dating. I can’t. That’s not where I want to go right now. I want...” Her sister looked away, as if hiding something.
“What do you want?” Jax asked. “Tell me.”
“You won’t like it.”
Jax felt her stomach instantly clench. “I might surprise you. What do you want?”
Ryleigh looked at her. “I’ve been thinking it might be time for me to make some big changes. If I hadn’t had to break off my engagement, I would have stayed in San Diego.”
Jax absolutely didn’t like the sound of that. “But you didn’t. You moved home, where you belong and you’ve done great here. Again I say ‘home’ because all your friends are here, your job, which you love, is here. I’m here. You belong in Port Palmas.”
“Thanks for listening with an open mind,” Ryleigh said, her tone sarcastic.
Jax waved the comment away. “You know what I mean. You’re an aunt. Don’t you want to see Gentry and Xander grow up? Wouldn’t it be better to find someone great and fall madly in love right here?”
Her sister looked away, which unleashed a wave of fear. Ryleigh moving? She couldn’t. Jax needed her. They were a team. Sisters who looked out for each other.
“You can’t move,” she said flatly.
“I’m not moving.”
“You can’t.”
