Jace shook his head. “Shut up, you two. That’s the last time I tell you guys anything.”
“Aw, don’t go away mad. When are you going to be on TV with her again?”
“Probably never,” Jace said.
“Good,” Leo said. “Tell herI’mavailable for the next couples’ shoot.” He narrowed his eyes and peered at the ceiling. “I think they said something about a kissing class?”
Jace chuckled. “Dream on, buddy.”
“Hey, take this with you, will you? Set it by my free sign?” Leo dashed over to the corner of the room and hoisted an old terracotta pot off the floor and into Jace’s hands.
Leo and hisfreesign.“You really get off when people take your old crap, don’t you?”
A smile stretched across Leo’s face. “Yes!”
“Too bad nobody’s taking the bookshelf you made in woodshop,” Kip razzed.
Leo’s face fell. “Whatever. Someone will want it.” He made his way back to the lifting bench.
“Are you really going to move into her house?” Kip asked.
Jace shrugged. “If I can get her to agree on it. It would make my job a lot easier.”
“And a lot funner,” Leo grumbled. “You lucky dog.”
Jace fought back a grin. No, Oreo was the lucky one.
“Funner’s not a word,” Kip said. “And living with a woman is more complicated than you might think, youngster.” Kip loved playing the role of the wiser brother. Especially since he’d assumed the younger twin position since birth, having been born a full eight minutes after Leo.
“Complicated or not,” Leo said, “I’d trade places with him in a heartbeat.”
“Yeah, until danger strikes,” Kip grumbled. “Hiding under the kitchen table won’t impress her.”
Jace chuckled as he headed toward the door. Man, he missed these guys. “I’ll be in touch,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s what you said last night,” Leo said. “And I wasfouryears old when I hid under that table, Kip. When you going to let it rest?”
Jace closed the door behind him, barely catching Kip’s reply. “Never.”
He laughed out loud this time. His brothers were good reminders of how different he used to be. Carefree. He’d lost that part of himself somewhere between the escape of his platoon and the weeks that followed, the impact of what they’d gone through sinking deeper day-by-day. But all of that was starting to wane now; he could feel it.
After backing out of the driveway in a slow crawl, Jace snatched the pot off the passenger seat and pushed open his door. Beside the ugly, weatheredfreesign stood two tires, three couch-less couch cushions, and the sorry old bookshelf Leo made.
Not enough things are free in this world anymore,Leo had declared.
Jace hadn’t thought anyone would want his brother’s old stuff, even if itwasfree, but he’d been wrong. Even now Jace realized that Leo’s nasty old beanbag was gone. Seemed as if someone took an item or two a day, and Leo just kept replenishing the stock.
Jace set the heavy pot on the overgrown spot of grass and shook his head. Time to shift gears. Protecting Amy was serious work, there was no doubt about it, but Jace would be lying if he said that’s all it was. In this case, he was definitely breaking the cardinal rule of mixing business with pleasure. The question was this: would his feelings for Amy make him a bigger threat, or would they become a dangerous distraction?
