“So strange,” Skye said, maybe with a touch of irony. After all, Laylee was the reason Skye had discovered what a jerk Clyde was.
“I’m glad he’s out of the picture. Now you’ll have more time for me. I’m brokenhearted, you know.” Her grin belied that statement.
“Oh, sure,” Skye said. “I can see the tears welling up.”
Laylee laughed. “Well, I should be brokenhearted. Dejected. Forlorn. I’m just not sure I have it in me.”
“Why should you be . . . all that?”
“I got ditched. Can you believe it?Me.”
“Incredible.” Her sister was nothing if not vain. Then again, why shouldn’t Laylee recognize her own beauty? Unlike Skye, she didn’t have a single flaw. The bridge of her nose was not a little too wide. Her lips were not too full. Her ears were dainty. Her brows finely arched.
Compared to Laylee, Skye looked like a troglodyte. The missing link. A direct descendent of a cave dweller. “What fool would do such a thing?”
Waving the question off as unimportant, Laylee said, “Men can’t take a straightforward woman. Cowards, all of them.”
Hmm. Her sister liked to come on strong and fast, pretty much the opposite of Skye, and it often intimidated people. Not that Laylee had ever been serious about a man. She was a serial dater who liked a lot of variety. Again, the opposite of Skye.
“I’m glad you’re single again,” Laylee said, “because now we can be single together. We’ll have so much fun. I know all the best places to find the finest guys.”
And therein was one of the reasons Clyde had come in handy. Skye didn’t like the singles scene. “You know I’m not a partier, and I have zero interest in casual hookups.”
“Meaning you have zero interest in sex?”
With the right guy, she did, but she’d never been able to convince her sister of that.
“Skye,” her sister wailed. “I know that look!”
Wrinkling her nose, Skye admitted, “Far as I can tell, sex is overrated.”
“Oh, honey.” Her tone rich with sympathy, Laylee said, “You’re always picking the wrong guys.”
Every guy she’d ever “picked” had been at Laylee’s suggestion, but Skye refrained from pointing that out. “I have other, more important priorities right now.”
“Ugh, you’re talking about your house again, aren’t you? What is it now? New furniture? New flooring?” Pretending to gag, Laylee asked, “Newdrapes?”
“I think I’d like a pool.” Seeing Ford’s had inspired her. How nice would it be to float out there on the cool water under the sunshine, maybe with a frosty drink nearby? She could float her troubles away.
“No.” Laylee sat forward. “Enough with the homemaker routine. Next you’ll be adopting five cats and knitting cardigans. You’reyoung, and that meansI’myoung. Let’s go out and have fun. Let’s burn up the town. I promise I’ll find you a guy to rock your world, and then you’ll see what I mean.”
Sometimes her sister had a one-track mind. “I’ll get us something to drink.” Fleeing the couch and darting into the kitchen, Skye wondered how to handle the situation. She and Laylee were close—twins were like that. More so than anyone else, she understood her sister. She saw Laylee’s vulnerabilities, which, granted, weren’t easy to spot in someone so vibrant, outgoing, and assertive.
Growing up with constant comparisons to her more sociable twin had worn down Skye’s confidence. She knew it, but conquering her insecurity wasn’t easy.
Laylee had been the favored twin, Miss Perfection, always admired for her beauty and style, but in many ways, Laylee had found that a difficult standard to bear.
For much of their lives, Skye had worked doubly hard to compensate for her shortcomings, while Laylee had sought a way to shatter illusions of perfection.
Overall, Skye thought they each just wanted to be accepted for who they were, faults and all.
She was stepping back into the room with two colas when Ford glanced around the open door and said, “Knock, knock.”
It took a mere second for Skye to know he’d listened in.
Oh, dear God.
His beautiful green eyes first settled on Skye, and his mouth did this sexy little trick of not quite smiling, yet somehow conveying reassurance, as if to say, “Everything is fine.” Then his gaze shifted to Laylee, and he cocked one eyebrow.
