“It’s lovely to meet you as well,” I said. “I’ve heard so very much about you.”
Before I could figure out what was bothering me about him, a familiar presence settled behind my back. He was close enough that I didn’t need to turn to know who it was and relief streaked through me.
“Found you,” Jesse said, one of his hands immediately reaching for my waist and settling there, warm and heavy. “Kate said you were looking for me?”
I turned to look up at him but immediately realized that despite the fact that he’d been speaking to me, his attention was on his brother. The two of them were looking at each other, not speaking, but it seemed like they were having a conversation nonetheless.
While neither man seemed hostile, there was a definite tension between them that didn’t make sense. Like something unspoken was making both of them want to lash out at the other. I stepped in before the odd, loaded silence could stretch any further.
“Jesse’s spoken so highly of you,” I said to Will, glancing between them and hoping to ease whatever that quiet standoff had been about.
Will’s gaze finally slid back to mine. “He has?”
There it was again, the faintest edge of something sharp in his voice. He wasn’t being rude, but I couldn’t help feeling like he was brushing me off.
“Yes,” I said anyway, determined to prove that whatever he thought of me that was making him act this way, he was wrong. “I’ve heard only good things.”
“Hm,” he hummed, not agreeing or disagreeing as his gaze flicked back to his brother’s. “That’s interesting. Good to know.”
I smiled, but it felt a little more forced this time. While Jesse felt familiar, easy in a way I was starting to understand, Will had an odd presence about him. I couldn’t quite put my finger on this either, but he seemed just… not quite right.
The thought came and went so quickly I almost didn’t register it, but the feeling lingered as I turned my attention back to Jesse, instinctively gravitating toward him.
“Have you met everyone yet?” he asked, his tone light, but a tension in his posture that hadn’t been there before.
“I’ve met most, I think. Kate and Jane found me before I could get too lost and I chatted to them for a bit before I set out to find you.”
“I’m glad you got to spend some time with them. Although I can’t believe Jane is still on her feet. I kind of thought she would’ve taken off by now. She should. She needs to rest, whether she wants to or not.”
“Apparently, she still has another month to go,” I said. “Perhaps she just doesn’t want to rest quite that long.”
“Another month seems optimistic,” Jesse said, the corners of his eyes tightening slightly. “I actually thought there was less time than that.”
I shrugged. “Perhaps there is. It’s not an exact science, as far as I know. No one can predict exactly when the baby will come.”
“Yeah, I guess, but considering that the baby in question is a mix of Alex and Jane, it’s probably going to be more unpredictable than most.”
I smiled, but my awareness kept snagging on Will and the fact that he hadn’t moved or disengaged. He was still watching us as I nodded at Jesse. “Kate said something similar. It looks like everyone is expecting this particular baby to be rather impatient.”
Jesse hummed his agreement. His hand brushed lightly against my back, but his attention had returned to his twin. “Eliza and I need to leave now. We have plans tomorrow, but I’ll see you at the office on Monday morning.”
“Sure, that sounds like a plan,” Will agreed immediately, but the moment Jesse stepped closer to me, something passed between them in yet another exchange that I couldn’t quite read before Will glanced down at me. “It was nice to meet you, Eliza. I look forward to getting to know you.”
His voice was even and polite, the words perfectly normal, but the delivery was none of those things. He looked wildly uncomfortable saying it, like someone had handed him a script he didn’t believe in.
“You too, Will.” I made my lips form the shape of a smile, but I was quite sure it probably looked more like a grimace. “I suppose I’ll see you soon.”
We were living in the man’s house, after all. Jesse’s hand returned to my back before I could ask if he would be joining us there tonight, the touch light but insistent. “Come on.”
I glanced between them one more time before letting him guide me toward the exit, the tension of their unspoken conversation following us out to the car. We drove in silence for a few minutes before I finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Your brother is interesting,” I said.
Jesse huffed out a quiet laugh, but he still seemed pensive. “That’s one word to describe him.”
“I might have embarrassed myself slightly,” I admitted. “I thought he was you earlier. I even asked him why he’d changed his shirt.”
“That sounds like something he probably enjoyed.”
