Page 6 of XOXO, Yours

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Jules

“Jules?”

I turn around at the sound of Hope’s voice, and my whole body pivots toward it like a compass needle.

She stands in the doorway, chewing on her bottom lip, one hand braced on the wall as if she needs the support to stay upright.

“What happened?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing. Still waiting.”

My shoulders drop, and my breath rushes out of me.

“Okay. I just didn’t know where you went.”

“I was negotiating the release of a hostage.”

Her forehead wrinkles.

I hold up the candy bar, chocolate smeared at the corner of the wrapper. “The situation became violent.”

She chuckles. “Of course it did.”

Her eyes move to the cowboy behind me, and they widen slightly. Just a flicker, there and gone, but I catch it.

I know that look.

I’ve seen that look on Hope’s face approximately four hundred and thirty-two times over the years.

It says, Holy wow. Hot man alert!

I give her the smallest shake of my head. Not now.

Her eyebrows climb.

I narrow my eyes.

She presses her lips together.

We’ve been sisters long enough to have an entire conversation without saying a word. Foster sisters, technically, if anyone’s counting.

Nobody in our family counts.

“Jules?”

The cowboy says my name behind me, and something in his voice has changed. A low note of surprise threaded through it.

I turn back, candy bar still in hand. “Yeah?”

Something shifts in his expression. The easy warmth is still there, but there’s curiosity too.

“You’re Jules?”

I glance down at myself, at the hoodie and my coffee-stained sleeve, like the answer might be written somewhere on my body.

“Um, last time I checked.”