Page 66 of Return to You

“Oh, yeah. We know that.” KJ shrugged. “We know you guys are like, together.”

“You do?” Kade had honestly thought they’d been covering their tracks pretty well.

“Yeah,” Ricky backed his brother’s statement up. “We saw you guys kissing in the backyard a couple days after my accident. And then, a bunch of times after that.”

Kade’s eyebrows rose. “A bunch of times?”

“Yep.” Ricky lifted his hand and started counting on his fingers. “There was the laundry room, the kitchen, the garage, the movies—”

“The rental shop,” KJ interjected.

“The rental shop, down at the lake, the—”

“Okay.” Kade lifted his hand to stop them from continuing.

KJ smirked. “Pretty much every time you two think no one’s watching.”

Kade felt like an idiot. He’d thought they were so slick. He hoped the boys hadn’t heard him sneaking in and out of Ali’s room, and if they did, he hoped they didn’t bring it up.

“Okay, well if you guys already know that then this will be easier. The reason I wanted to talk to you guys is I want to ask your aunt to marry me.”

Ricky and KJ looked at each other with a knowing expression.

“What?” Kade knew that twins had a special bond; that they could speak without actually talking, but he had no idea what they were saying.

Ricky turned back to him. “Dad knew it. He knew you two were going to get married. KJ and I didn’t believe him.”

“Your dad told you that?” He wondered if they’d seen the same video he had or if he’d actually talked to the boys about it.

“Yeah.” KJ nodded. “All the time. He said that Aunt Ali was the only person that could put you in your place and you were the only person that she’d trust to do the same for her.”

“Wow.” Even after seeing Patrick’s home video it was still strange for Kade to think of his friend not only approving of Kade and Ali but actually encouraging it. “What do you guys think? Are you guys okay with me asking your aunt to marry me?”

“Yeah.” Ricky picked his book back up, not seeming at all concerned about the development.

KJ, on the other hand, didn’t answer. He stared down at his fingers as they rolled a straw wrapper that was left over from the takeout they’d had last night.

“What about you, man?” Kade would’ve bet his entire life savings that Ali had been overreacting when she’d insisted on not telling the twins. But now that he was seeing KJ’s reaction, he was glad he hadn’t.

“What would you be then?”

Kade wasn’t sure he followed what the question was. “What do you mean?”

“Would you be our uncle, or our step-dad, or…”

“No.” Ricky shook his head. “Ali’s not our mom. Technically, he’d be our uncle.”

“We have to call you Uncle Kade?” KJ’s face looked like he’d just bit into a sour lemon.

“No.” Kade rushed to assure him. “You don’t have to call me that. Everything would be exactly the same, your aunt and I would just be married.”

“Cool.” KJ’s face relaxed and he appeared pacified by his answer. “And if you were married you could stop sneaking out of her room in the morning.”

Shit. Ali was going to kill him when she found out the boys knew the whole time. She was also going to kill him when she found out what he planned to do. Kade grinned. Patrick said that they were going to marry or kill each other, he was just really hoping it was the first option.

27

“Thanks for doing this, Ali,” Jess said as she turned onto the road that led up to Foster Pond. They were going to do a photo shoot for the new tourist brochures that Jess had been roped into taking pictures for. She’d done such a great job with photos to advertise The Mane Attraction, she’d become the go-to girl for all pro bono photography jobs in town.

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