Page 54 of Twins For My Bestie's Brother

Yes. And yes.

“I said ‘yes,’” I answer Kayla’s question. But the words are for Jackson. I watch them land over him, his chest falling with a relieved exhale and his expression warming.

“Good,” Kayla says. “So, when is it, what are you doing, and what are you going to wear?”

Chapter 16

Jackson

“Jackson! Come in, come in!” Sue Bolton waves me into the house with a broad grin.

I step over the threshold of the Bolton house feeling like a teenage version of myself. I don’t remember the last time I bought a girl flowers for a first date or came to pick her up at her parents’ house.

Sue cradles the big bouquet of roses I’m carrying. “Now look at these! Darryl, come say hello to Jackson!”

“I thought lilies might be too much on the nose,” I joke lamely.

“Good call. Shehateswhen people give her lilies,” Sue says, touching her nose.

Darryl Bolton comes into the front hall looking smaller than he has in a long time. I guess I always see him behind the counter at the pharmacy where he sits on a tall stool going about his work. “There he is!”

“Hi, Mr. Bolton!”

“Ah, Mr. Bolton was my father, call me—”

Sue rolls her eyes. “Darryl.”

“Exactly!” Darryl beams. “Darryl.” He takes my free hand and shakes it vehemently. “We’re very excited you’re taking Lily out.”

“That makes three of us,” I reply with a nod.

From upstairs, my sister shouts, “She’s not ready!”

It truly is a family affair. Kayla made us plan the date for a night she could help Lily get ready which, given the fact Lily’s her best friend, I was more than amenable to.

Sue gestures into the living room. “You want to take a seat while you wait?”

“Sure, thank you,” I say, though I really just want to pace around in a circle. My nerves have been at a level ten since I woke up this morning. I want tonight to be perfect. I don’t want her to regret even a second of giving me this chance. And yet I know life has a way of not going to plan.

I take a seat in one of the armchairs in the living room. Darryl and Sue sit on the couch across from me and, while the two are pretty affable people, I sense something in the room I can’t quite pin down.

“You’re going for dinner?”

I nod. “At the Bay Club.”

“Oh, that’s nice! You never took me to the Bay Club,” Sue says to Darryl.

“I didn’t know you wanted to go to the Bay Club!”

“Every girl wants to go to the Bay Club!”

I smile as I watch the argument play out. Is it strange to say I crave that? To see myself thirty years from now sitting on the couch with someone, arguing over meaningless minutiae of time passed?

Who am I kidding? Not someone.Lily. That’s who I’ve always wanted to be my forever, and there’s no use pretending.

Sue sighs heavily. “Anyway,I’m glad we have a few minutes to talk with you Jackson, because . . . ” she trails off and gives Darryl a look.

I sit up straighter, the cellophane wrapping of the flowers crinkling in my lap. I never took Darryl for a ‘What are your intentions with my daughter?’ type, but I’m very willing to be as honest as possible. I only have to make sure I toe the line between committed and obsessive . . .

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