Page 49 of When Morning Comes Around

She was relieved when she heard the front door open behind her. She needed a moment to figure out what was going on. The men all smiled to greet whoever had just come in. Sadie glanced over her shoulder and had to do a double take. Was she finally losing it? The man who’d just come in seemed to be Dominic. But Dominic was standing by the front desk with Russ. Sheswung her head to look from one to the other. Yep, there were definitely two of them.

Her dad chuckled. “You look like your head’s going to explode, Sadie.”

She felt as though it might. “I…” She didn’t know what to say – didn’t know what to think even.

The man who’d just come in came to her and rested his hand on her shoulder as he smiled down at her. The feel of his hand, the look in those big, brown eyes, and the sound of his voice when he said, “Hi,” left no doubt in her mind thathewas Dominic.

Her voice was barely a whisper as she said, “Hi.”

He smiled. “I see you already met my brother.”

She swallowed and glanced over at Damon. “I…”

Her dad chuckled. “You might want to make the most of it – it’s not often that she’s lost for words.”

The others laughed, but Dominic continued looking down into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

She nodded.

“I didn’t understand what was going on. It was Russ who figured it out – when you came in here the other day you thought Damon was me, didn’t you?”

She nodded again, and he smiled.

“I wanted to explain, but I figured that seeing is easier than believing.”

She glanced from him to Damon and back again. “Yeah. If I hadn’t seen it, I’d never believe it.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Why don’t you take him with you for that cup of coffee?” her dad asked. “That way, the two of you can figure things out, and I can get on with my session.”

Dominic cocked an eyebrow at her, and she nodded. She’d be happy to get out of here. She felt foolish.

Russ grinned at her. “I don’t know how long we’ll be, should I shoot you a quick text when we’re done?”

“Yeah, that’ll work.”

Damon smiled at her. “It’s nice to meet you.”

She gave him a rueful smile. “It’s nice to meet you, too. And… I’m sorry if I…”

He shook his head. “If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me. I felt bad when you first came in – I wanted to explain, but as Dom said, this seemed like the easiest way to explain it. Oh, and you briefly met my lady, Jo, the other day. She asked me to say hello for her.”

Sadie nodded, feeling a little guilty about how she’d misconstrued everything.

“Go on, get out of here,” said her dad. “There’ll be plenty of time for you all to figure things out going forward, I’m sure.”

As she and Dominic walked down Main Street to the bakery, she couldn’t think of a thing to say. She felt guilty when he touched her arm and gave her an inquiring look.

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “That’s what I was about to say.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No, but you had no way of knowing that.”

She made a face. “You did tell me that you had a brother – I just didn’t…”

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