Page 65 of Sweet Surrender

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I cheated on the eye test,” Nick said miserably.

“Oh,” Zane said, surprised. “I don’t think you can really cheat on an eye test. You just had a better idea of what to expect, because of what Cal said. Even now, I bet you can read that sign way over there, right? That’s because you know it’s a pizza shop, so you’re expecting it to say pizza. That’s not cheating. That’s just using your noodle.”

That earned him a smile, but there was still sadness behind it.

“I’m sorry you’ve had to rely on your brother’s eyes so much,” Zane told him honestly. “Hopefully, Doc Robertson can make you some glasses that help you see better on your own.”

Nick nodded, but still didn’t say anything. That was so unlike his usually chatty son that Zane felt a wave of worry.

“Is something else bothering you?” Zane asked him.

“Do I have to wear glasses?” Nick asked.

“The glasses will help you see so much better,” Zane said. “Won’t that be great?”

“But we can’t playwhich-twinanymore,” Nick said.

Zane did his best not to smile. The boys had been playingwhich-twinever since they were really little—trying to fool the family by swapping places.

Fortunately for the family, there wasno waythat anyone was ever fooled. The boys’ personalities were just too different. And they tended to gigglea lotwhen they were playing.

But Zane understood that it wasn’t really just about the game. The boys liked being twins. When they were little, he had always made a point of putting them in different clothing, even when they were so little he was almost dazed from lack of sleep. But as soon as they were old enough, they started wearing matching clothes fairly often, and they loved telling new people that they were twins.

If Nick had glasses, he would look different from his brother.

“You two willalwaysbe twins,” Zane told him firmly. “And when you’re older, maybe you’ll be able to wear contact lenses if you want.”

“Plus, when you have your glasses we’ll beeye twins,” Cal told him excitedly. “We’ll see everything the same way.”

Zane’s heart ached with pride at the boy’s enthusiasm, which earned a genuine smile from Nick.

They turned onto Moose Avenue and approached his brother’s office. He breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the glass door and saw that no patients were inside.

“Hey, guys,” West said, getting up from his desk when Zane pushed the door open.

“Were you getting ready to go home?” Zane asked him.

The nurse wasn’t there, and West’s tiny daughter, Elizabeth, was sitting on the floor working on a puzzle, her cute little mouth frowning, ponytails swinging as she cocked her head to consider another puzzle piece. Zane figured West was probably just finishing up his notes from the day.

“Doesn’t matter,” West told him. “What’s up?”

The boys immediately sank to the floor to play with their cousin, and Zane smiled when he saw that they really were helping her, not just taking over.

“It’s Nick,” Zane said. “We think he needs an eye test and probably glasses.”

“Really?” West asked frowning. “Didn’t he have a test in school?”

“He did,” Zane said, gazing over at the boys. “But he went right after his brother. And they noticed at school that he has a hard time if he’s not close to the board.”

“That schoolteacher of yours, huh?” West said with a half-smile. “She’s a firecracker.”

Zane glanced up at his brother in surprise. West had always been super smart and intuitive. None of them were surprisedwhen he became a doctor. But, like Zane, he was a single dad and seemed content in his decision to stay that way. Zane wouldn’t have expected him to easily believe that he and Becca were together.

“She’s notmine,” Zane said, shrugging. “But yes, she figured it out after the other teacher accused Nick of cheating.”

West narrowed his eyes for a moment and then his usual gentle expression slid back into place.

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