Page 26 of My Mistake To Make

‘Not a problem.’ I step backward. ‘Let me know what you think. No rush.’

I nod, smile, pull on the peak of my cap, and walk away as the door closes behind me, and I feel like I can breathe again. She’s something else.

‘Hey, little brother,’ Bree calls out as I walk toward the main door of the bar.

‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ She’s not in uniform, which throws me off. ‘Day off?’

‘Yep, I have shit to do today, and I’m making Zoe do it with me.’

I laugh and hold open the door for her to walk into the bar. Bree and Zoe are twins by birth and best friends by choice.They’re always together, causing some kind of trouble, and they bicker like any siblings, but they never get bored of each other. I bet they never will.

I’d love to see them settled and happy with significant others, as they would for me, but maybe it’s living in a small town, or maybe we all just got too used to being single. The thought of Cara flickers in my mind, and I can’t help but smile.

‘What is that look on your face?’ Zoe grabs my attention, and I look up to see her filling three cups with fresh coffee.

‘What?’ I sit on a stool as Bree sits next to me and grabs her cup.

‘Did you fart? Or are you in pain or something? It kinda looked like you were smiling, but this is your grumpy ass, so it can’t be that.’

‘Fuck you.’ I groan, reaching for my cup, and my sisters laugh.

‘So, come on, we’ve waited two days, which I think you’ll agree is an incredible show of patience for us,’ Bree says seriously, and I nod. It is. ‘Tell us about the Reynolds’ house.’

I sip my coffee and try to school my features, but it’s no use. I can’t help the lift in the corners of my mouth.

‘It’s amazing,’ I gush, and my sisters widen their eyes in surprise at the enthusiasm I know they haven’t seen from me in a long time. ‘For real, it’s perfect. Cara didn’t really know what she wanted, so she let me show her what I was thinking, and she listened, you know. She was so into what I had to say,’ my mouth runs away with me, words falling out of it at a rate of knots, and I can’t stop, ‘like she just smiled, heard me, and asked questions. And she wasn’t fazed by any of it at all. She was looking around at it all with this determination to make it a real home, you know? I just, I really want to get it right for her.’

I lower my gaze to the coffee in my hands, and I know I’m smiling.

‘Oh, my god.’

‘Called it.’

I look up to see Bree taking out twenty dollars and handing it to Zo.

‘What the…’

‘I knew you were going to like her. I told Bree. I said she’s the one who’s going to get him to quit looking like he sat bare-assed on a thorn bush.’

‘I told her nobody would be able to do that.’

‘You bet on me? And hold on. I’m looking to renovate her house, nothing else.’ Let’s not get carried away now.

‘Oh, shut up. We asked you about the house, and you talked about her.’ Fuck. ‘You were just yapping like a kid with his first crush. You’re into her. It’s a good thing.’

I don’t know why I feel such a strong urge to deny it when I know she’s right, but I do.

‘Zoe, you’re way off.’

‘Bullshit. I didn’t see it before,’ Bree gives her two cents, ‘but now I do. You were the same with Jessie back when you were kids, gushing about every little thing she did. You like Cara—ask her out.’

And there it is. Like a ton of bricks that crashes down on top of me, I remember my reasons for staying away from women all this time. Jessie. Bowie.Fuck.

‘Look, I’m excited about the house, okay? Y’all know how long I’ve wanted to get my hands on that place. Sorry to disappoint, but, Zo, you gotta give that money back. I’m not into her.’

‘Doug, come on,’ Bree says softly, looking at me in a way she has so many times. The way she does every time she tells me I need to put myself out there. ‘It’s okay to like her.’

‘No, it ain’t, and you know why,’ I hiss, lowering my tone and ignoring the disappointment in my sisters’ eyes. ‘You need to quit it. I can’t look at anybody that way, and you know I can’t, especially not here.’

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