Page 88 of Summer Love

I looked down at my notes. "Brady plays video games in his spare time, Dalton enjoys woodworking, and Shepard?—"

"Shep wants everyone to believe he's a lady's man, but has no idea who he is otherwise," Kinsley said bitterly as she walked by.

I gave Cooper a sheepish look. "Yeah, I didn't get much from Shepard."

He sighed, tucking his hands into the pockets of his board shorts. "I keep Shep out of trouble. That's been my number one job for as long as I can remember. If it wasn't for me, who knows what would have happened to him."

"You have any hobbies?" I asked, wanting to bring the conversation around to lighter topics. It seemed to be a deep one for him.

"I do some landscaping and stonework on the side.”

My pen flew over the page. "Hudson mentioned that.”

He shrugged. "It's just something I do for fun. It's not part of the business."

"Would you want it to be?" I asked him.

"I saw what happened to Luna when she wanted to add her interior-design business. It was shot down. But don't write that."

"I think readers would love to know that you have a hobby. Shep said he wanted to be different from everyone. As a twin, do you feel the same?"

"I always thought it was cool to be a twin. But Shep wanted to be his own person. Sometimes he'd say Dalton was my real twin."

I winced. "Ouch. That must not have felt good."

"That's Shep."

I smiled brightly. "I think that's all I need."

"Cool. I'm out of here then."

Dalton and Brady were the youngest, quieter and more reflective. Cooper and Shepard were a little lost. They didn't know who they were. Not that I'd put any of that in the article. And Hudson and Marshall were the ones tasked with more responsibility.

That was more for my benefit as I wrote each one for the article. But it was nice to have their hobbies and interests included. Between that and their volunteer work, I had enough on them individually. I wanted to give a little insight into their personalities but keep it a little mysterious.

ChapterTwenty

HUDSON

I'd never been so uncomfortable before. I was covered in oil that made me shiny, and a woman was constantly touching me in the guise of brushing off sand which was a losing proposition.

Elena appeared off to the side, standing next to Kinsley.

Her boss, Valerie, stood next to the photographer, whose name was Margie or Maggie. I wasn't sure. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. But since I was the last brother to go, everyone was standing around watching me.

The pressure was immense, and I was starting to sweat standing under the sun for so long.

Every once in a while, someone would throw a fan in my face and a straw to sip water.

The photographer looked up from her lens. "Can you relax, Hudson?"

I attempted to lower my shoulders, but they wouldn't seem to cooperate.

"Elena, come over here for a second," the photographer told her. "Can you talk to Hudson for a minute? I need him to relax."

"Okay." She approached me, and my entire body softened. I'd declared my love for her, but we'd gotten interrupted. She stood close but didn't touch me.

Everything else faded away, and I forgot where I was.

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