Page 57 of Call It Home

Cash waved for someone to come over. With a bright smile, Jared Carson, this time dressed more casually in a pair of jeans and a dark gray pullover sweater, joined him. “To help with that, Jared Carson is opening up several of the resort’s amenities to you and has given each of you a hundred dollars in cash to enjoy for a meal or whatever else you want,” Cash continued. “Explore the town, go hiking, or just relax and enjoy yourselves at the lodge.”

Jared waved some envelopes in the air, then walked over to each team and passed them out.

“Oh, baby, dibs on a massage. I got knots on top of knots that need to be worked out,” Myles called out, making everyone laugh. It was an excellent idea, but I was a little too antsy to lie still for a massage, despite being so tired.

Then, with a wave, we were dismissed.

“What do you want to do?” I asked Mac as we climbed the steps to our trailer. I missed Sterling Mill, but this little place had become a second home. A space that I shared with Mac. It was going to be strange not to share that space with him anymore.

“Actually, I have an idea. I’ll be back in a little bit.” Without any more clues, he turned and walked in the opposite direction of our trailer.

Not knowing what else to do, and too tired to give anything much thought, I pulled out my phone as I walked and called Chase.

“Cammy! I was just getting one of those weird twin vibes and figured you were about to call. Either that, or Marta’s chili from last night is paying me a second visit.

God, it was good to hear his voice. Somehow, he always knew when I needed a laugh. “Will you ever learn not to eat her spicy foods?”

“But they taste too good,” he whined, making me chuckle. “So, today’s the big day, huh?”

I clenched my cell phone a little tighter. Just thinking about it created a pit in my stomach. “Yep. Today is different, though. It’s a blind judging made up of guests of the resort and from the town and a few so-called hotel experts.” I really hated that we couldn’t be there to explain our choices.

“It doesn’t matter what a group of strangers says. I know you put your heart and everything else into it. And I’m sure it’s amazing. I can’t wait until we have a chance to see it.”

That right there was why I wanted to hear my twin’s voice. He didn’t ask if I was worried or excited, just inserted his strong belief in me. “Thanks, Chase.”

“And you and Mac haven’t killed each other yet?” he joked.

My heart fluttered at hearing Mac’s name. The truth was, I wasn’t just getting along with him—I was falling for him. Hard. But admitting that to Chase? That was a whole different story. “Nope. Surprisingly, we balance each other well here.”

It was hard to keep secrets from him. Even when I tried, he could almost always tell if I was holding back or hiding something.

“That’s good.”

I knew he felt an odd need to protect both Mac and me and worried about us working so closely together. So, his lack of pushing me on the topic triggered my own twin spidey sense. “How about you? Everything good back there at Silver Creek Farm?”

“Yep. Just fine.”

“And everyone else? You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”

There was another pause, then a sigh, as if I’d caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. “I saw Anna at Simply Ruth’s yesterday. She and her husband, that is.”

“Oh.”

Anna and Chase had been an item back in high school. Then, just before graduation, they’d gotten into a huge fight. A couple of weeks later, she’d been seen around town on the arm of Mason Washington, the son of a state senator who owned a big vacation home just outside of our town.

Mason Washington was a walking cliché of entitlement and arrogance. He’d strut through the town like he was better than anyone else, pushing his way through crowds, his cocky grin in place, to move to the front of a line. He came from money but was a cheap bastard who barely tipped the waitresses at Simply Ruth’s, a diner on Main Street that had the best home-style, comfort-food cooking I’d found anywhere. He’d go to our favorite bar, Fergusson’s—Ferg’s for short—get drunk and cause a commotion, often having to be asked to leave by a member of the sheriff’s department. It wasn’t unusual for his daddy to come in and try to smooth things out with his money.

My heart sank as I imagined the look on Chase’s face when he saw Anna with that guy.

“Did you talk to her?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral.

“For a few minutes.”

“Did she seem happy?” I asked gently.

There was another pause before he spoke again. “She said all the right things, like she was enjoying traveling, but she just didn’t seem quite right either, you know?”

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for my brother. He’d always had a thing for Anna. I hoped he’d gotten over her by now, but it sounded like seeing her with that asshole had been a punch to the gut.

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