Page 23 of Bringing Home the Bacon
Colleen
“Not a fan of that show, huh?” my twin’s girlfriend Diane says as we pull out of the driveway of Bedd Fellows Farm. “Every Sunday when your gran turns it on after family dinner, you split.”
“What show?”
I know exactly what show she’s talking about.
They say mothers have a sixth sense when it comes to their children. Well, the same must be true of grandmothers because immediately after my tryst with one particular hot chef four months ago, Gran decided that her favorite TV show needs to be our family’s favorite too. She now insists we watch Yes, Chef! after every Sunday dinner, and it’s absolute torture for me.
I can’t bear seeing Bacon’s beautiful face on that screen, knowing he was mine for one perfect day, and I blew it by bailing on him the next morning.
“Colleen. You’re acting like that night your sophomore year when you forgot you had a paper due for McGolrick’s class. What’s going on? What’s this errand we’re running?”
Diane and I went to Vassar College. We connected as members of Vassar SEED – Students for Equitable Environmental Decisions. We only had one class together, though, and ran in different friend circles, so we weren’t especially close back then. I always liked her and wished I knew her better. Fate granted me that wish a few months ago when she and Sam connected through farming business and fell in love. Now, she’s the sister I never had. And tonight… she’s my unwitting accomplice.
“I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” I say it to Diane, but it’s more a chant for myself.
I pull the car into the Quick Lick parking lot and find a space. There’s plenty at this time of night. Most people in this small town are doing the same thing the Bedds are doing right now: gathering their big families around the Sunday night dinner table.
I turn the engine off and stare at the convenience store lit up in the night.
“Um. What are we doing here?” Diane says.
“I, uh, I need you to go in and grab something for me.”
“You want me to go into The Quick Lick with you?” Her voice rises in pitch. “Quick as in Ginny Quick?”
“Oh god. Right. I forgot.” I sigh and rest my forehead on the steering wheel. Hunching forward like this makes my pants feel even tighter than they did a minute ago. And that’s not due to the roasted chicken legs, caramelized sweet potatoes, string beans, and homemade sourdough bread with salted butter that I ate at dinner. I had to excuse myself while doing the dishes and pray to the porcelain god. A few weeks ago, I thought I had a nasty stomach bug, but clearly, I was wrong. Stomach bugs might cause a girl to puke, but generally, they don’t cause the girl a ten-pound weight gain while simultaneously setting her nipples ablaze.
“You forgot,” Diane repeats back to me, incredulous. “You forgot that Ginny single-handedly tried to shame me to all of Fork Lick and steal my boyfriend at the same time. And this Scuttlebutt ‘newspaper’ thing she’s doing? It’s ridiculous.”
“No. I mean, yeah. I’m sorry, I’ve been… distracted lately.”
“No kidding. Sam’s twin sense is firing on all cylinders. Colleen, he’s really worried. Could you put him out of his misery at some point and tell him what the heck is going on with you?”
Sam can drive me buggy sometimes, but my connection with him means the world to me. One of my biggest fears after our parents died was that I’d lose him someday too when he found “his person.” Diane is exactly the kind of girl I always hoped he’d find. She loves Sam, accepts him completely, and celebrates all his quirks. They’re building a beautiful life together, and she never makes us feel bad about the intensity of our twinship.
Come to think of it, the Bedd family has been welcoming lots of new female energy into our fold lately. Lia was Ethan’s “the one who got away,” but after some bumps in the road this year, he got her back. Seeing how that serious dude softens every time he looks at her is adorable. Alex is a changed man too. Molly’s open heart and adventurous spirit perfectly balance his reserved nature.
Look at everyone finding love. I should get on the phone with my little brother Jackson and commiserate about our lack of luck in that arena. Actually, scratch that. The man is a rock star. He likely has women crawling all over him in LA.
Diane clears her throat, jolting me out of my reverie.
“Oh. Sorry. You’re waiting for an answer.”
Diane cocks her head and continues to wait.
“Yes,” I say. “I will talk to Sam. But the nature of what I need to tell him depends on the results of us going into that store.”
“Cryptic much?” She laughs, but I can tell she’s getting exasperated with me.
“I was going to ask you to go in there for me, but obviously, I can’t send you into the Ginny lion’s den alone. Can we go in together?”
“You’re freaking me out, but yes. Of course. Whatever you need.” She pats my hand and sends me a soft smile.
My eyes well. “Have I told you lately I’m really glad you fell in love with my brother?”
“You have.” She gives me another pat and reaches for her door handle. “Let’s get this over with. Whatever it is.”
