After a quick shower, she dressed, her thoughts bouncing from having to deal with Tyler to Sam’s unexpectedly harsh reaction to her past. She just didn’t understand the extent of his withdrawal. It wasn’t like she was still engaged to Tyler. She’d been nothing but up front and aboveboard with her ex as soon as she’d realized she didn’t feel the way she should if she was going to marry him. But Sam acted like she’d left Tyler at the altar or something equally cruel.
She’d called Macy last night for more information, and Macy told her Tyler would be at the restaurant this morning. As much as Nicole wanted to get this meeting over with, she couldn’t go anywhere until she had her scheduled phone call with her sister.
Her mind was on everything but Vicky, yet Nicole needed to give her twin one hundred percent of her attention. She’d never seen Vicky try so hard to control her disorder, work with therapists, take her meds, and truly want to make amends for her behavior.
At least the gravity of what she’d done had finally sunk in. The incidents with Erin had escalated until Victoria had tried to run her over with her car. Only once she’d been medicated and thinking clearly had Vicky’s own behavior scared her, and Nicole was willing to do anything to help her sister overcome her past and try to live as close to a normal, healthy life as possible. Someone had to, as their parents considered both girls a lost cause when it came to representing their high standards.
At nine A.M. on the dot, Nicole’s cell rang and she answered, settling in the middle of her bed for the conversation. “Hello?”
“Hi,” Vicky said, sounding clear and present.
“Hi yourself.” Nicole paused, always uncomfortable asking the usual how are you when her twin was in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. At least the institution where she was housed was filled with minimal-behavior-problem inmates. Hopefully, her stay would be temporary, contingent on good behavior and doctors’ reports to the court.
“So tell me what’s going on in your life,” Vicky said, before Nicole had to fill in the silence.
Nicole paused, knowing her sister was still too fragile to confide in about her own troubles. Vicky’s recent behavior meant Nicole couldn’t yet trust her to stay on medication and keep a secret about what Tyler’s father had done. And though Vicky knew Nicole had moved to Serendipity, Nicole was still hesitant to talk about the town and remind her sister of Cole and her behavior there.
“I recognize that silence . . . you’re afraid to talk to me,” Vicky correctly said. “But my therapist said I shouldn’t avoid conversation or worry about triggers while I’m in here. That this is the best place for me to be while testing the waters, so to speak. So stop worrying so much and tell me about your life in Serendipity.”
“The twin connection at work again?” Nicole asked, figuring that was how her sister knew what she’d been thinking.
“No, it’s just obvious.”
To Nicole’s surprise, Vicky giggled, sounding like the little girl she’d once been. The warm sound helped her relax, and she leaned back against the pillows and the wall.
Freed up to talk about Sam, Nicole decided that was as far as she’d go with her own situation. “Okay, well—remember the cop who arrested me when he thought I was you? Sam Marsden?”
“The good-looking guy with the shaggy blond hair? How could I forget?”
“Maybe because you’ve always been drawn more to the dark-haired types,” Nicole said, teasing.
“Are you seeing him?”
Nicole swallowed hard. “I was—I’m supposed to catch up with him after his softball game tonight, but something happened and now I’m not so sure.”
She went on to tell her sister about the house she’d agreed to lease, her night with Sam, kisses included—because who else could she tell but her twin—and how things had imploded after Macy’s phone call.
“So now I have to head over to the restaurant this morning to deal with Tyler.” Nicole’s stomach churned at the thought. “Why can’t the man take no for an answer?” she asked out loud.
“Because you’re special, that’s why,” Victoria said.
Nicole opened her mouth, then closed it again. She couldn’t remember the last compliment her twin had given her.
Ever.
The older she got, the less Victoria had been interested in Nicole’s life, too self-absorbed to think about anyone but herself. Over time, it had become hard not to resent her twin, but as an adult and with her sister’s diagnos
is, Nicole had worked hard at overcoming that feeling. Victoria hadn’t chosen to be as she was.
“Thanks, but come on. I’m not that special.”
Vicky snorted. “Really. You’re a good person, Nic. You give of yourself even when others don’t give back. Me included. Well, me especially. But in Tyler’s case, he knows how good he had it with you.”
Nicole hoped and prayed that was all Tyler thought. She was beginning to wonder if maybe he was involved in things with the firm and was here to persuade her to keep quiet.
Nicole forced her mind onto the conversation with her sister. “But I don’t love him the way I should in order to marry him.”
“And you’ll just have to keep gently driving that point home. You wouldn’t want to end up with him stalking you,” Vicky said lightly.