Your Forever Love (The Bennett Family 3)

“Hey,” Blake calls from behind me. “Stop being so cute. You’re surrounded by single people. Have some respect.”

“Go find a girl, Blake,” Pippa calls to him. “Or I’ll put you next on the matchmaking list.”

***

Pippa

The day goes by in a haze. We celebrate Ava’s birthday with an immense cake and by showering her with gifts, and I divide my time between hovering around Dad and making sure Eric and Julie have a good time. Julie is in heaven. She hits it off right away with my cousins’ daughters, and she doesn’t pay Eric or me any attention. We spend most of the time outside, even though the weather isn’t as warm as we hoped. Then again, San Francisco is never as warm as I wish, not even in mid-July.

When my siblings—except Christopher and Max, who aren’t here yet— set out for another soccer game, it’s clear Eric wants to join. I watch the game with Julie by my side, cheering, insulting Logan for playing dirty, and whistling. During the second part of the game, I realize Julie’s disappeared. I look over at the kids’ group, but she’s not with them. My heart leaps in my throat. I ask my nieces about it, and they shrug, saying she went inside the house a while ago. Fear stabs at me as I enter the house. Where’s my girl? Does she have her inhaler with her?

“Julie,” I start calling. “Where are you?”

“In the kitchen,” a muffled voice sounds, and my heart regains its normal rhythm. I hurry to the kitchen and find Julie looking out the window to the backyard with wide, fearful eyes.

“What’s going on?” I ask her.

“I don’t understand,” Julie murmurs. “How can Max be in two places at once?”

“Two p—? Oh, no,” I groan, realizing what this is about. Opening the door to the backyard, I yell at no one in particular, “Christopher, Max, show your faces. Both of you.” My prankster brothers. They said they’d join us later because they had some business downtown, but I didn’t see them arrive. Within seconds, both of them walk to us, and I can’t help grinning. They are both wearing dark burgundy polo shirts and jeans. The jeans aren’t identical and neither are their haircuts, but for someone who doesn’t know them, I can see how this can be confusing—and scary. Christopher also looks much more tired than Max. He has dark circles under his eyes, and it’s not surprising; he’s been traveling back and forth from Hong Kong lately.

“Julie, my brothers are—”

“Identical twins,” Julie exclaims. “Max, you never told me you have an identical twin. That must be so cool. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it at the wedding.”

“What were you thinking?” I admonish them.

“When you told us she was coming, we realized she’s the only person here who doesn’t know we’re twins. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” Christopher says. Or it might be Max. Goddammit, I can’t believe I have trouble telling them apart even now. I concentrate on their haircuts, trying to remember who had the longer hair. It was Max, okay. So my first instinct was right. He’s the one talking. “For old time’s sake, you know.”

“You scared the living daylights out of her.” I work as much severity in my tone as I can. But one look at Julie reveals that all traces of fear are gone from her expression. She’s giggling.

“You’re adults,” I tell my brothers.

“A fact we like to forget whenever we have a chance,” Christopher says seriously. “Most of the time, we aim to achieve that as soon as we’re out of the office.”

“And especially when we’re in the company of a fellow like-minded young lady,” Max adds. Julie’s expression lightens up at being dubbed ‘young lady.’ Typical of my brothers to charm everyone into forgiving them.

“Pity we don’t have any nephews yet,” Christopher says. “So many new possibilities for pranks.”

Max opens his mouth, then closes it again as the sound of loud cheers reaches us from the front of the house.

“Looks like the game’s over. Let’s see who won,” he says.

The four of us walk outside, and I turn to Julie, informing her, “Julie, I need to teach you basic survival skills in the Bennett family.”

“Sounds exciting,” she says.

“Whenever someone pranks you, you have to make them pay.” I give my brothers the stink eye.

Julie frowns. “How?”

“You have the right to ask them to bring you whatever you want.”

“Nah, don’t teach her that,” Max complains in a low voice.

“You mean like ice cream and stuff?” Julie asks.

“Exactly. The key is to make sure whatever you want isn’t easy to get. Make them jump through hoops, and be obnoxious,” I elaborate.