friends to settle down. I thought I’d have a good woman and a couple of kids by now.
I mean, sure, I started a skydiving business with Finn. Unconventional, maybe. But surprisingly stable, with no shortage of women passing through our doors.
Finn had his pick of them, and I won’t say I was entirely chaste, but any romance always fizzled right after it sparked. I’ve never really had someone I care about. Besides, everyone always leaves, you know? They break my trust, to the point that I find it hard to get close to anyone at all.
I thought I had Finn and Esme, but now I feel totally alone.
My head is a mess, basically. I want a family, but can’t trust anyone enough to work toward it. I guess part of me is jealous that Finn and Esme found each other. They never even wanted the big family. Finn would laugh when I talked about settling down.
Yet, he’s the one who meets his soul mate, not me.
“Robbie tells me you’ve been flying planes for years, but you only started flying commercial a few months ago,” a woman about my age says.
“Sounds like Robbie has told you guys a lot about me.” I laugh to hide my embarrassment. I knew he had a big family, and he told me he had sisters, but I never even knew their names.
“When he said he’d bring you here for Thanksgiving, I was over the moon,” his mother says, swapping my near-empty beer bottle for a fresh one. “It’s good to meet the man sitting beside him when he’s in the air.”
“What’s harder, the commercial flights or the skydiving ones?” a brother-in-law asks, leaning toward me.
I glance at Robbie, who grins. Shrugging, I decide to tell the truth. “Honestly? The commercial flights are harder. There’s so much more procedure and red tape, and they end up being pretty boring.”
“Who are you calling boring?” Robbie asks in mock outrage.
Laughter fills the room, and I settle into my seat. I let a smile tug at my lips, almost forgetting the effect Serena had on me when she walked into the room.
Almost.
I’m reminded of it when she runs back in, holding a kid under each arm like a couple of footballs, yelling as she crosses the living room and runs out through the front door.
No one even blinks.
But yeah, I’m sure she’s a tidy and respectful roommate. This is all going to be fine, and everything will turn out great.
Robbie catches me looking, a sly smile twitching over his lips. He shrugs, turning to talk to the older man beside him. His grandmother appears in the doorway to the kitchen, and everyone is ushered into the dining room.
By the time dinner is over, I feel simultaneously elated and exhausted. I follow Robbie to the front door and start the whole greeting process in reverse. Every family member needs to say goodbye to every other family member, and we end up standing in the doorway for another twenty minutes.
Serena is nowhere to be seen.
When we finally extricate ourselves from the family, I let out a long breath.
“How was that?” Robbie laughs.
“It was good. Your family is intense.”
“There are a lot of us. Just wait until tomorrow.” He grins as we walk to his car. I can hear the rest of the family saying goodbye to each other behind us, and I’m glad that soon, I’ll be somewhere quieter. My ears are ringing from all the laughter and noise.
But just as we get to the car, Serena jogs over to us. “Robbie!”
He turns toward his twin sister, arching an eyebrow.
Serena comes to a stop next to the car. “Can I get a lift?” Her eyes stay steady on Robbie’s, and they exchange a loaded look. A moment later, it’s gone. What was that about?
Robbie jerks his chin toward the car. “Sure. Get in.”
My heart thumps. Serena still has a dirt stain on her jeans, and I’m pretty sure that’s a twig in her hair. But her eyes shine, and she gives me a conspiratorial smile. My gut clenches.
I shouldn’t be attracted to her. I shouldn’t be thinking this way at all. I shouldn’t even be registering that she’s a woman. She should just be a vague, amorphous form with the word OFF-LIMITS branded all over it.
She’s Robbie’s twin sister. She’s going to be crashing at my place for a while.
That’s all.
Haven’t I been mad at Finn for months for pursuing my little sister? How could I even consider turning around and