Jonquils for Jax (Blueberry Lane 3 - The Rousseaus #1) - Katy Regnery Page 0,16

windows and a set of three elegant French doors at the grand entrance that looked out over the circular drive where the sisters stood together. It was an ostentatious house. Yes. And she remembered her father chuckling with delight at the ludicrous, grammatically incorrect French name bestowed upon it by the previous owners. But it was her home, and for two months, ever since she’d moved home in April, it was the only place where Jax truly felt comfortable. This enormous pile of stone on Blueberry Lane was her safe haven, and she loved it with all her heart.

“No,” she said again, gentler than before. “I’m happy here.”

“Will you produce another movie?” asked Mad, her voice tentative.

“Now that the wedding’s over, I can look through the stack of scripts in my room,” Jax answered, hedging the question with forced levity as Mad unlinked their arms, collapsed her suitcase, and lifted it into her trunk.

Jax didn’t fool her sister. Mad’s face was still troubled.

“Jax, truth?”

“If you insist.”

“You’re hiding here. Avoiding life. Maybe even a little stuck.”

“So what if I am? Is that a crime?”

“No. But I’m worried about you.”

“My privacy was totally invaded. Shredded. I was practically hunted. It was awful to feel like someone’s prey, to be constantly looking over my shoulder and having no legal recourse.”

“I can’t believe that lawyer wouldn’t press charges when you got into the accident.”

“He couldn’t!” exclaimed Jax, her frustration and anger rising. “The photographer had a helmet on that hid his face. And I didn’t get a look at the tiny license plate on the back of his motorcycle. He sped away before I could see it. Mad, I could’ve killed that woman I hit! I could’ve really hurt her or someone else.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said Mad, reaching for her sister.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Jax, pulling away. “Just, please, try to understand: I feel safe here. I don’t want to live in the city.”

“I do understand.” Mad sighed, reaching out to place a gentle hand on her sister’s arm. “But it’s been months. What’s next for you?”

Jax didn’t have an answer. She pursed her lips, part of her wishing she had a ready answer, the other part wishing Mad would get going and stop asking her questions that felt so daunting.

“You need to rebound at some point.” Mad tilted her head to the side, searching her twin’s face. “It’s okay to take a little while to figure out what comes next, Jax…as long as it doesn’t take forever.”

“We can’t all graduate from college and nab our dream job out of the gate,” said Jax, her voice edgy, her lips pursed.

Mad gave her a look. “I was stacking books for three years before they offered me assistant librarian, and even then, it wasn’t in the Children’s Department. Didn’t matter what my last name was, and you know it. I had to earn my job there.”

“I know. I know. I just meant…you always knew what you wanted to do. Me? Not so much.”

After college, Jax had bought a share in a horse breeding farm outside of Philadelphia that had turned out to be a bad investment. Feeling duped and furious about her lack of legal recourse, she’d enrolled in law school at the University of Pennsylvania, where she’d attended classes for two years but never completed her degree. While on campus one afternoon, she’d run into a sorority sister who’d told Jax she was she was producing a movie, and with her friend’s help and connections, Jax had put together and financed her own project, The Philly Story, a remake of the 1940 classic The Philadelphia Story, and moved out to California to follow the postproduction process. It was an Oscar darling, and she’d taken home the gold statue.

And that’s when the nightmare had started—paparazzi hounding her every move. She took a deep breath and sighed as Mad slammed the trunk of her car and took her keys out of her purse.

“I’m only twenty-seven,” said Jax, following her sister as she rounded the car and opened the driver’s door. “I don’t have to decide my whole life today, Mad.”

“That’s true,” said Mad. “And there’s nothing wrong with taking a break. But don’t hide away here forever, huh?” She looked up at the enormous façade of Le Chateau. “It’s too big a house for one small girl.”

No, it’s not. It’s my home and I love it.

Jax let her sister pull her into a warm embrace. Mad grinned at her as she drew away. “Come for dinner on