It was their ritual. Anytime Levi was around when cement was poured, he got to leave his mark. In a place that would be built upon. He was leaving little parts of his son all over Santa Raquel, but in a way that was not a bother to anyone.
“Hold on, buddy,” he called. “You know the rules.” If Levi didn’t wait for Jem, if he even touched wet cement without his father’s say-so, he lost the privilege. “Why is he the luckiest guy on the beach?” he asked the sisters.
Lacey was back in baggy cotton shorts and a blouse. Kacey in short shorts with a T-shirt that showed her figure to perfection.
“Some guy told him so,” Kacey said. “I think he thought Levi was his way in, but that kid of yours set him straight.”
Not at all happy with the surge of real jealousy that sparked through him at the thought of someone hitting on Lacey at the beach, Jem looked her way, his brow raised in question.
“Levi told him to please go away because we weren’t supposed to talk to strangers.”
Jem burst out laughing. Gotta love that boy!
* * *
SHE DIDN’T REGRET making love with Jem Bridges. Not even a little bit. She’d thought of him during her first seconds of consciousness Sunday and had taken him with her through all of the moments of her day.
And the more she thought of him, the more vulnerable she became. Because this wasn’t just a trial—a maybe—for her. She’d given him far more than her body for a night. If he walked out of her life, she was going to be damaged.
She’d spent her entire adult life preventing herself from being in that position.
“Let’s play the game,” she said to Kacey as the sisters left Jem to change Levi out of his sandy, wet beach clothes in the spare bathroom and headed to the other side of the house, to their rooms, to clean up before they all had a quick dinner together.
Kacey glanced her way and frowned.
“What?” Lacey forced a big grin. “Come on. It’ll be a hoot.”
“Lacey...”
“What?” she asked again. “You’re the one who always wants to play. Now one time I do and...”
“I’m up for the game, Lace. I’m just not sure why you are.”
Of course she was. Kacey knew, just as Lacey did. She was being an immature, self-absorbed little kid.
Paranoid and frightened, too. But she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
“Please, Kacey? I know it’s stupid, but I have to know. Too much is at stake here.” Possibly her heart. Maybe even the rest of her life.
Maybe she’d let go of a lot of the residual feelings she had about having always been second best and often passed over for her more radiant twin. Maybe someday she’d even be able to laugh at how much she’d taken it all to heart.
But she wasn’t there yet. Intellectually she was. But emotions...they were a bit trickier.
“You think it’s going to help you relax?” Kacey asked her. She didn’t seem to even consider the fact that Jem might go for the wrong sister. That he might not “know” Lacey as well as he thought he did. Or said he did.
It could just be that, until now, every single time he’d seen the sisters together they’d been easy to tell apart just by their clothes.
“That’s my plan.” Or at least to know if she was believing in something that didn’t exist, making more of it than it was. “I hate being so damned insecure.”
“The game isn’t going to change that, Lacey. Only you can. By believing in your own worthiness.”
She did think she was worthy. Very worthy. She also believed that most people found her sister worth a little bit more.
“Please?”
“Okay, fine, but I get to pick out the outfit,” Kacey said, heading into Lacey’s room and going straight for her closet. “Seriously, Lace, you need to quit hiding behind this stuff.”
She turned, a look of shock on her face as she looked at Lacey. “No, you don’t,” she whispered, looking stricken. “God, Lacey, I’m so sorry. I’m as guilty as everyone. This is your look because it’s who you are. And, oh, God, I’m so sorry. I do it to you, too, with all my nagging, trying to make you look more like me, as if you don’t look as good as I do... I didn’t even know...”