When she and her twin brother Andrew were that age, they were inseparable.
“What can I do?” Jeni asked.
By the time she walked out of the office several hours later, she was beat, physically and emotionally. Part of her wanted to just go home and run a hot bath, but she’d been looking forward to this evening. She had plans with one of her favorite people in the entire world. The fact that Andrew lived in Kansas City was an added bonus to the job offer at Child Protective Services and made the decision to move incredibly easy.
She sent a text to let Andrew know she was running late, but the silver lining was she’d missed rush hour traffic. After she’d settled into the booth with a Boulevard Wheat in her system, Jeni started to relax a little bit. Andrew sat across from her, sending a text message.
“Talking to Caroline?” she asked flatly. She wasn’t a fan of the girl Andrew had been dating the last few months. He’d brought her to Nebraska for a long weekend in May, and she’d been standoffish and moody the entire time.
“No, she’s out with some friends tonight.” He didn’t look up as he spoke. “I invited my friend, Logan. I hope that’s okay. He should be here soon.”
“Sure.” She’d heard a lot about Logan over the years but had yet to meet him. “I need to meet some people. So far, the only friends I have are you and my sixty-five-year-old boss.”
“You’ve been busy, little sister.”
Jeni rolled her eyes as she did every time he called her his little sister. She was a measly three minutes younger than him.
“Started you off running, didn’t they?” he continued.
She nodded, though Andrew was in the same boat. He was in law school and interning at the District Attorney’s office and working way too much for what he was being paid. Jeni had barely talked to him since moving day. She said, “The girl they hired me to replace was supposed to be around for another month to train me, but last week she went into pre-term labor. Left a ton of stuff half-done that I’m having to work through.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah. This afternoon was rough. I was late to meet you because—”
Andrew sat up and waved a hand in the air. “Sorry, hold that thought. There’s Logan.”
A light, pleasing scent of cologne reached Jeni’s nose as Logan approached their table from behind her, sitting down to Andrew’s left.
“Hey, man,” the guy said, giving Andrew a slap on the shoulder. “Glad you texted. I really need a beer after the day I’ve had.”
Jeni looked at the newcomer and blinked, hoping her eyes were playing a trick on her. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”