“Okay, so we’re just going to have dinner and shag eighteen years of teenage infatuation out of our systems,” Sam corrected. “Is that so bad?”
“Not in theory, though I think you’re both deliberately avoiding a lot of hard conversations about the past, but I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about why he asked you out in the first place.”
Sam frowned at her twin. “Are you saying he’s not into me?”
“I’m saying he walked in here a week ago trying to help his dad buy the business. What if they’re, I don’t know—”
“In cahoots? That’s insane. This is real life, Nix. Not some Watergate fantasyland.”
“You do know Watergate happened in real life, right? People do pair up and try to screw each other over. Like all the time?”
Sam frowned. This was the problem with smart siblings—they were forever making points that were irritatingly hard to dispute. “Yeah okay,peopledo stuff like that, but not Scott Sanderson, our old neighbor who used to be obsessed with Legoracer and Claymation dog videos.”
“Used to be, as in you don’t know what he’s like anymore, because you haven’t seen him for ten years. You don’t know what he’s like. His dad’s a psycho, and you don’t know how much influence he has over him.”
“I do,” Sam said stubbornly. “Scott hates his dad, you know that.”
“I know enough to know that I don’t know enough,” Nicole said with irritating deftness. “I’m not saying he’s evil, but his father’s still desperate to buy us out and with the heritage tonight—”
“Hang on,” Sam interrupted. “That’s tonight? Holy shit, why didn’t you remind me? I have to go! I need to formally protest the application! I’m the fucking landowner! Jesus, why are they having a heritage meeting on Friday night? Don’t they have any mates? I’ll have to call Scott and cancel.”
She was heading for the door when Nicole grabbed her wrist. “Hey, wait a second, you don’t need to go. I’m handling it.”
“You can’t! The property’s in my name.”
“Then it’s lucky you have an identical twin who can pretend to be you.”
“You’d do that, for me?”
Nicole gave her a faint smile. “You’ve worked the last twenty days in a row. You were up at five this morning with a client. You don’t go anywhere, you don’t do anything. You’re allowed to have the night off. I wish it wasn’t to go on a date with someone you have an incredibly complicated history with, but…” she held up her palms. “Live and let live, as dad used to say.”
Amazement and gratitude at the fact that her sister had noticed her work ethic rippled through Sam and before she could overthink it, she leaned forward, hugging Nicole tight. Her twin hesitated for a few seconds, but then hugged her back hard. They pulled away, grinning goofily, and a little self-conscious.
“Thanks so much, Nix. I really appreciate you going to the meeting. And coming down here to help me.”
“That’s okay. What time do you leave?” she said, thereby indicating touchy-feely feels time over.
Sam checked her watch. “Twenty minutes.”
“Do you think you’ll be home tonight?”
“I don’t think so. To be honest, I think this whole date is just a prelude to like…eight hours of sex.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Yeah, I just want to get this thing over with.”
Nicole scoffed. “Romantic.”
“Come on, what did Scott and I ever have in common besides an address and a weird love/hate thing? I’ve been psychologically edging myself on him for years. I feel like I’ll never level up as a person until I purge my system.”
Nicole moved over to a bundle of clothes and picked up a pleather dress, folding it into a neat pile. “Well I hope you have a good time purging.”
“Thanks. Hey, what are you doing tonight? Maybe you and Tabby could—”
“Get drunk and throw rocks at bottles?” Nicole shook her head. “I’m skyping Aaron, he’s a bit…he wants to talk.”
Sam narrowed her eyes. “He wants you to come home?”