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"So, enlighten me, while I will be watchingThomas the TrainandDinosaur Trainand every other train show tonight with Dec, will you finally bite the bullet and call that girl who has your head stuck in the clouds?”
The invitation sits on my desk. A going-away party, one I'm positive she'll be attending.
"You know why you do this to yourself, right?" he asks and crosses his arms, and now my business partner has turned into my therapist.
"Oh, fuck, here we go again. Why don't you tell me, Dr. Chambers, why I haven't reached out to the girl I had one night with, other than maybe I don't want to?”
He knows my useless claim isn't the truth.
"Your parents have screwed you up so much you don't want to do the same thing and cause someone pain like they have with you, but I also know you want someone to grow old with. It’s scary to think of allowing yourself to let someone in who may hurt you in the same way. I wasn't there that weekend, but Garner told me how you look at this girl… Sarah, right?" he asks, and he damn well knows her name. He's baiting me.
"It’s Sandra, asshole, and you know it. And by the way, you and Garner are now forbidden from talking about me with each other."
He waves me off, a scoff leaving his mouth. "Anyway, as I was saying, you like this girl. Shit, you grin the second her name is mentioned. One night, and I can't believe you've not tried to get her number. It wouldn't be hard. You all run in the same circle."
I roll my eyes at him and look back at the invitation. He pushes from his seat and stands in front of my desk. "Don't worry, I'll bill you for my time. And don't be a stupid fucker. Go get her."
My eyes stay fixed on the invite. I have to go to this event, but everything he'd said was spot on. My parents have screwed me up, and I can’t handle the creeping panic at the thought of exposing myself to that kind of agony ever again. If Sandra affected my heart in our one night together, what would happen if I let her into my life? I pick up the phone with the one girl who never says no.
She answers on the first ring; I barely let her get hello out. "Hey, Jenna, wanna go to a party with me tonight?"
Of course, she says yes, and I slump at the realization that I’m both safe from myself and incredibly disappointed.
two
SANDRA
"You mean you've still not heard from him after your night to end all nights?"
My sister questions me every time I see her, and since we're twins and a little co-dependent, it's a question I get all the fucking time.
"Cami, I saw you two days ago. Why do you keep asking? Not much has changed in forty-eight hours."
Her eyes burn into my own. She thinks because she's found her happily ever after I need to find mine. "You can get his number fairly easily, you know, if you really want to." Meaning she could get me the number for Dominic Torano, and each time, I pass on her offer. Before I shake my head, she's continuing her matchmaking ways. "San, I've never seen you as happy as I did that weekend."
I won't lie. I want to go there again. He brought something out in me, and I liked his take-charge ways too fucking much.
"He was protective after just one night, and then you let it go." Again, for the past six months, she brings this up too.
"To be fair, he can get my number just as easily as I can get his, yet he hasn't. Cami, it was one night. So, let it go; I have." I so havenotlet it go, as my mind remembers him ravaging every fucking part of my body. But she doesn’t need to know that.
"Liar. And Dom is one of the good guys. He runs a successful business and is a family man, very loyal. Fuck, I just want to see you happy, Cassandra."
My sister is pulling out the big guns by calling me by my full name. "I get it, Camille," stressing her God-given name too. "Not everyone is as lucky as you."
Yeah, my sister is a real bitch. Not really. She just has it all. Not only one great man but two, both of whom are fucking devoted to her. It's quite sickening. Thus, the reason I call her a bitch, as I sit in my Chicago apartment alone most nights. Well, just me and my dog.
"Please tell me you're coming tonight to our going-away party."
I had known with my sister's new group of friends I'd eventually run into Dominic Torano again. But work has consumed me, and I've only made time for a handful of social gatherings since that one night.
"Of course, I'm coming. If Dom is there, I'll be cordial and friendly and…”
"And maybe take him home and let him fuck your brains out—again," my sister adds.
Sometimes I regret our twin bond and the fact I tell her everything.
"Maybe," she continues, "you'd be less uptight if you let him work out some of your control issues in the bedroom."
