Caleb eyes me as he passes, and there’s another whiff of his lethal smell that confuses my senses. I need to shove a balsam-and-cedar Yankee Candle up my nose to keep the delicious smell at bay.
My mom grabs his arm and drags him toward the kitchen. “You guys will never believe who’s here!” she calls before she’s even entered the room.
I pick up my steps so I can be in on the big reveal too.
“It’s Justin.” My mom presents Caleb for my family like she’s Vanna White.
“Surprise!” he holds out jazz hands, shaking them in the air, and I’m more surprised by that gesture than anything else tonight. Justin would never wiggle his fingers in excitement, and now I’m questioning how much this little ruse will really work.
“What about the car accident?” Rick asks, and I know if I don’t stop him, he’s going to come with a follow-up question about trajectory and inertia.
I step forward. “His brother went to the accident and switched him cars so he could come here. Let me introduce you to my family,” I quickly say so Rick doesn’t have a chance to linger on the car accident. “This is my sister Erin from Denver and her husband, Tommy, and her girls, Cora and Berkley.”
Erin pushes her way to the front, extending her hand out. “You are way cuter in real life than in the pictures Summer has shown me.”
“Is that so?” Caleb’s amused smile flashes to me as he shakes her hand. His smug expression proves he doesn’t need any praise added to his already self-inflated ego.
I ignore him, continuing with the introductions. “And that’s Anna, Jeff, and their three kids, Jack, Peter, and Lucy.”
“How’s it going?” Jeff waves from across the room.
“And then we have Hailey and Brian.” I point to her twin boys. “And Miles and Max.”
Caleb’s smile widens. “You’re twins?”
“Yep!” Max nods.
“I have a twin brother.”
My mom frowns at me. “Summer, you never told us that Justin has a twin brother.”
“I didn’t?” I peek at Caleb, a little embarrassed that I’ve never mentioned his existence to my family. “Yeah, Justin has a twin brother named Caleb.”
His smile widens. “But Caleb is way better looking, more athletic, and definitely more charming than I am.”
Like I said, super-inflated ego.
I give him a warning stare that does nothing to extinguish his amusement. So instead, I turn to my family. “Yeah, but Caleb is more full of himself than Justin is.”
I don’t miss his amused smile.
“I’m more athletic!” Miles chirps.
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yes-huh!”
“I don’t know,” Caleb breaks in, “you both look pretty tough and athletic to me.”
“Okay.” Miles shrugs, taking a bite of his pizza as if he’s completely satisfied by them being equals.
“And this”—I gesture to Juliet’s family—“is Rick, Juliet, and Bailey.”
Juliet smiles as she leans forward to shake his hand. “We’ve talked on the phone before.”
Caleb looks at me.
“You called Juliet to get some ideas of what to get me for Valentine’s Day, remember?” I feel like a lawyer leading the witness.
