Reese took a sip of her coffee and made a face. “Does this taste weird to you?”
Jason drank from his own cup, then shook his head. “Tastes great to me.”
“Me too,” Roan said.
“I must just be off a little this morning,” Reese said.
“You okay, honey?” Roan asked, brow wrinkling in concern.
Reese waved him off. “I’m fine. Just girl troubles, I’m sure.” She turned to Jason. “So tell us—how’s it going with your thirty days of Christmas with my best friend?”
Jason had shared with Roan and Reese his plan to give Mauve as much Christmas fun as was possible to fit into a month.
“It’s been good, I guess,” Jason said.
“You guess?” Roan crossed his arms over his chest, watching him closely. Too closely. He and his twin could communicate without words. They knew each other almost as well as they knew themselves.
“Yeah, what does that mean?” Reese asked.
He placed both hands on the surface of the table. “I took her to La Danza last night. We had a wonderful meal, but things felt different.” How much should he share with them? They were close with Mauve. Would they tell her what he said?
“Between us,” Reese said as if she’d read his mind. “Whatever you say stays here.”
“Yeah, okay. I have a little problem.” Jason hesitated, unsure how to say it that wouldn’t make him sound like a total fool.
“Go on,” Reese said.
“I think I’m in love with her. When we spent time together in California, I thought it would just be some fun times, but it wasmore than that. I just … think she’s special. Beautiful, obviously. Smart and compassionate. Really good at her job. There’s just something about her that does it for me. I’ve never felt this way before. She’s all I could ask for.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Reese asked, her voice even, as if she didn’t want to spook him into silence. She’d probably learned that skill when she’d become a mother to two teenage boys. His own mother used to say her twins only talked to her when they were in the car on their way somewhere. What he wouldn’t give for another one of those car rides.
“The problem is me,” Jason said. “Mauve is an old-fashioned girl. She wants to get married and have a family. And I’m not that guy.”
“Why not?” Reese asked.
“Um, well, I mean, I’m an actor, for one.”
“Actors have wives,” Roan said.
“Yes, but they don’t live in places like Sugarville Grove,” Jason said. “My life’s in California. Or wherever the next film set is. A woman like Mauve isn’t the type to just follow a man around the world, while ignoring her own desires. Not to mention the statistics on lasting marriages in Hollywood. And it’s not like I learned how to be a husband and father. I have no idea how to do any of it. Or if I even could. I mean, I could be like our dad. Someone who leaves when things get rough.”
“That’s not how it works,” Roan said. “When you become a father, your instincts kick in, even if you didn’t have one of your own.”
“Yeah, look at us,” Reese said. “Raising teenage boys. We don’t know what we’re doing half the time, but we figure it out.”
“I don’t even know if I’m right for her,” Jason said. “She should have the greatest man on earth. And I’m not that.”
“There’s no such thing as the greatest man on earth,” Roan said. “We’re all just doing the best we can. Making mistakes.Correcting mistakes. Asking forgiveness. Giving forgiveness. Being there when the other person needs them, on good days and bad. You know how to do that. You’ve been there for me whenever I’ve needed you.”
“Even if you’re right, Mauve doesn’t want a nomad life. She wants to be here, with you two and this community and her career that means so much to her. There’s just no way we’re compatible.” He shook his head. “Yet, I can’t seem to imagine a life without her.” He grimaced, tugging on his ear. “But here’s the thing—I can’t imagine one with her either. So I’m stuck, two parts of me warring for control. The ambitious artist who can’t give up on the work I love and the guy from Sugarville Grove who wants to buy a farmhouse and marry the girl of his dreams and string up Christmas lights instead of having them aimed at me.”
“Marriage is about compromise,” Reese said. “If you two love each other, you can make it work.”
“But how?” Jason asked, voice cracking. “She doesn’t want to spend half her time with me, wherever I am, and half here alone. That’s not the way to build a life together. And trust me, I know how this makes me sound.”
“How is that?” Reese asked, her voice soft.
“Like a man so obsessed with his work that he’s willing to give up the girl of his dreams to chase another role,” Jason said.
