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I take a deep breath and nod. “Okay. Let’s see what happens and we won’t tell Cal until you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” She kisses me softly and quickly before resting her head on my shoulder again.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I ask, thinking about why she’s here to begin with.
“Yes,” she answers without any hesitation. Before I can question her further, she moves on, clearly done discussing it. “When are we going on our first date?”
I smile. “It’ll have to be next week after these road games are done with.” The high over what’s developed drifts away as I realize it shouldn’t be so easy for Julie to pack up and leave Florida. “What about your job, Jules?”
“I don’t have it anymore,” she replies softly. “My boss started giving me a really hard time after I told him I wouldn’t have an affair with him, so I quit.”
“I’m sorry. What about your family? You want to just leave them behind?”
“I only talk to my parents and they know I’m not happy there.”
“What about your sister?” I ask.
Julie sighs. “About a year ago, I caught her sleeping with my then-boyfriend. They are now married. I don’t talk to her anymore.”
“Fuck, Julie. Why didn’t you tell me that?”
She laughs and lifts her head, moving away from me to the other side of the hot tub. “Because it was humiliating.” Julie glides her hands over the top of the water. “It had been going on almost the entire time we were together.” Her shoulders rise and fall. “It doesn’t matter now anyway.”
This happened while she was dating that guy, she obviously felt betrayed. “You don’t think my brother won’t feel betrayed when he finds out about us like you did when you found out about them, even if you two aren’t together and it is years later?”
Julie shakes her head. “No, because Cal never cared about me.” That can’t be true. “Don’t frown like that, Collin. He didn’t. If you’d think about it, really think about it, you would realize that, too. How many times did you have to take my side and stand up for me because of how he treated me or because he was a jackass? Do you think he would’ve been that way had he cared?”
She may have a point there; I simply can’t imagine how he didn’t see the most wonderful woman in front of him while he had her.
“Okay. I’ll try not to worry about it. Let’s head back up.”
We get out of the hot tub, dry off, and make our way back to my apartment without running into Cal. I shoo Julie into the shower while I start dinner. Midway through, there’s a knock on my door. I immediately sigh. There’s only one person who would come to my door.
Just as before, I block his sight and refuse to let him in. “What do you want, Cal?” I ask.
He frowns. “Why are you being a little shit? I came to see if you wanted to eat with me.”
“I already started cooking my own dinner; sorry.”
He stands there, eyeing me as if he’s trying to figure out what’s going on. What’s changed. I eye him and try to figure out how Julie can tell us apart. We don’t have a tell. Our hair is the same, our faces are the same, and our voices are the same. We’re exactly alike, yet we’re not. Cal was born first. He was even born on a different day than me. He was born just before midnight on August twenty-third, while I was born shortly after midnight on the twenty-fourth. He’s an inch taller than me and a pound heavier.
My nickname may be Thing One, but Cal is the best between the two of us. He doesn’t have anything wrong with him. People say we’re on an even playing field when it comes to hockey, but we both know he could best me. I struggle in life while Cal never has. There’s no way I could play professionally if he wasn’t by my side. The stress would weigh too heavily on my anxiety. I can’t shoulder this life without him carrying half the load for me.
But Julie thinks I’m the best Kessy.
“What’s up with you?” Cal asks, concern coloring his voice.
“Nothing. I’m fine. It’s one of those days, I guess.” He knows that’s code for it being a rough mental health day.
Cal nods. “Okay. You rest and I’m next door if you need me.”
When I return his nod, he crosses the hall to his apartment. I close and lock the door before returning to my dinner.
“Collin?”
I whirl around to find Julie. She wears pajama pants dotted with hearts and a tank top. “All done?”
“Yeah. Do you want to go? I can finish whatever you’ve started.”
