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As he stepped one foot out of his car door, an icy blast of wind sweeping off the lake and straight up the snow-covered dunes onto his parents’ property nearly knocked him back into the driver’s seat. He fought the wind the whole way to the door, where he didn’t pause, plowing through like one of the large city snowplows after a heavy snowfall.
Today’s flurries were child’s play.
“You made it.” His mom was at the door with her arms extended like a tray for his winter weather gear. “Melody said it’s pretty bad out.”
“Seen worse.” But his car wasn’t meant for worse. He should be smart like his older brothers and drive a truck. Shaking himself like a wet dog, he let snow cascade from him before he peeled his layers off and loaded them onto his mother. “Sorry for the mess.”
She turned to bring his things to the mudroom. “I wouldn’t be a mother if I minded messes,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared. With a grin, TJ stepped into the living room. A fire crackled in the large, stone fireplace, soft music played from the speakers at the top of the bookshelf, tantalizing smells wafted from the kitchen, and the Christmas tree glowed with lights.
This was home. Not his tiny apartment over the bookstore on Silver Lake City’s old-fashioned downtown square. That space was cozy, and he’d made it his. But this place—the house he’d grown up in—would always be home.
“Hey, Mel.” He stepped in the direction of the woman who sat on the couch, conspiring with his sister.
“Hi yourself.” Melody Reed’s face slid into the adorable lopsided smile he’d fallen for the first time he found her under the staircase back in middle school. The smile that made his heart trip every time he saw her.
There she was. The woman he wanted to date. Theonlywoman he wanted to date.
His best friend.
Blinking away the futile thought, he eased onto the couch beside her, leaving plenty of space. He’d learned his lesson years ago.
“How long do you think Mom will leave the tree up?”
His question was directed to his twin, Lucy, but Melody answered, “It’s only been a little more than three weeks since Christmas. Honestly, TJ, shouldn’t you know your mother by now? She always leaves it up at least a month.”
Shewouldknow that. She was a de facto member of the family, as evidenced by her weekly participation in their Family Fun Tuesdays. Yep, TJ had pretty much adopted her in eighth grade, and his family had followed suit. No one knew he wasn’t satisfied with the arrangement. Hadn’t been for a very long time.
“How was work?” Melody peered at him, her brown eyes wide with expectation. Her equally dark, brown hair, long and straight, spilled over her shoulders. He could look at her all night.
His pulse accelerated, and he darted his eyes toward the Christmas tree, ever afraid she’d see his true feelings on his face. She was the one skilled in theater arts, not him. He was a poor actor, which meant his friendship with her had been nothing but intense stress since high school. A stress he had no plans of cutting from his life.
“It was all right.” Being a line editor wasn’t exciting, but it wasn’t boring, either. He got to read some pretty cool books. And some really bad ones. If he were an acquisitions editor instead, like he dreamed of, he’d make sure the quality of books Reliant Tidings Publishing put out was a few notches higher.
Like his own book, ready and waiting in a file on his computer.
He dropped his head.
“Still haven’t done anything about it?” Melody’s voice was soft, void of finger-pointing in that special way she had. She knew about his dreams. She knew about his fears. But she didn’t know she was the root of them both.
“Not yet.” He forced his head up, his smile a practiced motion he had no doubt she saw straight through. “One day.”
“That’s what you always say,” Lucy said in a disparaging tone on the other end of the couch. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” She pushed up in slipper-clad feet. “Mom! That smell is tormenting me. Can we eat, or are you just torturing us?”
Melody and TJ traded smirks. Nobody got away with speaking like that to Arlene Halverson except Lucy. After two rambunctious boys, his mom had been ready for a daughter, even though she was born three minutes ahead of yet another boy. Their youngest sister had been a surprise six years later when their parents thought they were done. But Lucy took the cake as the family favorite, and everybody knew it.
“If you get yourself in here and help me, your stomach might be satisfied faster,” their mother’s mild voice called back, and Lucy huffed as she went. Melody’s responding tinkle of laughter tickled TJ’s heart, as it always did.
“You two are nothing alike. Are you sure you’re twins?”
Anyone who saw them would know they were. But their looks were their only similarity—that and their love for each other and their family. Melody included.
TJ’s love for Melody was different from Lucy’s, though. Much different.
“How’s life?” TJ asked, laying his arm casually across the back of the couch. Melody offered him a cocky smile.
“Splendid. Why do you ask?”
“Just checking. What best friends do, you know?” There was so much more he wanted to say. So much more he wanted to ask. But Melody kept a high fence around her. Just how high, he hadn’t figured out.
