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ONE
Foster
“I’msurprised that you even came in this morning,” my twin brother, Ford, says as he takes a seat across from me.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I ask him, even though we both already know the answer.
“Um, maybe because Lilliana is coming back today.”
I give him a blank look, and he rolls his eyes.
“Don’t give me that. We both know that you’ve had this day circled in your calendar for freaking months.”
“Prove it,” I grumble, and he rolls his eyes.
“Are you finally going to tell her that you’ve been obsessed with her for your entire life?”
“Probably not right away. I was thinking that I’d welcome her back to town and stuff first, maybe help her get settled.”
“Smartass,” he says with a laugh, and I grin.
“It must be hard for you that I got all of the brains and the looks,” I say with a sigh, and he flips me off.
“We’re identical twins, moron.”
“Am I interrupting a brotherly squabble?” Ransom asks as he joins us at our table.
“Almost always,” we say at the same time, and Ransom grins.
We’re at the Nosh Diner, but it’s mid-morning and the place is empty. I’m sure that won’t last long. This place is always packed. It’s one of the only restaurants here in Wolf Valley, after all.
Ford actually owns this diner. The previous owner, old Mr. Riley, sold it to him right after high school. Well, sold it to us. Ford couldn’t have afforded it without my investment, and neither one of us could have afforded it without the money that our mom left us when she passed.
“What are we talking about then?” Ransom asks.
Ransom came to town a year ago and moved in next door to me. We became fast friends and try to grab breakfast or lunch together once a week. I had forgotten that today was when we were meeting for a late breakfast so I’m lucky that I had a lull at work and came over.
“Lilliana is coming home today,” Ford informs him.
“Ah, Foster’s long lost love. I can’t wait to meet her.”
I glare at him, and he grins, grabbing a menu and pretending to look it over.
“You’ll love her,” Ford tells him, and jealousy starts to eat at me.
Lilliana is finally coming back to town and I don’t want to even think about sharing her with anyone else. It’s been too long since we were last together, three years to be exact. We’ve stayed in touch, texting or talking on the phone every few days or so, but it’s not the same as seeing her face to face.
“I’m sure,” Ransom says, and I know that they’re both just messing with me.
“Are we eating or what?” I snap, and they share a look.
“She left for college, right?” Ransom asks, and Ford and I both nod.
“Yeah, she went to the Pratt Institute in New York,” I tell him.
“That’s a long way to go for school. Are you sure that she wasn’t trying to get away from you?” Ransom asks, and I know that he’s joking, but my stomach drops at his words, and my mind flashes back to high school, to one of the last times that I saw her in person.
Ford thinks that I’ve never tried to tell Lilliana how I’ve always felt about her, but that’s not true. There was a party towards the end of summer that we all went to. Lilliana and I had snuck outside for some fresh air and wound up sitting on this porch swing staring up at the stars.
