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CHAPTER ONE
She needed a new hobby, Janessa Halverson decided as she let herself into her room. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it for a moment. Though she couldn’t hear them, she knew that her older brother, Gareth, and Aria, her best friend—and his girlfriend—were seated on the landing in front of the fireplace, talking like they did most evenings.
They’d probably be fine with her hanging out with them. However, being a third wheel wasn’t on Janessa’s list of how to spend an enjoyable evening. She couldn’t even hang out with her other brother, Jay, given that tension between them was still high. And even if it wasn’t, he had a girlfriend with a child now, as well as a son of his own, so Janessa would be a third—or fourth or fifth—wheel there as well.
Even Charli was tied up most evenings with Layla and preparing for school the next day, now that she was back teaching. School had started the previous week, so she was again on her school day schedule with Layla.
Janessa walked over to her bed and flopped face down on it, smoothing her hand across the comforter that she’d tossed over the bed that morning. She hated feeling so restless and out of sorts.
The last few months had been weird, her fractured relationship with Jay playing a large part in that. It was her fault that tension still existed between them, but making things right meant she’d have to explain why she’d reacted the way she had in the first place. Janessa wasn’t ready to do that. She hoped that maybe, given enough time, things would just go back to normal between them without having to hash it all out.
She wasn’t usually one to mope around, but that had been her default mood since everything had happened with Jay. Something had woken deep inside her when Jay had begun acting differently toward her without a good explanation. A fear had taken root that she still hadn’t been able to shake.
But she wasn’t going to dwell on that right then.
Or anytime soon, if she could help it.
Janessa pushed herself up to sit against the headboard and began to scroll through her phone, looking for a distraction from her thoughts.
Most of her siblings were active on social media, so she had plenty of content to look through. The most interesting posts came from Wilder, who was currently traveling through Australia and New Zealand.
She had no desire to tour the world, but Wilder seemed to thrive on it. He had a work hard-play hard approach to his life. Once the skiing season started, he’d be back to earn big bucks from the wealthy people who came to the resort where he was a ski instructor.
As she scrolled through Wilder’s social media, she liked all the photos and left comments on a few. She noticed that Cole had posted a couple of new pictures and was glad that they weren’t likely to give their parents any heart attacks, even though he was off spreading his wings at college.
A knock on the door drew Janessa’s attention from her phone. “Come in.”
When the door opened, Aria poked her head around it. “Up for some company?”
“Sure.” Had she been lost in her thoughts longer than she’d realized? “Gareth left already?”
“Yep.” Aria made her way to the bed, then plopped down beside Janessa, arranging the pillows to support her. “Jackson texted and wanted to talk to him, so we decided to call it a day.”
“What’s up with Jackson?”
“He wasn’t specific in his text,” Aria said. “But it’s probably related to his dating life, or lack thereof.”
Janessa set her phone on the nightstand. “Jackson should go on The Bachelor or something. He’s so desperate to have a girlfriend.”
“Have you ever thought of dating him?” Aria asked.
Janessa turned to stare at her friend with wide eyes. “Seriously? Can you really picture the two of us together?”
Aria narrowed her gaze, as if giving the idea serious consideration.
Janessa let out a huff of laughter. “You’re crazy.”
“How about Wade?” Aria asked. “He might be more your speed.”
“If they were the two last men on earth, and Ihadto choose one of them, I’d definitely go with Wade. Though honestly? I’d probably still just stay single.”
“And what about Will?”
Janessa crossed her arms, not wanting to discuss how she felt about Will—either in the past or more recently. “Are you planning to go through all of my brothers’ best friends?”
“Maybe?” Aria asked.
“Well, stop it. I’m not going to date any of them.”
