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“I think it’s a pretty valid point,” Kiersten points out.
“Kiersten, you’re supposed to be helping me, not helping her with excuses,” Tori says with mild irritation.
“Sorry, but she has a point. She needs to know where to go,” Kiersten argues.
Tori rolls her eyes as she pulls out her phone and starts typing away.
“What are you doing?” I’m almost too scared to ask.
“I texted Carson to ask Rosie. She will obviously know where her brother lives.”
“Why don’t you just text Rosie directly?”
“Because she may or may not still be mad at me from Christmas.”
“What happened at… ” Kiersten stops mid-sentence. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“Got the address.” Tori passes me the phone. “Thank you, Carson.”
I stare at the phone dumbfounded. How did Carson get this so fast? The pros and cons of your best friends’ little sisters being best friends. And right now I’m not sure I’m seeing it as a pro. My heart is racing. This is impulsive. This isn’t something I would normally do. This is main character energy. This is what Tori would do. I look up to meet Tori and Kiersten’s eyes.
“It’s up to you, kid.” Tori takes her phone back. “Are you willing to take a chance?”
Chapter 18
Mark
I’m not proud of how I’ve acted the last couple of days. I just—I don’t even know. I’ve never felt so many conflicting emotions all at once. Waking up with Millie in my arms was a more than pleasant surprise. Waking up because my brother was angrily standing over us? Not so pleasant.
Have I talked to him about it? Of course not. What is there to talk about? Millie and I were asleep on her couch. Nothing happened. Did it sting when she said we were only friends? More than I will ever admit. I was playing with fire, and now the harsh reality of that decision has burned me. The only thing to do is to push all those feelings away and hope that they disappear.
I decide to take a drive up the coast to clear my head. The weather is nice out today, and the ocean air blowing in my face as I drive is just the distraction I need. Add this to the pro column for coming home.
While driving down Pacific Coast Highway, my phone dings with a message from Ben. I’m not ready to unpack all of that just yet so I swipe the notification away. I’ll read it later, if for no other reason than the annoying red notification circle will drive me crazy. I don’t know how people can stand having those. I don’t even know what to say to Ben anyway. I know I need to talk to him eventually, but now is not the time. For now it can sit in notification purgatory with dozens of messages from my father.
My phone dings again, and I groan. This time the message is from Danny, and I swipe it open to read it.
Danny: I know it’s last minute and you might have plans, but Ashleigh and I would like to invite you over for dinner tonight.
Mark: No plans. Dinner sounds great. What time?
Danny: Ash says 6:00, but that really means 7:00 so really just show up anytime.
Mark: You guys home now?
Danny: Come on by. The girls and I are doing art projects (read: making a mess) while Ash naps.
I laugh as I think about what a sight neat and tidy Danny Jacobson making a mess with art supplies would be. He’s always been the clean freak of the Jacobson siblings; maybe it has to do with being the oldest, since I’m the same way when it comes to my siblings. Still the thought puts a smile on my face, which I could definitely use. Besides, what better way to stop thinking about Millie than distracting myself with two crazy and rambunctious three-year-olds.
I might have overestimated how easy it would be to not think about Millie while at Danny and Ashleigh’s. Let’s start with the obvious:
Danny is Millie’s older brother. They look alike. They have very similar personalities. THEY LOOK ALIKE. They might have different hair colors, but there is a Jacobson look and it is strong. And after and entire evening of trying to notice anything else, I can also say with confidence that Danny and Millie might be the two Jacobsons, other than the twins, that look the most alike. Actually, Jake and Drew are fraternal twins so even including them. They have the same mannerisms, speech patterns, similar sense of humor. I’ve never been so annoyed with Danny as I was while trying to be polite and yet also not think of his female clone.
