Page 44 of Small Town Boy

“Been there, done that.”

“Excuse you?” Nash exclaims, grabbing my arm hard enough to twist my entire body to face him.

“Well, not the good night part, but the kissing…”

My brother looks like you could knock him over with a feather. Mouth slightly agape, eyes wide, and brows raised, like a movie paused at just the right moment to make the actor look ridiculous. A second later, though, he shakes it off.

“Explain…”

“Took her to breakfast last Saturday. Figured you knew about that.”

“How would I have known about that?”

I lift one shoulder, trying to communicate that I wasn’t sure. “Girls knew. Kenzie said something when I saw her at the library on Tuesday.”

“I somehow ended up on the wrong end of the phone tree. Fucking Willa.”

I snort, not really sure how it’s her fault that no one tells him anything. Then again, any chance he gets to blame her for something, he does.

“Breakfast? That’s an odd choice, even for you.”

“Ran into her at the farmers’ market. She needed a rescuing from Kitty Cattaway.” Nash remains perfectly still, waiting for me to continue. His lack of reaction at Kitty’s name is telling. “I told her as payback she could let me take her to breakfast.”

“Smooth.”

“I thought so. We went to Dolly’s and had a good time. Then I walked her home and…” I trail off. I wasn’t kidding when I told Bronwyn that I don’t kiss and tell.

“You put her on display at Dolly’s? No wonder she won’t go out with you again. You’re lucky she kissed you and didn’t run away screaming.”

“We weren’t on display. We were in the back booth.”

“The new girl in town out to breakfast with one of Hickory Hills’s most eligible bachelors? She was on display.”

“Most eligible bachelors?” I scoff. “Now you sound like Mrs. Chamberlain. Who Bronwyn got the honor of meeting on Tuesday at the Women’s Club meeting.”

“She went to Women’s Club? Unescorted? Wow, your girl’s got some ovaries on her.”

My girl. I like hearing that. Trying to hide a smile, I look away. “Yeah, went about as well as you’d expect. All the usual suspects were there, none of them on their best behavior, slinging out passive-aggressive southernisms so that Bronwyn had no idea she was being insulted.”

“You go all knight in shining armor and swoop in to save the day?”

I glare at him, my turn to be dumbfounded. We all know there is something Nash isn’t telling us—like I said, as his twin I know most of his secrets, but not all. The running joke is that he’s leaving angry husbands all over town. But this comment makes me think differently.

“You did, didn’t you?”

I grumble, not willing to own up to it.

“I know you. You did.”

If you knew, why’d you ask? Oh, that’s right, to get a rise out of me…

I shake my head, not bothering to respond.

“Know what your problem is? You can’t see yourself. You’re always the one full of the wise words for the rest of us, but when it comes to your own life, you’re just as messy as we are. Makes me feel a little better actually.”

“Didn’t realize I made you feel bad about yourself,” I joke.

“You don’t. Everyone knows I’m the superior twin.”