and shut his eyes tight. Caught somewhere between elation and dread, his brain tried to make sense of what she’d said. He’d had a thing for Nomi since she’d moved to Faith, but she’d never noticed him. She’d always treated him like a brother.
“You should look happier. Why don’t you look happier?”
Linc peeled an eye open to glare at his twin sister. She matched him in coloring, from her inky black hair to her jade green eyes. Her features were softer, more feminine versions of his, down to the slight dimple in her chin. The only dissimilarity was the foot difference in height. She liked to tease that he’d stolen all her height genes. “That was low, Jilly. You should have given me some warning.”
“Now, why would I want to do that? Besides, are you going to pretend that you don’t want to see Nomi?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He handed her back her phone. At times like this, he regretted the two of them being so close. It was impossible to hide anything from her.
“Bull. Five years is a long time to hold a torch for someone, little brother.”
“Only by a minute, Jilly.”
She slid him a sideways glance. “What? You thought you were slick back then? Come on, for the most part you were pretty shy, but the moment Nomi was around, you had to peek out of your little shell and hang around.”
Linc pinned a narrow-eyed gaze on his sister. Lucky for him, he’d outgrown that shy awkwardness and he’d filled out. No one would call him awkward and skinny now. But five years was a long time. The last time he’d seen Nomi, she’d been running for the first train out of town after her dumb-ass boyfriend had chosen Lila Banks, or rather the Banks money and connections, over Nomi.
“Did you tell her?”
His sister’s brow furrowed. “What? No! I was hoping you would get the balls and do it yourself. But I guess you never did.”
The night she’d run away, Nomi had turned up at his house looking for Jilly to give her a ride. But his sister hadn’t been there. Nomi had walked the two miles over from the country club in the rain after Brad had dumped her, and she had been soaked through.
When she’d asked him to swing by her house so she could grab her stuff and then take her to the train station, he hadn’t tried to talk her out of it. Maybe because it hadn’t hit him till they were on the platform that she was actually leaving. His stomach still knotted whenever he remembered what he’d said to her then. “You always deserved better than him.”
Her smile had been sad, wistful, and she’d kissed him on the cheek. And that was it. He’d never seen her again.
Jilly snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. “Earth to Linc. Did you hear me?”
He’d been too lost in his last memory of Nomi. “No. Sorry.”
His sister rolled her eyes. “Focus. She’s coming back, so what are you going to do about it?”
“Pick her up from the train station.”
“Please don’t be obtuse. This is your chance.”
“She’s only staying a couple of days, Jilly.”
“I know, but that in itself is huge. She hasn’t been home in five years. Maybe you can convince her to stay a little longer. Have a Christmas fling.”
A fling? Just the thought made his skin tight. “Not that easy, Jilly. She’s coming back for Nolan Polk.”
Jilly’s eyes grew wide and she cursed under her breath. “What are you going to do?”
That was the question. He’d created the Nolan Polk pseudonym for his work back in college when he’d been trying to distance himself from the family name. He’d wanted people to want his work because it was good, not because his father was a senator. But one bad decision and Polk had become a prison he couldn’t escape.
There was no way in hell he could help her find Nolan Polk. Problem was, when Nomi had something she wanted, she wouldn’t let it go.
“I can’t use the Polk name or distribute that work until the New Year. If I do, I’m in breach and it’ll cost me everything.”
Jilly ground her teeth. “I could kill that woman for locking you into this deal.”
He wished he could wipe his whole relationship with Melanie Stanfield off the plane of existence. Just thinking about it made anger pulse in his veins. When he and Melanie had been together, at first things were great. She had art connections thanks to her family, particularly abroad. When he’d proposed, she’d officially become his manager.
The one clause in his contract he should have paid closer attention to stated that no one else could distribute his work for profit for a term of three years. At the time, he’d been convinced of their love. Like a chump.
But then things had gone bad. And she’d started paying more attention to the value of his work than the value of their relationship. When they’d broken up, she’d held him by the short and curlies to his contract. He’d rather eat glass than give her a dime.
For the past two years since he’d been home, he hadn’t sold or exhibited a single piece, except for charity. Suddenly the only thing he’d ever wanted had a hundred-and-ten-pound blond albatross attached to it.
But he’d made his bed, he had to lie in it. “My fault, Jilly. I trusted the wrong person. I’m not eager to do that again.”
Jilly shook her head. “Nomi wouldn’t hurt you, Linc. That’s not her.”
No, that wasn’t the Nomi he remembered, but he’d been wrong about people before. “I thought the same thing about Melanie once, too.”
His sister put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe this gig could put you back on the map again. Have you shooting. This is your chance to finally leave for good. Maybe go back to Europe. See more of Africa. You always used to talk about it.”
“That was a long time ago, Jilly.”
She pursed her lips. “Sooner or later you won’t have Dad as an excuse anymore. You’ll have to face the big bad world. You were destined for great things, little brother. Time to stop hiding.”
Linc ignored the numb feeling that spread from his chest. With his father’s early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis two years ago, he’d come home to help out. They both had. But for him, it had also been a way to escape all the mistakes he’d made.
Though, coming home hadn’t been any easier. His father had been a man’s man. Confident, a little brash, but fair and kindhearted. It had helped him get elected over and over again. It had helped people trust him. But that man was gone now. And it hurt. Some days weren’t so bad. The lucid days. Which were more than the non-lucid days. But the other days, the ones where his father couldn’t even recognize him, those hurt. It was the sole reason he stayed. Otherwise he’d have left, off for parts unknown by now, spreading his wings. At least that was what he liked to tell himself.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Whatever you say. What I do know is,
