opened her mouth to say something, to make it better, but what could she say? She barely knew him anymore. Ten years had changed him.
Ten years had changed her, too.
“Wait.” Mason’s voice softened. “I do want to get to know you. I’m just... This has been... Well, I think I need some time to process everything.”
Ryder took out his wallet and handed Mason a business card. “Here’s my cell number. Call me when you’re ready. We’ll figure out how to move forward.” Then he walked out of the kitchen and back down the hall toward the entry.
Brittany turned to Mason. “I tried to contact you. I didn’t come here to upset you.”
His lips were drawn together in a tight line, and his brown eyes were hard, as hard as she’d ever seen them. Ryder was already halfway down the hall, so she pivoted to follow him. A framed photograph of Mason with his arm around a beautiful brunette holding a small baby mocked Brittany on the way out. Their love for each other radiated from the photo.
Her chest tightened, and she forced her legs forward. She’d had that kind of love for a few short months. But she’d been immature, scared of her feelings and unwilling to consider a future she hadn’t planned out. Her dishonesty had cost her dearly.
The bottom line? She had always put her personal ambitions above love. She had then. She did now. Her relationships never lasted long, and she’d made peace with that.
Until she had her own dance studio, she wasn’t diverting her energy to a here-today-gone-tomorrow romance. Making a name for herself in dance had been her goal ever since she was a child, and sometimes it felt further away than ever. She’d already surrendered her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. But she could still help other girls realize their dreams...if a bank would approve a line of credit so she could lease her own studio space.
Ryder held the front door open, and she nodded her thanks. She would enjoy this long-overdue visit with Nan, return to Santa Ana after Christmas and, in the meantime, pray the bank would call with the good news that her line of credit had been approved. A spot in a strip mall would be vacant in January. She had enough cash to pay for some of the renovations, but it would take several months to attract enough students to cover all her expenses.
If the bank turned her down, she’d have to reinvent herself, because she couldn’t keep doing this anymore. Years of working odd jobs to pay off her student loans and save for the studio had taken their toll.
She hurried to Ryder’s rental car and momentarily turned back to look at the house.
Mason glowered through the front window.
Well, at least she knew how he felt about her.
Some things never changed.
He’d handled that badly.
Mason collapsed onto the sofa and let his neck fall back into the cushion. What was he supposed to do now? He didn’t know what upset him more—the fact he had an identical twin he’d never heard of or that Brittany had been the one to introduce them.
He’d been rotten to them both.
Well, what had they expected? If he would have had some warning, some time to process it...
He thought of all the emails and calls from Brittany he’d ignored.
He hadn’t known she had anything important to tell him. Still, maybe he’d been wrong not to answer her. She hadn’t exactly tried to contact him in ten years. Not once.
Which was fine. She hadn’t really cared about him the way he’d cared about her. It probably should have affected how he felt about her grandmother, but it didn’t. Nan—Ada Rhodes—lived a mile down the road from him in this secluded corner of Rendezvous. After Ma and Pops passed, Mason found himself checking on her more often. She’d been slowing down for a while now, so for the past year he’d stopped in every weekday afternoon to see how she was doing and to feed the barn cats. On Saturdays, he and Noah popped over to her place to bring her groceries.
Nan was as close to a mother or grandmother as Mason had now. And he couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her, either.
He pulled out the card Ryder had handed him, gave it a cursory glance and flicked it onto the end table.
Lies. So many lies.
Ma and Pops had to have known he had a twin brother. Not once had they mentioned it. Wouldn’t they think he’d want to know he had a sibling?
An identical twin. Ryder.
His heart raced.
He wasn’t ready to think about him. Not yet.
And what was with Brittany coming here to introduce them? Especially since he couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited her own grandma. She didn’t appreciate Nan. While she romped around California, Mason was the one taking care of her sweet grandmother. Not that he minded checking on Nan. He didn’t.
The ticktock of the kitchen clock echoed through the house.
He’d give about anything to have Mia here right now. She’d know what to say. She’d rub his shoulders and ease the gnawing sensation gripping every muscle in his body.
He missed her so much.
The first year after she died, he’d strained to hear her laughter. He’d wake up in the dead of night, reach over to touch her and his lungs would seize when he realized he was alone. He’d find himself catching his breath as he entered the kitchen, knowing she wouldn’t be there, but somehow expecting her to be rolling out dough for cinnamon buns. The second year after she died, his in-laws, Bill and Joanna Page, had begun to cling to him and Noah even more, and his memories of Mia had grown fuzzy. Last year, the third year, Mason could no longer hear the echoes of her gentle laugh. Worse, he was drowning under Bill’s expectations of him. Mason itched to create a sliver of distance from his in-laws, and they were just as determined to keep him glued to their side.
His cell phone’s loud ring made him jump. “Hello?”
“You’re not going to believe this.” His friend Gabby Stover managed Mountain View Inn, and every Tuesday night he met with her and his sister-in-law, Eden Page. They’d formed their own support group to deal with the tragedies they’d experienced. He and Eden were still trying to piece their lives back together after Mia’s death, and Gabby’s sister had recently died of a heart attack after giving birth to a baby girl. Gabby was now raising little Phoebe as her own daughter. Thankfully, Eden babysat Noah and Phoebe for him and Gabby while they worked. He didn’t know what he’d do without them.
“I don’t want you to freak out.” Her words tumbled out quickly.
Gabby must be working tonight. It hadn’t occurred to him to warn her Ryder was on his way to the inn.
“I already know. I have an identical twin.” Saying the words out loud made them seem real. How had he made it twenty-nine years without knowing he had a twin? Maybe he’d better stop wondering and start coming up with a plan for what to do about his long-lost brother.
The
