Page 29 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

She gulped. He was taking this whole fiancé thing a little far. Didn’t he realize the fine line they were walking?

Cash pinched her left side, making her flinch to the right and into his side. He wrapped his arm tightly around her and a flush of heat rushed through her.

“Stop that,” she snapped under her breath.

He turned to her, whispering in her ear, his lips brushing lightly against it. She shivered. “Cynthia wants to know if you’re looking for someone. Also, you look like a deer in the headlights.”

Her eyes whipped to the woman who sat across from her. Cynthia stared with a concerned expression or possibly one that wondered if Jo wasn’t totally mental. That was up for debate. Here she was pretending to be her sister, engaged to Tony, played by Cash. She must be insane. There was no other option. She cleared her throat, trying to ignore Cash’s closeness.

“Sorry,” she sat up again, conscious of how she must look to them. “I’m always amazed by the sheer volume of people that come into town every October and March.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to listen.

“What happens in March?” Cynthia swirled her wine around her glass, the red leaving tracks down the sides.

“The hot air balloon festival,” Jo grinned. She loved the hot air balloon festival. “It’s a fun time to be in town. I looov—” She put a hard emphasis on the “v” and paused. Allie didn’t love the hot air balloons, Jo did.

Allie hadn’t been fond of the balloons since she went up in one four years ago. She came back pale as a sheet and told everyone she’d found God. Jo was pretty sure Allie had just found a fear of heights. Though, Allie had been early to church every Sunday for a month after that. Jo quickly backtracked. “My sister loves hot air balloons.”

Cash grabbed his glass of water and chuckled behind it.

She shot him a glare.

“Jocelyn, right?” Ryan asked. “Tony mentioned you’re twins?”

“Identical,” Jo said on instinct or habit or whatever it was that gave her the impulse to always specify that, then she held her neurotic breath. This was it. This was the moment the shoe would drop.

Ryan pushed his empty plate back and placed his napkin on the table. “I thought she’d be here to greet us.”

Cynthia nodded, her brown bob shaking around her ears. “Me too, I was a little surprised.”

Jo felt righteous indignation rise in her.

She’d switched places with her sister in high school occasionally, usually after some peer pressure from Allie and Cash, and it’d always been fine. But she was 31 years old. The idea that she was doing this now, again, because of them was so . . . so . . . infuriating. Especially when she was the responsible one and had to take the rap for not showing. It really ground her corn. “Her . . . boyfriend had a family thing come up, and they had to leave town in a hurry. She’s not normally like this. She’s very responsible and organized.”

“Nothing serious, I hope?” Cynthia asked.

She shook her head. “They’re fine.”

“You’ll like Jo,” Cash said. “She’s the more serious of the two . . .”

Jo stiffened. The more serious of the two? That was her tell? She was more serious? Swell. Jo knew she was, but didn’t want that to be her distinguishing feature. Seriousness.

Cash dropped a hand under the table. “But she’s also sophisticated, smart, funny. The company really couldn’t do without her. And, of course,” he squeezed her knee, “she’s beautiful.”

The Warners laughed.

She jerked back, but Cash was unmoved. They couldn’t see his hand on her knee. What was he doing? She kicked him. He barely flinched, but a wide grin spread over his ridiculously handsome face, showing his dimples.

“What’s it like having a twin?” Cynthia asked.

Jo thought about it for a second. She had a bunch of choice words for Allie right now, but what came out was none of those things. “It’s like winning the lottery without even having bought a ticket.” She meant that quite literally. She had won a genetic jackpot that had given her a best friend, a business partner with more talent in her left pinky than most people had in their entire bodies, and someone who understood everything about her without having to be told. Allie was Jo’s happy place, and vice versa.

The couple smiled.

Cynthia lifted her wineglass and pointed it at her. “If your sister is as lovely as you are,” she looked at her husband, “we may want to consider using them in an ads campaign, don’t you think, darling?” She took a sip of her wine.

“My thought exactly,” Ryan said.

Jo shook her head and opened her mouth to say no, but Cash spoke before she could.

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