Page 31 of A Bright Winter Season

“We need to check to see when the last time he posted a picture of the two of them was,” Alexis said.

“That’s not any kind of proof,” Julia said. “He might have just been too busy to post.”

“It’s not proof, but it’s evidence,” Alexis said, nodding eagerly. “What have you got on his Facebook?”

“Hmm, nothing since summer. I guess that is kind of odd, because she was posting pictures a lot and tagging him in them.”

“Ha! See? Evidence.”

“What about his Instagram?”

“Same thing. He doesn’t post much, but he did post a picture of them fishing together in the summer. And she looks totally grossed out and unhappy, I might add.”

“So obviously she’s bad for him and he should be with Hazel,” Julia said sarcastically, although Alexis noticed that she leaned forward to get a good look at the picture. “Oh, you’re right, she does look like she might be bad for Jacob. She’s too sophisticated. I mean—not that Jacob is sloppy or anything?—”

Alexis laughed. “I know what you mean. Jacob needs someone easygoing. She looks?—”

“Like how I used to be?” Julia laughed. “Like someone who spends too much time getting things to be just right?”

Alexis leaned over and kissed Julia’s cheek. “I wasn’t going to say that, but for the record, laid-back Julia is much more fun than super sophisticated Julia.”

Laughing, the sisters continued their search. Alexis was disappointed to find that Jacob posted mostly pictures of the work he’d completed, and even though she had to admit that it was clear he did a great job on all of his projects, repaired windows and new staircase railings didn’t have much to do with romance.

She was beginning to see a trend in the selfies he posted, however. Most of them were of him with a group of other guys, and there was one guy in particular who was showing up in most of the photos.

“Who is that?” she asked Julia, leaning closer to her sister and showing her a picture of just Jacob and the guy. “I have a hunch that’s Jacob’s best friend.”

Julia inspected the picture. “I’ve been noticing him in the Facebook pictures too. I don’t know him—he must have moved to Rosewood Beach after we graduated from high school.”

“Well, he could be the one to officially solve the mystery for us, whoever he is. He obviously knows Jacob better than we do. He can confirm whether Jacob has a girlfriend anymore or not.”

“But—we don’t even know this guy!”

“That’s okay! Click on one of the Facebook pictures, see if he’s tagged.”

Julia bit her lip and clicked on one of the pictures. Sure enough, the friend had been tagged and his name was Trevor Duncan, and Julia was on his Facebook profile a few seconds later.

“But we don’t have any way of contacting him,” Julia pointed out. “Neither of us know him.”

“Sure we do! We can message him on Facebook.”

“Oh, Alexis. No way. That would seem stalker-ish.”

“It would seem stalker-ish because wearebeing stalker-ish.” Alexis laughed. “Okay, who can we talk to who we actually know in person?”

“Dean doesn’t know Jacob that well, but maybe we can get him to ask him.”

“No, that won’t work.” Alexis shook her head. “Dean and Hazel tell each other everything. Just like you apparently tell Cooper everything.”

“Hey, I’m definitely telling him about this.” Julia laughed. “This is a night to remember.”

“It’ll be more of a night to remember if we find out for sure that Jacob’s single.” Alexis drummed her fingers against her lips, thinking. “I didn’t recognize most of the guys in those pictures,and even as far as the guys I do know are concerned, there’s no way of knowing if any of them are the kind of person Jacob would talk to about his personal life.”

“Hey!” Julia sat up straight, looking excited. “You know who probably would know? Cedric Turner!”

“Cedric Turner? As in, the old guy Cedric Turner who owns Turner’s Hardware?”

“Yes! He’s been Jacob’s mentor for years. The two of them are actually pretty close. Hazel told me that once.”

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