Page 13 of Rival Hearts

“Peanut?” Riley asked, not even attempting to conceal her laughter.

“Shut up,” Jett complained, but she couldn’t deny it was a strange nickname. “My dad used to call me that.”

“Aw,” Riley said, “that’s so cute.”

“Yeah,” Ember said, and Jett knew that she was going to tell Riley the story of how she got her nickname, “apparently right when Jett was born, the nurse told her dad that she looked like a peanut.”

“That’s cute,” Riley said. “I wish I had a nickname like that.”

“Your parents never gave you a nickname?” Ember asked.

“I never knew them,” Riley said with a shake of her head. Jett saw a moment of sadness in her green eyes.

“Oh,” Ember said, and Jett frowned. She couldn’t imagine not knowing her parents or growing up without them. She looked at Riley, who looked as if she was daring one of them to say something sad or negative about that situation, so Jett said the first positive thing she could think of.

“Well that’s their loss then,” Jett said. “It sucks that you don’t have an embarrassing nickname I can tease you for, though.”

Riley laughed and Ember looked relieved that the awkwardness no longer remained.

“I’ll be sure to hold it over your head as long as we know each other,” Riley promised.

Jett rolled her eyes, but she didn’t think she would actually mind that much.

“So, how do you two know each other?” Riley asked with a question in her eyes, and a slight tint of jealousy as she eyed up Ember’s impressive stature.

“Peanut is my cousin,” Ember said.

“Though, growing up, we’ve practically been sisters,” Jett said and she noticed a look of relief on Riley’s face. Had Riley been jealous of her easy relationship with Ember?

“Oh yeah,” Ember said, “the only difference between us and sisters is that we didn’t share a house. But we used to drive our moms crazy with the amount of sleepovers and phone calls we would have.”

Riley laughed, but her laugh was cut short when Josephine walked their way and stood beside Ember.

“Well hello everyone,” she said, looking at the group. Jett noticed that Natalie was no longer with her, and when she looked around, she saw the little rascal talking animatedly to Becky and Lucinda. Jett smiled to herself.

“Hi, Dr. Mars,” Riley said, her air of professionalism returning.

“Hi, Josephine,” Jett said with no pretense of professionalism, hoping that she could remain casual enough for Riley to remain the same way. She did notice that Riley looked at her strangely when she called her Josephine.

“What is going on over here?” Josephine asked.

“Oh, just talking and embarrassing Jett,” Ember said.

Josephine laughed and shook her head. “Well I’m about to give Jett a reprieve,” Josephine said, “because I would like my lovely wife to come with me. Music is about to play and I want a dance.” Josephine gave Ember a quick peck on the lips.

“Of course,” Ember said, wrapping her arms around Josephine. “Lead the way,” she said, and the two left.

Jett saw Riley looking after Josephine and Ember in awe and with a slight sweet look in her eyes. Jett understood. It was hard to look at their relationship and not be overtaken by sentiment.

“Your cousin is married to the head of the hospital?” Riley asked.

“Yeah,” Jett said. “There are a lot of impressive women in my family. My aunt, Ember’s mom, is actually the infamous Fire Chief Becky Thompson.”

“Wow,” Riley said, “that is impressive. Honestly the only impressive family member I’ve ever come close to having was a foster mom who was a marine biologist.”

Jett raised her eyebrows. “That’s pretty cool,” she said, “did you ever get to see the animals?”

“A few times,” Riley said, “but I didn’t stay in that home for long.”

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