Page 105 of Resisting You
I wet my lips, then weaved through the tables to where Noah and Rosa were standing with Birdie curled between them, his head at Noah’s feet. This was new for me—the knowledge that if I reached out to my twin, I’d be interrupting something every bit as sacred as what we once shared. Best to get used to it. Best to just be happy for them.
Rosa smiled at me and gave me a hug. “Thank you so much for everything,” she said. “I’ve always wanted sisters.”
I smiled back at her. “Well, be careful what you wish for. Now you’ve got a whole damn brood of us!”
Rosa grinned, but she was looking at Noah. They did that now, that weird, intimate communication with their eyes, as if the rest of us were faint radio static.
“I’m going to see if your mom needs anything,” Rosa said, giving Noah and me a moment.
When I looked up at my brother, his eyes went soft, blue, worried. "Hey," he said, setting his glass down, "Are you disappearing on me?"
"Just stepping out," I said, and damned if I didn’t feel like a ten-year-old caught sneaking cookies from the pantry. "The air’s a little thick with estrogen in here. Also, Birdie is snoring. He’s got you beat by a mile tonight."
He smiled, then flung an arm around my shoulders. He always did that, even when we were in the middle of a fight—it was his way of saying, You're my home, no matter what.
He didn't smell like aftershave and grass stains and wet leaves anymore, the way he did when we were kids. Now it was expensive cologne and something soft and steady beneath.
"Are you sure you’re okay?" he said. And the thing about twins is, they can see straight through you even when you’re hiding in plain sight.
There was a moment, then. You could’ve filled it with all the air in the world, but it still would’ve compressed down to just the two of us.
"Doesn't really matter, does it?" I said. "You and Rosa look happy. Everyone’s happy. I’ll catch up… eventually."
“You always were a slow ass runner,” he teased.
I smacked his arm. “Hey! I placed fifth on the Maple Grove High mile run!”
“You placed fifth out ofsixrunners.”
We laughed, and the knot in my chest loosened just a little as things between us felt a little normal, despite the big changes.
"Seriously though," he said, his tone shifting. "I know this is weird. Me... being married." He paused, glancing at me. "It's kind of always just been you and me against the world. Even in a family of five kids, it always felt like we were a package deal."
I swallowed against the lump in my throat. "It hasn't felt like that for a while, Noah."
Not since he moved to New York City and became a famous TV star. But I understood what he meant.
"You still have me, you know," Noah said. "Nothing's going to change."
I huffed a laugh. It was naive if he believed that to be true.Everythingwas going to change. Only... for him, it was in all the best ways. He was gaining a wife. A family. A new life. And me? I wasn't exactly losing anything—just watching the person who’d always been my constant build a world I wasn’t sure I fit into anymore.
I took a breath and looked out at the dance floor where Cam and Lydia slow danced beneath the fairy lights and their daughter, Maddie twirled with her arms reaching up toward the stars.
"It’s weird,” I said. “Watching you get your happy ending. It’s like the book closed on one chapter and now... I’m still stuck on the blank page.”
Noah squeezed my shoulder. “Then write something unexpected. Even if it starts with spilled vodka and a burly tattoo artist.”
I blinked at him. “What?—?”
He just grinned. “I’ve got eyes, Cal. And West is a good guy. Just...” Noah's words faded as he looked over my shoulder at something in the distance.
“Just what?”
“Just don't expect more than he can give. He's been going through things.”
“What kind of things?”
Noah shrugged. “That's for him to tell you. I'm just saying, he's safe. He's a good person and a great friend. But don't expect more than that.”
