CHAPTER TWENTY
Deacon
It’s been three days since I made Amelia come on a park bench, but I haven’t heard from her. I sent a text the next morning to let her know I’d gathered all the supplies I need for Marmalade’s cat gym and I’m ready whenever she is, but she didn’t respond.
I’ve barely heard from DogPerson either.
And work for me is unusually slow. Sebastian has been driving us hard to get caught up on all our current projects so we can get to work on Mom and Dad’s place.
So we’re at home after a morning spent driving around looking at properties, none of which were ideal.
And we’ve got an hour before Sebastian wants to meet to discuss which construction project we should take on next.
We have several on the books, waiting for us to drive out and give them an estimate.
But we all have to agree on a job and fit it in the schedule before we meet with clients.
It’s more of a formality at this point, because we can’t really afford to say no to anything, but it’s nice to feel like we all get a vote.
“Staring at your phone isn’t going to make her message you,” Cash says from his bed. It feels like summer camp, the way the only place in this house to get away is our bedroom.
“You’re staring at your phone.”
“I’m doing something productive,” he says. “I’m looking at the listings the real estate agent sent me.”
“He’s already found more?”
“Not for Mom and Dad’s house, for my own. I need my own space or I’m going to murder Sebastian.”
I stare at my brother. Cash is usually pretty chill and fun-loving. Threatening violence is out of character.
“You doing okay?”
“I’m great. I’ve got two houses to design, Mom and Dad’s property to conceptualize before we’ve even bought any land, and I’ve got interviews all week for our new assistant.
None of the resumes we’ve gotten are even remotely promising, and all Sebastian does is tell me to get off my ass and work harder.
I get he’s carrying all the stress, but he’s going to drive us all out of the business if he keeps it up. ”
“I should probably be looking for a place, too.”
“That would take time away from staring at your phone hoping to hear from Amelia or DogPerson.”
Before I can tell him to fuck off, my phone vibrates with action. Fucking finally. I swipe so fast my thumb gets whiplash. Unfortunately, it’s just a text from Sebastian.
“Sebastian’s still downstairs, right?” I ask. “If he wants to find Levi, why doesn’t he walk his own ass up here to find him?”
“You’re just mad it was him and not Amelia texting you. He’s working himself to the fucking bone marrow. Help him out already and quit whining.”
“Where the hell is Levi, anyway? I haven’t seen him since he got back.”
Cash shrugs. “I assume he’s finally convinced Gentry to be his girlfriend, and he’s been living at her house. I don’t exactly track his comings and goings.”
I drag myself off my bed, phone tight in my hand, and jog down the hallway to Levi’s room. He’s been known to vanish if he gets wind of one of us looking for him and I’m not taking any chances.
“Levi,” I shout as I throw his door open and step inside.
He’s sitting at his small desk in his master bedroom that he gets all to himself. He startles and slams his laptop shut. He is definitely hiding something.
This is exactly the kind of distraction I need. A mystery. “What were you doing?” I ask. “You know I won’t judge. I’ve been looking for something new and spicy to watch.” I waggle my eyebrows for effect. “If you know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately, I do. What do you want? I’m in the middle of something.”
I press a hand to my chest in mock hurt. “Is that the way you greet your favorite brother after not seeing him for nearly a week?”
“You’re not my favorite brother, and I was only out of town four days.”
My phone vibrates, and I immediately swipe it open, Levi forgotten.
Finally, it’s a message from DogPerson. She and her little girl had the stomach bug, she missed a couple of days at work, and now she’s slammed trying to keep up.
I frown and shake my head. “Poor thing,” I say softly, wishing I could have been there for her.
“Got a new girlfriend?” Levi asks.
Damn it. I didn’t mean to say anything out loud. “What? No.” I stuff my phone in my back pocket before he grabs it to snoop. “It’s Sebastian’s match on the dating site. I have to respond every time she messages so she doesn’t lose interest in Sebastian.”
“Uh-huh,” Levi says, clearly disbelieving. “No chance of her running into Sebastian around town and asking him an awkward question, is there?”
“His picture on the site is just his giant beard and his abs,” I say. I’m proud of my foresight in not posting a full frontal of our brother. “Unless he decides to walk around town with his shirt off, there’s no way DogPerson will recognize him.”
“DogPerson? You don’t know her real name?”
I shake my head and shrug like I don’t care. “She doesn’t want to share personal information.”
“A local?”
“Yeah. She works with animals and has a four-year-old little girl. She won’t say more than that because she doesn’t want me, I mean, Sebastian, to figure out who she is.”
“Dude.” Levi’s eyes widen, and a dark sense of foreboding rolls through me. Could he be the guy DogPerson went out with?
I stare at him, trying to do the math and figure out if he’s been home long enough. I’m not entirely sure of when he got home, and he’s never been one to share his dating news.
He scrolls through his phone, brow crinkled in thought. I want to knock the phone out of his hand and check for romantic texts.
“That’s got to be Asher’s sister, Amelia,” he says. “She’s an animal control officer.” He holds up his phone to show me an email sent from this Amelia, with the address DogPerson158@.
My heart stops pumping, and my blood goes cold. It can’t be.
DogPerson can’t be the same Amelia I met in the hardware store. There’s no way my Amelia has a daughter, and she doesn’t work with animals… Except she does. Why didn’t I put that together before?
I feel faint. “Asher’s sister? He’s never mentioned a sister. What’s his last name?”
Levi rolls his eyes. “Aldridge, man. Which you’d know if you had a conversation with him. All you ever do is challenge him to a race or an arm-wrestling competition when you see him.”
I relax. “So his sister’s name is Amelia Aldridge. That’s weird, but at least they aren’t the same person.”
Levi stares at me, and I realize I said that last part out loud. Oops.
“Her last name is Burns,” he says. “She’s divorced.”
The world wobbles and goes fuzzy around the edges. DogPerson and Amelia are the same person... “No fucking way. That can’t be right.”
Levi gets up and grabs my shoulders like he thinks I’m about to fall over. Maybe I am. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m really not.” My brain races over any chance I might have ever had to see Asher’s sister before. Maybe there’s still hope that they’re different people. “Wait. Was his sister at his race last year?”
Levi shrugs. “Probably. Do you remember her?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe.” I don’t remember seeing her.
It doesn’t matter. There’s no way they aren’t the same person, but there’s no way in hell I’m admitting that to Levi.
I step out of his reach, swallow hard, and force a smile.
“It doesn’t matter. Do you think Sebastian would go for someone who’s already a part of the family? ”
Levi eyes me like he’s not buying the shit I’m selling. “I don’t think that’s going to be the part he takes issue with, man. She’s an in-law. It’s not even in the neighborhood of incest.”
I pretend to be relieved, but I’m still freaking out. And not because I actually think hooking up with Amelia was any kind of incest. “Good. He’s looking for you, by the way. Wants to talk to you about the budget on the Kilpatrick build.”
Finally, Levi looks like the one off balance. “Cover for me or I’m going to tell him about your evil schemings to fix him up with his cousin-in-law.”
Wow, he really just went there. “Levi. Et tu?”
He packs his laptop into his bag and grabs his keys and wallet from the desk. “Where is he?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not afraid of you, Levi, but Sebastian scares the shit out of me. You want me to cover for you, you’re going to have to do more than threaten me.” It’s never good to give in to one of my brother’s threats. It just encourages them to do it again.
Levi’s expression softens, and a hint of sadness creeps in. “I’m in love with Gentry Lendew, but I fucked up. I need to fix it now, or I’m going to have to move to California to avoid bumping into her and breaking my heart over and over again.”
Aw, my baby brother’s in love. “Why didn’t you say so? Of course, I’ll cover for you. I’ll help you serenade her or line her street with flower petals if you want.”
“Thanks, Deacon. You’re an asshole, but I love you.”
I slap his back. “Love you, too, dickhead. Sebastian is in the front room. I’ll distract him while you sneak out the back.”
I head back down the hall, intending to do exactly that, but by the time I turn the corner I forget all about Levi’s problem with Sebastian. Instead of taking the stairs, I head back into my room and close the door.
“Please tell me you found Levi,” Cash says. “Sebastian’s blowing up my phone now.”
“I found Levi.”
There must be something in my voice, because Cash looks up, brow creased. “Whoa. You okay?”
I slump onto my bed and drop my head into my hands. “DogPerson158 and Amelia are the same fucking person.”
Cash doesn’t say anything for a long moment, probably piecing together how I could possibly know that. “Levi knows Amelia?”
“She’s Asher’s sister. Clover’s sister-in-law.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. “But how did he connect her to DogPerson?”
“He got an email from her. Her email address is the same as her user id.”
“That could be a coincidence. I’m sure there are a lot of people who—”