12. Callie
CHAPTER 12
CALLIE
A s promised, Max takes me straight to his landlady, who turns out to be a combination of a sweet, elderly grandma and the Energizer Bunny. Ms. Collins even looks a bit like the rabbit, with her head of short, spiky rose gold hair that leans more toward pink than gold. She’s wearing a yellow tracksuit and bright pink and blue tennis shoes.
As he introduces us, I realize I haven’t told him my last name yet, so I volunteer it, since it’s something my fake boyfriend will need to know. “Callie Baker. Nice to meet you, Ms. Collins.”
“Lovely to meet you, dear. Would you like a cup of tea, or maybe an iced matcha? I also have chocolate chip cookies and brownies.” The woman gives me a toothy grin. “The brownies have some good stuff in them, if you know what I mean.”
Max answers before I have a chance to take all of that in. “We can’t stay long. Callie’s had a long day, and is just stopping over for a few minutes.”
“Okay, well, I hope to see you again, Callie. Oh, and Max—it is Max, right?” Max nods, and I wonder how many of those brownies Ms. Collins has eaten this evening. “Thank you for replacing those lightbulbs on the deck. I appreciate it.”
“Of course, Ms. Collins. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do.”
“Such nice boys.” The woman gives us both a friendly wave as we go back out the way we came, and down the steps.
“She seems interesting,” I whisper, as we ascend the steps to the adjoining unit.
Sandwich in one hand, Max pulls a key from his pocket. “She’s great. We were lucky to find her.” Before he opens the door, he turns to me. “Would you like to text someone to tell them where you are?”
I’m tempted to say no, because despite our short time together, I feel like I can trust Max. But I’ve been wrong about men before. “I guess I should, just in case sweet Ms. Collins is in on your abduction plot.”
“Smart,” Max says. He gives me the street address and I send a brief message to Marissa, telling her I’m with someone I met at the sandwich shop. If I let on that it’s the guy from yoga, my phone will light up with a string of questions.
Her response comes quickly. “Ooh, Surfline Drive. Fancy. Nice to see you getting out. Text me when you leave, or if you decide to stay the night winking emoji”
She’s right. Max’s rental is in one of the best parts of town, and it’s right on the ocean. He must do well in his software work.
“All set?” he asks, when I tuck my phone back into my pocket.
I nod, prepared to meet Max’s brother, and to find out what he wants to show me. I’m not prepared to find a carbon copy of Max sitting at the dining room table, and by the way he’s looking at me, I get the idea he already knows who I am.
“Callie, this is Miles. He’s the inflexible twin, who apparently can’t get through a yoga class without checking his messages.”
Miles. The cold side of Mr. Hot she just isn’t identical. Why didn’t you just tell me about Miles while we were out?”
I’m acting like this is no big deal, and it’s really not, but tell that to my fluttery hormones, who keep noticing how attractive both men are, and how the intensity of their good looks is now multiplied.
An image of how Ana’s going to react to this news also comes to mind, and inwardly, I groan. If my hormones are acting up, it’s nothing compared to what she’s going to say. I hope Marissa doesn’t share this address with her, because I can easily imagine Ana showing up on the doorstep here after she finds out there’s a Mr. Hot and a Mr. Cold.
And technically, they’re both hot.
Max pulls a chair out for me at the dining table as Miles closes his laptop. Without meaning to, I study Miles, searching for subtle differences in the men’s appearances. Their resting facial expressions are obviously different, but I also notice a couple of other small things.
Miles’s face is ever so slightly leaner than his brother’s, probably due to the workout it gets from frowning all the time. Max has a faint birthmark near his collar that I don’t find on Miles. They’re both so good looking and— shit, I need to stop looking at them so closely.
Max takes a seat across from me. “As I mentioned, Miles and I are new in town, and I’d hate to leave him alone while I go off to a nice resort for several days.”
I frown at this, because why did Max volunteer to be my date if he didn’t want to leave his brother?
“Having fun is the goal for this event, and wouldn’t it be fun if Miles came along, and he and I traded places with each other, each of us acting like we were the same man?”
Surprises have been coming at me all evening, but this one takes the biscuit. “How old are you two—eleven?”
“We did switch places a lot as kids. We’re very good at it.”
“Max is essentially just an overgrown child,” Miles says drily, the first words he’s spoken since I arrived.
“Remember how you never wanted to have your picture taken on school picture day?” Max asks Miles before turning to me. “We’d wear the same shirt, and I’d get my picture taken twice. Our parents never knew.”
Miles’s lips curve into the barest hint of a grin. “In fact, they used to compliment me on how well I smiled for the photos.”
Max taps his brother’s arm. “Or that time freshman year you were bashful about asking out your crush, so I did it for you?”
Miles scowls. “Let’s not forget the time you were failing chemistry, and I stepped in to save your ass.”
“This is a nice trip down memory lane, guys, but surely you’re not proposing a stunt like this for my sister’s wedding. Miles probably doesn’t even want to come to the wedding. Do you know about this, Miles?”
Max speaks before his brother can answer. “I phoned him on the way here and filled him in. It’ll be a fun distraction. If I’ve learned anything about you so far, Callie, it’s that you’ve been working hard and dealing with a lot of stress. Hijinks like this are just what you need.”
“Hijinks?” I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone use that word before, especially when they were the ones planning to get up to mischief.
“Innocent pranks. A little secret that will generate some laughs that will belong to only us three.”
I look to Miles, fully expecting him to be on my side of this argument, but he’s actually grinning now. Full-out grinning. It’s not as dazzling a smile as Max’s, but it has more impact due to its scarcity. “It can be a good time,” Miles says.
Maybe it’s their ridiculous good looks, or the fact that I like the idea of having a private joke during what will undoubtedly be a set of stressful days, or maybe Max is simply skilled at getting his way, but so help me, I start to give in.
“It won’t cause any problems, Callie. I promise. We’ll be careful never to be seen together, and despite my charm and my brother’s—” Max clears his throat—“…lack thereof, we’re good at pretending.”
Later—much later—I’ll realize that Max may as well have been standing on the table, waving a red flag in my face, signaling extreme danger, but I blindly chose to ignore it.