Chapter 2
JASON
Jason jerked awake. He lay still for a moment, disoriented, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling until it all came back to him.
He was home. Or what used to be his home anyway.
Now it belonged to Roan and Reese. His twin had become domesticated, with two adopted boys and a beautiful wife.
A far cry from being a stuntman in the film industry.
The guest room at Roan and Reese’s had once been his. When they were growing up, he and Roan had shared this very room. Twin bunkbeds, with quilts sewn by their mother, Caroline Hayes. They’d wrestled on the braided rug. Talked for hours about girls and trucks and how they would someday have both.
He sat up, running his hands through his hair. Outside the window, daylight faded. What time was it? He reached for his phone to see it was nearing five. He’d slept a good six hours.
He opened his texts to see if Mauve had sent anything while he was asleep.
Since she’d left him in L.A., just a few days after Thanksgiving, they’d been texting nonstop.
Sometimes they talked on the phone for hours.
It seemed they never ran out of things to say to each other.
This had never happened to him before. A woman had never captured his attention the way Mauve had.
He couldn’t get enough of her. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted. And he had no idea what to do about it.
There were no texts from Mauve. He reminded himself she was at work with no time to worry about him. Anyway, he’d see her in an hour for dinner. That thought alone made his stomach explode with butterflies.
Instead of texts from Mauve, there were three from his agent about a role in a movie he’d read for last week.
Before he left for Sugarville Grove, he’d gone in for a callback for the lead in a new movie called Fractured.
Then, like always, he waited to hear. The endless cycle of an actor—always looking for the next gig.
The text was full of good news. The director of Fractured wanted him. He’d gotten the job. The pay his agent had negotiated was staggering. He could hardly believe his good fortune.
Set in Prague, Fractured was an action movie about a man searching for his missing wife.
There were car chases and motorcycle scenes and more fight scenes than he could count, but the role would challenge him as an actor too.
The director was a hit maker, and the role could elevate Jason to a legitimate movie star, rather than the lead of a popular streaming show on television.
His agent had worked it out that they could start filming during his hiatus from Driftwood.
He would have to be in Prague on January 2nd.
He heard a door slam, then voices coming from downstairs. Roan, his twin, and his nephew Marcus were home.
Jason swung his legs off the bed and stood, stretching.
He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the closet door.
Wrinkled shirt and his hair was sticking up on one side.
He looked like a guy who’d been at a season finale cast party and then on a plane all night.
He probably smelled like one too. Before he went downstairs, he decided to take a shower.
He didn’t linger long under the hot water, though, as he was excited to see Roan, Cody, and Marcus.
When he was clean and smelling much better, he dressed in a clean henley and a pair of jeans and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
However, no one was there. A note rested on the counter.
J-
Headed in to town for groceries. Be back soon.
-R
He wandered into the living room, where a Christmas tree stood in the corner, decorated with ornaments Jason recognized from childhood.
They were his mother’s ornaments, the ones from the storage bin Uncle Walter had brought over last year.
Glass angels. Painted wooden stars. A lopsided snowman he and Roan had made in second grade, their names written on the bottom in their mother’s handwriting.
There were new ones too, probably chosen by Reese and the boys.
He stood for a moment, taking in the past and the present displayed on a tree in what had once been the home they’d been raised in by their single mother. A sudden wave of grief hit him. Even after all these years, he missed his mother. What he would give to have her walk into this house right now.
He went back into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, standing at the sink to drink it, just like he had as a teenager.
His mother had always been on him about sitting at the table instead of doing everything standing up.
But he’d been busy back then. School dances and the lead in the spring play and homework and crushes on girls.
Too busy to slow down to spend time with his mother.
How he regretted not just sitting at the table and talking with her like she’d wanted when he still could.
It was an ache that lived inside him permanently.
His brother and the boys arrived, discarding boots and jackets in the mud room before coming all the way into the kitchen. They each had a bag of groceries in hand, setting them aside to greet Jason.
“Welcome home, brother,” Roan said, hugging him.
“Glad to be here,” Jason said before turning to greet Cody and Marcus.
Cody had grown since the last time he’d seen him, both in height and girth. He’d just finished his first semester at the University of Vermont on a cross-country scholarship.
Jason gave him a quick hug. “You’re looking buff.”
“I’ve been strength-training,” Cody said, with a bashful duck of his chin. “Working on improving my running times.”
“He’s done it too,” Roan said, pride in his voice. “Two minutes faster, right?”
“Just under, but close,” Cody said.
“Congratulations, that’s amazing.” Jason turned to greet the younger of the boys. Marcus had also grown since he saw him last. He’d filled out too, probably from Reese’s good cooking and having a warm bed to sleep in every night.
“Hey, Marcus, how’s it going?” Jason asked.
“Emma and I got the leads in Footloose,” Marcus said. “We already started rehearsals. Reese is doing the choreography.” The pride in his voice about his adopted mother was more than evident. “It’s been really fun.”
“I’m thrilled for you,” Jason said. “I started acting on that stage back when I was your age.”
“I know. It’s so cool,” Marcus said. “My acting teacher’s always talking about you.”
“Is it still Mr. Wilson?” Jason asked.
“No, Mr. Dansen now,” Marcus said. “I think Wilson retired like a decade ago.”
Ten years ago? How was it possible?
“We’re leaving in an hour for dinner with the ladies,” Roan said. “The boys are staying in and ordering a pizza.”
“Sorry about deserting you,” Jason said to Marcus and Cody.
“We don’t mind,” Marcus said. “Grown-ups gotta do their grown-up thing.”
“I’m here all month, so we’ll have a lot of time together,” Jason said.
“Cool,” Cody said. “You want to hit the gym with Pop and me?”
Pop. That was new. His brother was a father to two teenage boys. It was hard to fathom.
“I’d love to work out with you two,” Jason said. “I have a role coming up, and they want me fit, so I’m going to need you and Roan to train me hard.”
Cody grinned. “Pop’s the best, so you’re in good hands.”
“How is your gym?” Jason asked his brother.
“Honestly, it couldn’t be going better,” Roan said. “Almost every class is full most days. We’ve got a lot of strong bodies in Sugarville Grove.”
“Thanks to you, Pop,” Marcus said.
“They just have to show up,” Roan said modestly.
“What’s the role you have to train for, Uncle Jason?” Marcus asked.
He told them about the film and director. “It’s a huge opportunity. We start filming January 2nd. In Prague.”
“Prague? That’s so awesome,” Marcus said.
“How long will you be over there?” Roan asked.
“Three months,” Jason said.
“And then back to L.A. to film another season of Driftwood?” Roan asked.
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” Roan said. “Wondering if there’s room in your life for more time here in Sugarville Grove.”
“And why do you want to know that?” Jason asked, biting back a smile.
Roan shrugged. “There are people here who love you, that’s all. The real you, not some hot shot movie star.”
“Good to know,” Jason said.
The boys left them to go upstairs to shower, just about the time Reese arrived home. She breezed in like the graceful dancer she was, giving him a big hug.
“You good?” Reese asked, studying his face.
“I am now that I’m home,” Jason said.
“Mauve hasn’t stopped talking about her trip out to see you,” Reese said. “She had a really good time.”
“So did I,” Jason said.
Both his twin and Reese were watching him, eyes narrowed in an almost identical fashion.
“What?” Jason asked.
“We don’t want her hurt,” Reese said. “Her ex-husband was cruel. I didn’t think she’d ever get over it. So if you’re just playing with her, think twice.”
He opened his mouth to say something clever, but nothing came out.
“She says you guys agreed it was just a fun week and nothing more,” Reese said. “Is that how you see it?”
Roan held up a hand. “Before you answer that, we know you two have been texting and calling nonstop for the last three weeks.”
He’d missed her the minute he’d dropped her at the airport. He’d already texted her before she even boarded the plane.
“That was our agreement,” Jason said. “Just two people who like hanging out together doing just that. And she drove that decision. She’s the one who laid the ground rules.”
“And you believed her?” Reese asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Jason asked.
Reese shook her head. “You’ve always been an idiot when it comes to women. Since high school, you’ve chosen the easy one instead of someone you could build your life with.”
Jason groaned. “Hey, now, I just got here. Why are we picking on me already?”
“I’m just worried about my best friend, that’s all,” Reese said. “She’s not as tough as she seems.”