Chapter 6
“Let’s get you upstairs to bed,” Nikki said after Mason left. When Jordan would’ve protested, Nikki added, “I promised David I’d keep you quiet today, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Because David had released her only on Nikki’s assurances, Jordan allowed her sister to usher her up the stairs, away from the pervasive smell of smoke that had hit her the second she crossed the threshold.
After all the work Riley and Nikki had put into the place, to have it smell like that was heartbreaking to Jordan. She could only imagine how Nik felt.
“How bad is the damage?” Jordan asked.
“Not bad at all. A rug, the sofa and chairs will have to be replaced, but that’s nothing compared to what could’ve happened.”
“You leave me alone for one night, and I nearly burn the place down.”
Nikki steered Jordan into the room that had been hers since they were girls. “You had nothing to do with it.”
Not much had changed in there since then, which was actually comforting. Throughout a turbulent childhood in which she and Nik had been the subject of a fierce custody battle between their feuding parents and the many changes in the rest of her life, this place had remained constant.
The pink-and-white-striped wallpaper she’d chosen when she was ten matched the white eyelet duvet cover and the pink throw pillows she’d ordered from a catalog their grandmother had given them to decorate their bedrooms. She’d said they could have anything they wanted to make their island bedrooms feel like home.
Gran had succeeded in her mission. Nowhere else had ever felt more like home to Jordan and Nikki than Eastward Look did.
“What’re you thinking about?” Nik moved around the room, picking up discarded clothing from the floor and folding it into neat piles the way she did every chance she got. Despite being identical twins, they certainly had their differences. Nikki was a neatnik, and Jordan was not.
“About decorating our bedrooms here with Gran.”
“I still get that catalog. They have the best stuff.”
Jordan changed into a tank and leggings and got into bed.
Dr. David and Katie had checked on her repeatedly throughout the night, so she’d slept sporadically.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this tired.
No wait, that wasn’t true. She did remember, and it had been the last time she got released from the hospital, after Brendan had beaten her up and broken her arm.
“Sorry to keep doing this to you, Nik. It’s not intentional. I swear.”
“Oh, stop. I know that. Shit happens.”
“It happens far too often to me.”
“You’ve had a rough few months. It’s going to get better from here. I know it.”
“I’ve had a rough few years, and the hits keep on coming with a visit from my old friend asthma.”
“That was caused by smoke inhalation. The asthma is not back.”
“You sound awfully sure of that.”
“Think about it, J. You haven’t had an attack in more than seven years. You only had one because you were breathing smoke.”
“I know, but I’m anxious about it anyway.”
“Totally understandable. Riley is going to pick up your new inhaler at the pharmacy, and you’ll just keep that with you in case you need it. But you won’t.”
“Nik.”
Nikki stopped straightening Jordan’s room and turned to look at her, brow raised in inquiry.
Jordan patted the other side of her bed. “Come here.”
Nikki sat on the edge of the bed.
“All the way.”
Huffing with pretend annoyance, Nikki stretched out next to Jordan. “I’m here. What do you want?”
“I want you to stop folding my clothes and freaking out.”
“I’m not freaking out.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
Jordan raised a brow the way Nikki had done to her.
“Okay, maybe a little,” Nikki said with a sigh, “but it’s not about me. It’s about you and making sure you feel better and have your meds and—”
Jordan gently placed her hand over Nikki’s mouth.
“It is about you, because I know how much what happens to me affects you, too.” She removed her hand.
“And you want to know how I know that? Because everything you do affects me. That’s how we roll, and I’m painfully aware that my shit has been giving you way too much to worry about lately. That’s going to stop. I promise.”
“You’re being way too hard on yourself. You had no way to know the chimney was going to catch on fire and give you an asthma attack. That’s not your fault.”
“Maybe not, but some of the rest of it could’ve been avoided if I’d listened to you.”
“We can’t rewrite the past. It’s done. All we can do is move forward.”
“I know, and it’s time for me to figure out my shit and stop giving you constant reason to worry about me. You and Riley didn’t even get one night on the mainland without me screwing it up.”
“Are you spoiling for a fight about what’s within your control and what isn’t?”
“Not at all. I just feel really, really bad that your night away got screwed up and that you were in a panic about me—again.”
“Well, you can stop feeling bad, because Riley and I have every night together, and it doesn’t matter where we are. Every night with him is a good night. And I’ll always panic when you’re hurt or sick or anything other than perfectly fine. That’s just how I’m wired.”
“I want off this merry-go-round I’ve been on for far too long.”
“You were feeling much better before the fire, and we’ll get you back to that point again. You just need to rest and give your body the chance to recover.”
“I’ll pay for anything that needs to be replaced, as well as any damage.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I will worry about it. I’m paying to fix it.”
“Fine, whatever.”
“By the way, what’re you up to inviting Mason to dinner?”
“Just what I said. I want to thank him for saving you.”
“And that’s all you want?”
Nikki’s brows furrowed into a confused expression. “Um, kinda engaged to Riley and wicked happy about that. Not sure what you’re getting at.”
“I’m wondering if you might be playing matchmaker, so quit being obtuse.”
“The thought never entered my mind.”
Jordan cracked up laughing. “You are the worst liar ever. Why do you even try?”
Nikki scowled at her. “Okay, it might’ve crossed my mind for a second, especially since he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off you the whole time we were talking to him.
But I mostly invited him because I do want to thank him for saving you.
Although, at the moment, I can’t recall exactly why I was so thankful about that. ”
Jordan poked her in the ribs. “You love me. And he was not looking at me. We were talking.”
“He was looking. Trust me.”
Jordan wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “We had a good time last night, all things considered, but he was just being nice. He stuck around because I was alone at the clinic until you guys got there.”
Nikki propped herself up on her elbows. “Think about what you just said. The fire chief of all of Gansett Island hung out for hours at the clinic because you were alone.”
“That’s what I said.”
“How can you be so dumb sometimes and smart as a whip other times?”
“How am I being dumb?”
“The man likes you, Jordan. Why else would he have volunteered to be the one to keep you company at the clinic when he probably had a million things to do after a fire on the island?”
Jordan thought about that and couldn’t come up with anything better than, “He was being nice, Nikki. Don’t make it into something more than that.
” But there’d been that moment when she’d realized his lips were on hers, sending air into her lungs and electrifying the rest of her.
Silliest thing ever, when it came right down to it.
He’d probably done that a hundred times before, so it was ridiculous to make anything of something so foolish.
He’d been saving her life, not coming on to her.
“I’m going to invite Finn and Chloe to come to dinner. Is that okay with you?”
“Of course. I love them. You know I do. Invite Kevin and Chelsea, too, if you want to. Make it a party.”
“I haven’t seen baby Summer in three days,” Nikki said. “I’m going through withdrawals.”
“We can’t have that.”
“You’re really okay, J? You swear?”
“Swear to God, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” Jordan called on the saying they’d used as kids when a situation called for the big guns. As children caught between feuding parents, they’d often needed the big guns.
“Call me or text if you need anything. I’ll be downstairs.” Nikki leaned over to kiss Jordan’s forehead and got up off the bed. “Get some rest.”
“Hey, Nik?”
She turned back. “Yeah?”
“Love you bestest.”
“Love you bestest, too.” Nikki smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her as she went.
Nikki had given her their standard reply, but Jordan knew it was no longer true. Nikki loved Riley bestest now, and that was how it ought to be. As she closed her eyes and tried to quiet her mind so she could get some sleep, Jordan wondered if she would ever love anyone the way Nik loved Riley.
Mason was late for the budget meeting with Mayor Upton, who was a stickler for punctuality.
The mayor’s admin, Mona, greeted Mason with a friendly smile. “Go ahead in. Chief Taylor only arrived a minute ago, so don’t worry.”
“Thanks, Mona. You’re the bomb dot-com.”
She glowed with pleasure at the compliment.
He tried to think of a new way to compliment her every time he saw her, because she was, indeed, the best. The mayor, on the other hand…
When Mason walked into the office, Chet Upton was off on one of his favorite tangents—the length of Police Chief Blaine Taylor’s hair. “You’re setting a terrible example for the people who work for you with that hair.”
“My wife likes it,” Blaine said, nonplussed by the mayor’s outrage. He sat with his booted feet on the mayor’s conference table, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, when he had far more cares this time of year than even Mason had. “It’s staying.”
“Now listen here,” Upton sputtered.