Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
T he Fourth of July weekend had come and gone. They’d taken Daisy to watch the fireworks, and the following days had been ridiculously uneventful. Which was good. No one had broken any bones. Or broken into their home in the middle of the night. Or stumbled into the diner all bloody.
In fact, the highlight had been taking Daisy to get her cast removed. Her arm was healing well, and for the next two weeks, she would wear a forearm splint with, of course, a pink-and-purple unicorn cover.
So... things were good. Well, except for the lack of progress on her case with Hudson Security. Which was making her a little bit crazy. No level of uneventfulness could ease Scarlet’s roller coaster of emotions over the potential danger to Daisy.
Tash had come by the house last Saturday to introduce herself. One glance at the woman, and Scarlet had been beyond intimidated. Dressed in black slacks, a light-blue blouse, and a blazer, Tash had looked like she belonged on the cover of some power-CEO magazine. Not to mention she was a legit Gal Gadot doppelganger. Even Daisy had gasped and excitedly talked about how Matty and Xandy were friends with Wonder Woman. And if all that wasn’t intimidating enough, Tash had a slight accent that Scarlet couldn’t quite peg. Because of course she did.
However, when Tash had met her at the diner early on Monday morning, Scarlet had done a double take. Gone were the sleek, fancy clothes. Instead, the other woman had worn jeans and a sleeveless white top with a wide brown belt and white sneakers. Which had only downgraded her from a power-CEO magazine to Hudson Island’s tourism brochure. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous no matter what clothing she selected.
Mercifully, after five days of Tash’s presence, the PSO had dropped a few notches on Scarlet’s scary-intimidating scale. No one would ever describe Tash as warm and snuggly, but Scarlet had discovered the woman was nice and friendly, though a bit serious. However, she supposed that was the nature of Tash’s job. She wasn’t getting paid to be Scarlet’s BFF; she was getting paid to protect her.
At first, Scarlet hadn’t believed she needed someone to follow her around during her boring day-to-day life. But now she would happily admit she’d been wrong. Knowing someone was watching out for her helped immensely. Yes, she was still a fidgeting wreck, but she could be a much bigger fidgeting wreck.
As for today’s steadily growing nerves? They had nothing to do with the unknown threat. They were for tomorrow. Matt’s brother and sister-in-law were coming to the house for dinner.
Speaking of.. . Scarlet glanced at her watch, then scanned the playground. No sign of Xander or Tash, but she knew they were there... somewhere. They always hung around until she and Daisy were locked down with Matt for the evening.
Paula had wanted to pick up an extra shift, so Scarlet had taken the afternoon off and used the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Daisy. They’d had milkshakes at the diner, and now she was letting Daisy burn off some of the sugar on the playground. But they still needed to swing by the store to pick up groceries for tonight’s and tomorrow’s dinners.
“Come on, Daisy. It’s time to go!” Scarlet called out.
Her daughter ran up with Mr. Slothy tucked in the crook of her splinted arm. “Can I go down the slide one more time?”
“No, baby, we have to go to the store. We’re going to meet Matt’s brother and sister-in-law tomorrow, remember?”
“What’s a sister-in-law?" Daisy asked, taking Scarlet’s hand.
“Well, Matt’s brother is Jake, and Jake is married to Carmen,” she explained as they crossed the street to the small grocery store. “So that makes Carmen Matt’s sister-in-law. It’s like she’s Matt’s honorary sister because she’s married to his brother. Make sense?”
Daisy went silent for a moment. “Mama, can I have a sister?”
Scarlet coughed, choking on air. “Uhhh . . . I don’t really think . . .”
Her mind went blank. Usually, she was good at coming up with some sort of BS explanation. But right now? Nope.
She spied a familiar face at the far end of the block. Oh thank god.
“Look, Daisy. It’s Matt,” she said, pointing down the sidewalk. Her steps faltered when a woman walked out of the store—and straight into Matt’s arms.
Scarlet froze.
Matt bent down and kissed the woman on the lips, then tugged her against his side. With his arm all snuggly around her, they headed Scarlet and Daisy’s way.
Scarlet gripped her daughter’s hand tighter. Holy shit, she was going to be sick.
“Mama? Why is Matty kissing and hugging that lady?”
She glanced down, and the confusion on Daisy’s sweet face was like a punch to the gut. She picked up her daughter, set her on her hip, and hugged her close.
“Um...” Tears welled in her eyes, and a few slipped down her face. Holy crap, she couldn’t breathe. “I don’t know, baby,” she whispered, swiping away the tears.
She needed to move. She needed to be anywhere other than rooted to this spot. Because Matt and his... whatever... were a half block away.
A deep, throbbing pain radiated from Scarlet’s chest. She felt like she was going to die.
“Mama, look!” Daisy cried with glee. “It’s two Mattys!”
Scarlet’s gaze swung back to the couple and?—
She blinked. She wasn’t sure what she was seeing. It was the lovebirds... and Matt. Again.
“Matty!” Daisy screamed, madly waving her splinted arm while clutching Mr. Slothy in her hand.
The Matt who wasn’t holding the other woman turned. His face lit up as he waved at Daisy. But when his eyes shifted to Scarlet, his smile faded. He muttered something to the lovebirds, and before Scarlet could blink, he was in front of her, dropping a kiss to the top of Daisy’s head with a “Hey, Otter Pop.” Then his hands were framing Scarlet’s face and he was pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “My brother and his wife came a day early.”
“Your brother?” Scarlet’s feet remained rooted in place. Things were not clicking in her brain.
He nodded, and she glanced behind him. The couple was approaching, and the concern in their eyes was evident.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
Adjusting Daisy’s weight on her hip, she let out a breath. “I thought...” That my heart was getting ripped from my chest. “You failed to mention your brother was your identical twin .”
It should have been comical how Matt’s and Jake’s eyes widened in unison. But it was too soon for her to find humor in the situation.
Matt grimaced. “Oh shi—oot. I’m so sorry, Scar.” He pulled her and Daisy into his embrace.
“Holy crap, Matt,” the other woman chided, shaking her head. “You seriously didn’t mention you had a twin ?” She turned to Scarlet with her hand outstretched. “I’m Carmen. Jake’s wife. I’m sorry if our earlier PDA gave you a heart attack.”
Carmen was stunning. She and Scarlet were roughly the same height and body type, but that’s where any similarities ended. Carmen was Asian with long, sleek black hair. Hell, everything about the woman was sleek. Her clothes, her makeup, her jewelry... Not showy at all, but definitely fancy.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, shaking Carmen’s hand. “I’m Scarlet. This is Daisy.”
Carmen smiled at Daisy, then raised an eyebrow at Matt. “He’s usually smarter than this.”
“Not really,” Jake said with a smirk. He held his hand out. “I’m Jake. Matt’s younger and more handsome brother.”
Matt slapped him on the shoulder. “Eight minutes, dude. And we look exactly the same.”
After shaking Jake’s hand, Scarlet watched the brothers playfully bicker. They really did look identical... but they also didn’t. Not only was Matt a bit leaner, but he also held himself differently. She couldn’t quite explain it, but seeing the two of them standing together, she wasn’t sure how she’d mistaken Jake for Matt.
“Matty,” Daisy called out, reaching for him.
He took Daisy in his arms and popped her on his hip. “Otter Pop, what do you think? Am I taller than my brother, Jake?” He nodded at her, mouthing, Yes .
Daisy shrugged her shoulders. “Mr. Jake has bigger arms than you.”
Jake hooted with laughter. “Daisy, my girl, I knew I was going to like you!”
Her smile was shy as she snuggled into Matt.
“I really am sorry we gave you a scare back there,” Carmen said from beside Scarlet.
“It’s okay. You know, I was just thinking—now that I’m looking at the two of them—I’m not sure how I thought Jake was Matt.”
“Well, still. I say you blame Matt for not telling you about the whole twin thing.”
“Yeah.” She chuckled, pressing a hand to her heart. “That would have been a useful nugget of info.”
“I know we just met, but here’s the thing, Scarlet. That man?” Carmen glanced at Matt. “You don’t ever have to worry about him straying from you. Especially since he’s so...” Carmen sighed, and Scarlet was taken aback by the tears swimming in the other woman’s eyes. “I haven’t seen him this relaxed, this happy, in years.”
Scarlet began to shake her head, but Carmen gently nudged her shoulder. “Trust me. I’ve known these two for decades, long before Jake and I got together. You’re good for Matt. And with everything he’s been through...”
“He’s good for me and Daisy, too.”
“Good,” Carmen said. After a delicate sniff, she shook her head and squared her shoulders. “Now, since we gave you a heart attack, let us treat you guys to dinner. Deal?”
Scarlet smiled. “Deal.”