Prologue #2
I know it’ll happen eventually. Chase and I will buy that house we’re dreaming of.
Xandra will figure out what she wants—who she wants—and go wherever that takes her.
We’ll stop sleeping twenty feet apart and stealing each other’s clothes and yelling conversations through the bathroom door while one of us pees.
For now, though, we’re the Holden twins, and I smile over at my sister.
She lifts her hand, a wave of greeting. “Where have you been? I thought you had class tonight.”
Technically, I did. I’m enrolled in an online school.
Not enough to be considered a full-time student, but I’m working toward my psych degree.
Xandra thinks I’m taking psychiatry classes at night, and she’s basically right.
I’m fascinated by mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, though I won’t be a psychiatrist unless I go to medical school first, then specialize in that field.
Maybe in the future. As it is, this is my second go-round at school.
Like Xandra, I got my degree in history before figuring out just what I want to do with my life.
So, two years later, I decided to go for my BA in psychology while Chase works toward his MSW and a future helping those in need.
“Later,” I tell her, dipping back into the kitchen.
I head right to the refrigerator. “Me and Chase went to see a movie earlier. We shared a popcorn and some SnoCaps, but I’m still kind of hungry.
” Fast, sweaty sex with the love of your life tends to have that effect on a girl.
“I’m gonna have some dinner and log on.”
“I hope you’re not looking for the bacon, egg, and cheese you left in the fridge,” Xandra calls back. “‘Cause I got hungry and ate that after Bobby left.”
Of course she did. She knows exactly what it’s like to get peckish after such a work-out, and I’m not surprised she went for the easy snack if it was in there.
I work at the local bagel shop in the mornings to add to our savings.
I’ve eaten so many complimentary bacon, egg, and cheeses in the last two years—a perk of being a reliable employee—that I wasn’t looking forward to nuking it up now, but it was free and it was quick and I should’ve expected that Xandra would eat it.
Abandoning the fridge, I turn to the pantry. There’s still a box of spaghetti in there. A peek to make sure we have some jarred marinara and I’m grabbing a pot from the cabinet, filling it halfway with water, and setting it on the front right burner to boil.
While that works, I head into the living room to talk to my sister because that’s way better than watching the pot.
Unless, of course, she’s sitting up, a small smirk tugging her lips as she leans into the couch, waiting for me to approach…
“So… you and Chase had another date, huh?”
Shit. I know that sing-song tone of hers.
I spend most of my time with Chase when I’m not home, and though we have “dates” multiple times a week, whenever I come home lately, I’ve been getting this same third degree from her.
That’s why I’m immediately prepared to retreat, but before I can take a single step, she juts her chin out at me.
“You know the drill, Hallie. Come on. Let me see your finger.”
I flip Xandra the bird.
She chuckles. “Not that one, though I do like that color on you.”
“It’s pink,” I point out. Xandra’s not really the pink type, manicures or otherwise.
“Yeah. I know. That’s why I said I like that color on you. And stop stalling.” She unfolds her arms, clapping her hands together impatiently. “Chop, chop. Is there a ring on your finger yet or not?”
Knowing that she won’t drop it until I do, I flash her my full left hand. As quick as the motion is, it’s obvious that my ring finger is still naked.
“He still hasn’t asked?” Xandra snorts. “When will Chase learn? He needs to either shit or get off the pot.”
My twin isn’t the only one to feel that way.
Dad’s taken Chase to the side, making sure he knows that he has Jack Holden’s blessing to propose.
Mom’s brought up wedding planning, like, five times in the last couple of weeks.
Rory is as much of a hypocrite as I am; he thinks Chase should put a ring on it while dragging his own heels when it comes to Nina.
But Xandra… despite being the love ‘em and leave ‘em type, she’s baffled that Chase won’t at least ask me to marry him.
It doesn’t bother me because I know why he hasn’t asked yet: because he doesn’t have to. I’m it for him. He’s it for me. The only thing that’ll change about our relationship if we get married is that we’ll have a piece of paper that says what we already know: that we belong to each other.
We’re only twenty-four. We have our entire lives together to worry about something as silly as a ring and a marriage certificate. We have love, and, for now, that’s more than enough.
So I shrug, because I know Chase Knight is mine whether the government says he is or not, and because we’ll get married when the time is right.
My twin gives me that look of hers that says I’m being ridiculous, believing that any guy can be loyal. But I’m not in love with just any guy.
I’m in love with Chase.
“What?” I ask.
“I just don’t get it. You’ve been together forever.”
Exactly. “And we’re not even twenty-five yet.”
“So?”
“He’s still in school. I’m still in school.”
“Not following you, Hallie.”
Xandra got her degree and promptly shoved it in a drawer somewhere. It doesn’t mean the same to her as it does us, just like she doesn’t understand why Chase and I are happy to keep our relationship right where it is as we work toward our future.
Mine revolves around the boy I’ve loved since fourth grade. That Xandra doesn’t get that just goes to show that, despite the two of us being identical on the outside, we’re as different as can be on the inside.
Which is fine. I’m the patient Holden twin. The one who has only ever loved one man, who doesn’t mind that her sister steals her food, and who has an optimistic outlook on life as I ask earnestly, “What’s the rush? We have all the time in the world…”
Right.
If only we did.