Patty Salier - The Love Twin

“Jarrid, can’t we start over? I mean, seven years have gone by, and we’re both so different now.”

“I want to, Becky, but I’ve got to be honest with you.” She heard him hesitate. “My sister-in-law, Marie, is setting up a date for me with her friend.”

Becky suddenly panicked. She had to do something fast before Pam lost Jarrid a second time. Should she ask him to lunch like Pam wanted?

“Jarrid, would you like to, I mean, I was wondering if—”

“Becky,” Jarrid interrupted as a male voice called him in the background. “I’m late for a business appointment. Can we continue this conversation?”

“Yes, definitely! Where? When?” she blurted.

What was happening to her? She was never that bold.

“I could drop by where you work late tomorrow afternoon,” he said.

“Oh, no, not there.” She didn’t dare take that chance. What if someone at the salon said something that might let him know that she wasn’t the same Becky? “How about at your job?”

“Great!” Jarrid said, excitedly. “I’ll show you my home entertainment store.”

“You own a store?” she asked, surprised and impressed at the same time.

“Yeah, it’s kind of small, but it’s mine.”

She was so nervous and excited that she could barely remember writing down the Santa Monica address of his store before she hung up the phone. She knew she should immediately call Pam to tell her that she couldn’t pretend to be her with Jarrid.

Yet she couldn’t back out on her sister now, not when Jarrid was about to meet another woman and Pam wasn’t in Los Angeles to win him back.

Why deny it? She couldn’t wait to be with him again. She couldn’t wait to see his store. She couldn’t wait to continue their talk. She couldn’t wait—

The sound of the phone ringing interrupted her wayward thoughts. She quickly came back to reality when she heard Charlotte’s voice on the line.

“Becky, how about dropping by my office tomorrow after lunch instead of today?” Charlotte suggested.

“Sure, Charlotte. I’ll be there about 1:30. Thanks so much.”

Suddenly, a rush of anxiety filled Becky’s body. Her twin might be moving to Los Angeles in a few short weeks. So why didn’t she feel as joyous about it as she did before?

Because of Jarrid Browning, that’s why!

Feeling tense, and still having a little time before her first appointment at the salon, Becky grabbed her keys and went out for a walk to quell the uncontrolled feelings she was having about Jarrid.

Under the flower-scented jacaranda trees, Becky followed the hilly sidewalk, breathing in the ocean-filled Mar Vista air. She had to concentrate on getting Jarrid back for Pam. She had to forget her own yearning for him.

As she turned the corner on busy Centinela Avenue, her heartbeat sped up when she spotted a curly brown-haired, muscular guy in shorts jogging across the street. For a second he looked just like Jarrid.

Her skin heated up with desire just thinking about him. She quickly turned away, silently scolding herself for wanting the man her sister was still in love with. She hurried back to her apartment to call Pam in New York. She had to keep her sister’s interest in mind, not her own.

She dialed Pam’s office number desperately needing tips on how to win Jarrid’s heart back for her twin. But it was lunchtime in New York, and she got Pam’s voice mail. So Becky left a message asking her sister’s advice on how she should act with Jarrid when she saw him again.

As she hung up, Becky was determined about one thing. She was going to get Jarrid back for her twin. However, as she grabbed her car keys to drive to the salon, she was a bundle of raw nerves; trying to figure out how she was going to silence her own major attraction to Jarrid Browning.

“Uncle Jarrid, sit next to me!” his nine-year-old niece, Lizzy, squealed as she pulled him to the dinner table at his brother Kenny’s house in West Los Angeles that evening.

Jarrid gently kissed her hand. “Lizzy Browning, I’d be honored to be your dinner partner.” In a princelike manner, he pulled out a chair for her.

How many times had Jarrid wished he had a daughter just like Lizzy and a beautiful wife like his brother had.

“Uncle Jarrid, I heard my mom’s gonna set you up in a few days with her girlfriend,” Lizzy whispered in his ear. “I’ve never met her, but don’t worry, I’ll let you know straight-out if she’s right for you.”

“I’m counting on your opinion,” Jarrid said, warmly hugging his niece, but his insides were churning.

Before Becky reappeared, he had been looking forward to meeting Marie’s friend, who was recently divorced and searching for a relationship like he was. But now, he felt uneasy about it.

All because of Becky.

“Jarrid, how’s your business going?” Kenny asked as he helped his wife set plates of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, cooked baby carrots and salad onto the dinner table.

“I’m still looking for customers who’ll hire me to design video and audio systems for them,” Jarrid replied, relieved to get his mind momentarily off his emotional turmoil about Becky. “Know of any, Kenny?”

“Wish I did,” his brother replied. “I’d send them straight your way.”

“Yeah,” Jarrid said, thoughtfully. “I just need to find a way to get my name out there. Then I’ll be able to open the larger store I keep dreaming about.”

Kenny high-fived him. “I know you’re gonna make it big, bro!”

“By the way, Jarrid,” Marie began as she passed him the meat loaf. “I heard you’re swimming at the gym now. Getting in shape for a new relationship?”

His brother winked at him. “I bet he’s met a couple of cute single women there, right, Jarrid?”

“Ken, stop it!” Marie said. “I don’t want your brother meeting another woman.”

Jarrid avoided Marie’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Marie, I haven’t met anyone new at the gym.” He immediately piled meat loaf onto his plate, not wanting his sister-in-law to know about his confused feelings about Becky and spoil her dating plans.

“Good,” Marie said. “Because I already told my friend, Leah, about you. She’s dying to meet you.”

“Same here,” Jarrid responded, trying to summon his original enthusiasm.

Kenny eyed him for a long moment. Jarrid got the distinct feeling that his brother sensed something was up but was going to keep quiet so as not to ruin things for his wife.

“How do you want to meet Leah?” Marie pursued. “A blind date with just the two of you? A family barbecue here?”

“Family, definitely, barbecue, here with all of you,” Jarrid rushed in a jumble of words. With Becky haunting his mind, he wanted to meet Marie’s friend in a friendly, platonic atmosphere.

Once again, Jarrid felt Kenny’s eyes on him. His brother was eight years older and twenty years wiser. Even as a kid, Jarrid could never put one past his big brother.

“Terrific!” Marie said, excitedly. “How about next Saturday?”

“Fine with me,” Jarrid replied, his stomach in one tight knot.

He was relieved when dinner ended. Lizzy talked him into a game of Monopoly, and he lost all his play money and properties when he landed on her hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk.

But later, while Marie tucked in Lizzy for the night, Kenny cornered him while he played his brother’s new CD-ROM computer game.

“Come clean, little brother,” Kenny said, egging him on. “You did meet a lady at the gym, didn’t you?”

Jarrid could feel the meat loaf grumbling in his intestines. “An old girlfriend.”

Kenny’s eyes widened. “You only had one old girlfriend, Jarrid. Wasn’t she the high school girl who burned you?”