“I’ll take that, thank you.” She removed it from his hand before it could hit the floor along with his jaw. “She thinks you’re perfect. I, of course, was tempted to list all the ways in which you are far from perfect, but in the end I didn’t. But you might be interested to know you’re the only man she has ever loved.”

Nate looked startled. “What about the guys she married?”

“I made the same point. You don’t want to know what her answer was.”

“I’ll make a point not to ask. So why are you here so early? What’s wrong?”

“Why does something have to be wrong for me to arrive at the family business that I’ve been frequenting since before I could walk?” She eyed the freshly baked croissants, tempted. “Maybe I just felt like coming to help my brother.”

He intercepted her look, put a croissant onto a plate and pushed it toward her. “Things rough with Eden again?”

“What makes you say that?”

“The fact that you’d rather be here than in your own house.”

Should she be annoyed or pleased that he knew her as well as she knew him?

“You’re right, things are rough. I’m the worst mother in the world and I don’t understand her.”

Nate looked sympathetic. “This is why you wish you’d studied psychology?”

Her shoulders sagged. The air around her felt heavy. “She doesn’t want to go to college. She wants to stay here and surf, hang out on the beach with her friends and maybe volunteer at the marine sanctuary, take photographs, make jewelry, paint pictures—I don’t know. And I don’t know what to do about it. She’s old enough to take responsibility for her own choices, but what if I can see her choices are wrong? You can’t undo big mistakes, can you? Is there a sanctuary for anxious mothers? Because I might need to check myself in there. I hope they have a plentiful supply of alcohol.”

Nate walked around the counter and pulled her into a hug. “You’re a great mother, Mel. And everything will work out fine.”

She couldn’t see how it would, but she was grateful to him for trying to make her feel better and she was grateful for the hug.

Her heart softened. He was stubborn and annoying, but he was also kind and generous and probably a much better person than she was. Also, he was her twin and she loved him.

How Joanna could have chosen Cliff over him, she didn’t know. It was one of the many mysteries of life she’d never understand.

She’d taken it personally, that was the truth. Reject Nate?