There was a pause in their conversation. John fought to push aside the anger he felt when he’d first seen his sister’s tear stained face. John had wanted to punch the person who’d contributed to Jessi’s pain and who better than the man who was cheating on her?

“John?”

He refocused his gaze on the papers before him, right on a spreadsheet of children’s book titles. “I found my list,” he muttered.

Jessi laughed at him again. “I wanted to say thank you for doing this for Becca and me. Thank you for not making me choose.”

He immediately softened. “Yeah, of course. How is the research going?”

“Oh, Stockholm is great! We’re coming up with some exciting urban development plans. I’m collaborating with a civil engineering group from Norway. They’ve done brilliant things with Oslo’s lower income districts. It’s stuff I can bring home and implement in our downtown area. I just have to apply for the grants, of course.”

John smiled. “Becca sounds just like you, so full of ideas and ready to topple the patriarchy, as she puts it.”

“Our moms are responsible for some of that,” Jessi said with a chuckle.

“That’s true,” he said, massaging the back of his neck.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Mmh?”

“You sound edgy and tense,” Jessi said. “Is it work?”

“Work is fine,” he said. “I’m fine.”

“I know my step-twin’s voice. What is it?”

Jessi was good at whittling things out of him so he decided to skip the runaround. “It’s a woman.”

His sister tried to keep the laughter from her voice. “A woman, you say?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“A woman doesn’t make you sound like that,” Jessi said. “She must be interesting.”

Interesting wasn’t the word. “Sure.”

“Are you planning to stay mum about her?”

“I think that would be for the best.”

“So I need to send in a scout to do some spying? Don’t worry, I’ll get a full report from your niece.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.”

His sister tilted her head to the side and gazed at him with narrowed eyes. “Look, if the lady in question becomes a bigger deal, you’re free to explore that. Our mothers would love the opportunity to jump in and take care of my pumpkin.”

He rolled his eyes even though he was thankful for her words. The last thing he wanted to convey was his inability to take care of his niece. “I’m not that hard up for a date,” he said. “I’m not going to leave your daughter at the mall.”