Ruby could only stare at her. She could count the number of compliments her mother had given her on one hand. Laurel wasn’t a woman who fell easily into raptures.

“After you quit, I always assumed you’d find something else to light that fire in you. It’s why I kept all your pageant gear. I hoped you might come back to it.” She popped another pita triangle in her mouth. “You still can, you know. There are adult pageants and amateur events and—”

“No way. No how. Not for all the money in the world.”

Her mom sighed. “I figured that was the case, but I had to try.”

Before Ruby could become too alarmed at this sudden shift in her mom’s attitude, she added, “Besides, you’re so out of practice these days you’d have a better chance of becoming that doctor.”

Chapter 15

“Caleb, you don’t have to leave. Not right away. You can live here for a few more months, maybe until you get full-time work or find a new place or—”

Caleb took a deliberate step over the duct-tape line in the living room. He’d been doing it every five minutes since he’d returned to the house without his ankle monitor. Spencer could have pointed out that the rules of the household technically still existed, but he didn’t bother.

He was too happy for his brother to care about any of that.

He wanted him to be excited about what the future held. He wanted him to feel as though he had something to look forward to. He wanted him to experience even a fraction of the walking-on-air sensation he’d been enjoying since his weekend with Ruby.

“I love you, Spencer, but if I spend another minute inside your house, I’m going to stab my eyes with a fork.” Caleb brought his hands down on Spencer’s shoulders. “Repeatedly and without remorse.”

Spencer was forced into a laugh. An overdramatic and unnecessary reaction was exactly what he’d expect from his brother. “I’m just saying. I know I haven’t made things easy on you these past few months, but I can do better. I can be better.”

Caleb had yet to lift his hands from Spencer’s shoulders. Something about the way he held them there—heavy and unrelenting—made Spencer feel as though the worst was yet to come.

He was right.

“I don’t know what that woman did to you last week, but the next time I see her, I’m not letting her go until I find out.”

“I changed my mind,” Spencer said, feeling the tips of his ears flame. “You can go now. I’ll help you carry your bags to the car.”

That only made Caleb laugh. Yet another problem about living with a twin brother was that he knew exactly when Spencer didn’t come home for the night.