“Don’t say that like it was something it wasn’t.”

“You can’t blame a guy for trying, can you?”

“I can blame a guy for trying too hard.”

“Touché. I meant what I said about wanting to get to know you. Tell me who you are, Erin.”

“I’m a lighthouse keeper at the moment.”

“What were you before that?”

“Let’s see. I’ve been a hotel concierge, a waitress in five-star restaurants, a nanny, an office manager and, for a very brief time, a student at a hairdressing academy. That was an unfortunate segue, especially for the people I practiced on.”

“You’ve had a very eclectic life.”

“That wasn’t always my plan.”

“What was your plan?”

“Law school.”

“What happened?”

Erin hesitated, but only for a moment. This was her story, and she’d learned to own it. “9/11 happened at the start of my third year of law school. My twin brother, Toby, who was Jenny’s fiancé, was killed in the World Trade Center. I left school, and I never went back.”

“God, Erin, I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. Over the years, I’ve learned to say that as if it happened to someone else. Toby. His name was Toby. He was my twin, my closest friend. After he died, I couldn’t seem to figure out what I was supposed to do without him. I’ve spent a lot of years spinning my wheels, trying to find the answer to that question.”

“And have you?”

“Not yet, but I’m still looking, so I suppose that’s something, right?”

“That’s more than something. That’s everything.”

It was the absolute perfect thing for him to say.

“I’ll have dinner with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

His smile lit up his face.

“Don’t go getting cocky just because I said yes.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, but his cocky grin told the true story. “When am I allowed to take you out for this dinner?”

“As soon as I’m off the crutches.”

“That’s a whole week from now!”

She shrugged, enjoying the game more than she had in longer than she could remember. “Cocky and impatient. Not very attractive qualities.”

“I’m also persistent. If you’re going to make me wait until the crutches are gone, I guess I’ll have to come by to visit every day and make a pest of myself so you don’t forget about me.”

“You’re going to drive me crazy, aren’t you?”

“Baby, that’s the very least of what I want to do with you.”

Erin had absolutely nothing at all to say to that.