“That caps it. See? Super-therapist. But I got sidetracked. We’re not done the Xavier-Christine story. So how did you break up? You tell me your story and I’ll tell you about me and Mitch.”

“Deal.” He launched into his breakup, apparently eager to hear all about hers. “It was coming for months. Plus, Auggie kept riding me about her. She never liked Christine. Said we didn’t fit. And Christine never understood my bond with my sister.” He looked into Justine’s eyes, and she encouraged him to continue by quietly listening. “I love Auggie. She’s my sister. My twin. We obviously don’t do everything together. But we do spend a lot of our free time hanging out.”

“I don’t understand why that’s a problem.”

“I didn’t either. I guess Christine took my closeness with Auggie as some kind of slight against her.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I only knew I had to call things off. I thought she’d be on board since she’d seemed so unhappy. Except she burst into tears. When she saw that didn’t move me, she left after calling me a lot of not-so-nice names.”

“Oh, now those I want to hear.”

“I’m sure.” He chuckled. “I had no idea I’d see her again after that. But not a few days went by before she was calling and begging to get back together. Her desperation made it all worse.” He grimaced. “That sounds terrible, but it’s true. She came across as shrewish and nasty, a total one-eighty from the woman I’d dated. It made no sense. She’s a beautiful, intelligent woman who could easily be out dating someone else.”

Justine squelched the irrational jealousy that surged. Xavier had had a life before meeting her. And he’d broken up with Christine after all. Not that it should matter, since Justine and Xavier were only pretending to date. How sad she had to keep reminding herself of that.

“She managed to come over to pick up something she thought she’d left behind.”

“Nice gimmick.”

“I know. Auggie read me the riot act about it. She’s really into the phrase ‘I told you so.’”

Justine like Auggie even more.

“Then you managed to see me and Dan, her brother, nearly fight. Great first impression, huh?”

“Well, it could have been worse. He could have beaten you up.”

“Good point. He tried to get me to go back with her. As in, she sent him over to convince me I’d made a mistake.” He looked baffled. “I hate that she was hurting, but all her actions after the fact showed we weren’t right together.” His arm around Justine’s shoulders tightened, hugging her to him.

He stared at the road while she studied his profile.

“What about you and Mitch?”

Her turn. “Mitch? Talk about a fiasco.” She snorted, remembering how Dr. Mitch Dunderhead had first snared her. “We met through my mother, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I believe it. Your mother is as shrewd as your father.”

“She totally is. She tries to disarm you with a bubbly smile, pretending she’s the nice parent. All while she subtly maneuvers you until you’re doing exactly what she wanted in the first place.”