I cursed, looking at my finger as vivid red blood beaded up at the tip where I had pricked myself with a thorn. I put it to my lips and sucked on it, trying to stop the blood. It was then that I heard footsteps behind me, and I turned around where I was crouched on the ground and looked up to see the twins standing at the edge of the garden. I blushed, my finger still in my mouth, and pulled it out. Eric had a grin on his face and Julian looked amused as well. I found myself blushing as I stood up to face them. The night before at dinner, I’d somehow had trouble both looking at and looking away from them. I was surprised that I could still tell them apart—they were identical, but they’d grown up to have different coloring, which made it easy to tell who was who. Julian’s hair was dark and wavy, while Eric’s was almost a sandy blond color. Both of them had the same eyes—pale brown, almost golden. I couldn’t help but notice how handsome they had both turned out, with fine, straight features, high cheekbones that looked sharp and unwelcoming on their mother but almost striking on the twins.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at them, waiting for one of them to speak. Julian held my eye in a way that was almost disconcerting, like he was looking deep within me. I looked away from him at Eric instead, who had his mouth open to speak.

“How are you, Ella?” he asked.

“I’m busy,” I said. “Weeding the garden.”

“Can we help?”

I raised my eyebrows at them. “You?”

He laughed. “Yes, us.”

“What do you know about weeding a garden?” I asked them.

“You pull up anything that’s not pretty,” Julian said, shrugging. I almost smiled at his answer. Almost, but didn’t.

“You would just get in the way,” I told them.

“Nonsense,” said Eric, crouching down near the rose bush. Julian got down on his knees beside him so that I was the only one standing. They both looked up at me expectantly and I sighed, crouching down with them. I pulled a weed between two fingers to show them what the leaves looked like.

“Pull these up by the roots,” I said, poking my fingers down into the dirt to grab the bottom of the plant and pulling it out. “Don’t let them break off.”

“Like this?” Julian asked, grabbing hold of one of the weeds in his large hand. It snapped off with the roots still in the ground and I shook my head.

“It’s just going to grow back if you leave the roots.”

He dug his fingers into the hole, gripping the roots at the bottom and pulling them up.

“Better?” he asked, and there was such an earnest look on his face that I found myself smiling despite the way I felt about them. Julian met my eye, noticing my change of expression, and I forced it back off my face as I nodded.

“So do you like it out here? Gardening? I thought Mom had a gardener.”

“She did,” I said. “She fired him.”

“Why?” Eric asked as we worked side by side, pulling up the weeds and tossing them into a pile.

“Take your pick of the reasons,” I said. “He looked at her wrong. Said something she didn’t like. He might have even gone as far as to ask for more money after working here for twenty years.”

Eric studied my face. I knew that my voice was full of vitriol, angry and bitter. I knew also that I should watch my tongue. I didn’t know Julian or Eric at all and for all I knew they would be more than willing to share with their mother the things I said about her. It should have concerned me more; Lola could kick me and my grandmother out at any time. But in that moment, I was filled with frustration just thinking about the gardener, a man named Wyatt who had been my only friend here before he was forced to leave.

“That’s too bad. He was a good man.”

“He was,” I agreed.

“Does she make you work out here?” Julian asked, a frown on his lips.

“No, this is my thing. I don’t think she actually cares about the garden. I just do it on my own.”

“It looks beautiful,” he said, and it was true that it was growing. I had only started to bring it back to life a month before but some of the flowers were starting to bloom already. It was overgrown with weeds but they were slowly disappearing as Julian and Eric helped me pull them from the ground. I had put gloves on after pricking my finger but both of their hands were bare, covered with dirt but working nonetheless. It was strange to see them both on their knees. Neither one of the boys I’d known when our parents had gotten married would have been caught dead in the dirt. They had always been pristine, always visibly wealthy and clean.

“Thank you.”

He nodded. We worked in silence then for a little bit. I wasn’t sure of what to say to them and I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to make conversation. I was glad for their help but I didn’t know how to feel about their company. So far, they were being suspiciously kind to me, but I couldn’t help but be paranoid that they were luring me into a trap. It was the kind of thing their mother would do—sometimes she would be kind for a day, only to snap at me afterward.

When we were finished with that section of the garden, I stood up, dusting off my knees and my hands. They stood as well and we stood there almost awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

“Thanks for the help,” I told them, looking down over the garden. It really did look better, and their help had saved me at least a couple hours of doing the work myself.

“Of course,” Eric said, then ran his hand through his hair. “Actually, we had a question for you.”

I looked at them both warily, waiting for the bomb to drop. I knew it would be something that I didn’t like and I was just waiting to tell them no.

“There’s a party this weekend at a friend’s house and we want you to come.”

“A party?” I asked, completely caught off guard. It was the last thing I had been expecting.

“Yes, a birthday party. Julian and I were wondering if you’d like to come with us, get out of the house for a night.”

I stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he was asking me.

“Why?”

“You look like you could use some fun,” Julian said, and when I met his eye there was something playful there, something almost flirty. It put a heat in my belly that I didn’t recognize, one that I managed to stifle right away before it could show on my face.

“I don’t know, I—”

“Just think about it,” Eric insisted. “You don’t have to decide right now.”

“We promise that we’ll show you a good time,” Julian said, again with a hint of suggestion in his voice. I chewed on my lip and his eyes flickered down to my mouth, settling on it for a brief instant before meeting mine again. There was a grin on his face that told me he knew exactly what he was doing. I pulled my eyes away from his, flushed, and met Eric’s gaze.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, though I didn’t know why. My initial reaction was to refuse outright. I didn’t want to have anything to do with either one of them, not after the way they’d treated me. But there was something tempting about the offer.

“Okay,” Eric said, beaming. “Let us know.”

“I will.”

They left then, Julian with one last glance over his shoulder, one that filled me with warmth. I stayed outside for a moment, waiting for my body to calm down, for my heart to stop racing. I didn’t understand my response to them, even though they had been nice enough to help me in the garden. I considered their offer—going to a party would be a strange experience, especially one where I was surrounded by people who were no doubt as wealthy as the twins. I did need a night out though, and I didn’t have to spend all my time at the party with the twins if I didn’t want to.

I went inside and went upstairs, stepping gratefully into a hot shower to wash the dirt off of my body. My mind went unbidden to Julian, to the way he’d looked at me. But he was my stepbrother, and for all I knew he was as cruel a man as he had been as a teenager. When I looked into their faces, I saw no trace of the malice they had held when they first met me, but that didn’t mean that I could forgive or forget. Still, Julian’s eyes had pierced me, made my body react in a way I almost didn’t recognize. I didn’t usually feel desire and yet that was exactly what was creeping up on me, especially as I ran my hands over my body to wash my skin. For only the briefest instant I allowed myself to think what it would be like to be touched by him. I stamped the image down in my mind, hurrying out of the shower before the fantasy could go any further.

I found the twins in the dining room before dinner, after I’d spent an hour cooking for all of us. I served the meal and sat down next to Julian and across from Lola, who looked at me with disdain before turning her attention to Eric. I had sat next to Julian to avoid meeting his eye throughout dinner, but I quickly realized that was a mistake—I could feel the heat of his body on my skin and was acutely aware of how close he was to me, though we were a few inches apart. It made me squirm in my seat, something which mortified me to no end.

I was grateful when dinner was over and I could get up and away from the table. I went straight upstairs to visit Grandma and bring her dinner to her. She was sleeping in her chair when I got upstairs, and I gently shook her awake after I put the tray down on the table.

“Grandma,” I said when she stirred, giving me a bright smile as her eyes focused on my face.

“Hi, sweetie,” she said. “Is it time for dinner?”

“Yes.”

She nodded, pulling the table over in front of her. She studied my face as she started to eat.

“You look like there’s something on your mind,” she said. I looked away from her, cursing myself for never being able to hide anything from her.

“The twins invited me to a party.”

“So they haven’t been mean to you?”

I shook my head. “It’s strange. They helped me weed the garden earlier.”

“Sounds like they’ve grown up,” she said.

“Maybe.”

“Are you going to the party?”

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided,” I told her.

“I think you should go.”

“Why?” I asked. She put her fork down and reached over to put her hand on mine.

“You’re young. You deserve some fun, sweetie. You spend so much time cooped up in this house and it makes me worry about you.”

“I don’t mind,” I said, though I could tell she knew that I was lying. The truth was I went crazy in the house sometimes, but I had so much work to do and besides, I didn’t have any friends. I had never really connected with anyone after high school and hadn’t gone to college or gotten a job where I could meet people. I had no time to do anything other than take care of the house and take care of Grandma.

“You should go,” she said again. I thought about it for a moment and then made up my mind. It was just one night, one party, and if I was uncomfortable I could always call a taxi to take me home if the twins didn’t want to leave.

“I will,” I told her. She nodded at me then and finished eating while I sat next to her, lost in thought. I imagined how the night would go, wondered if I was making the right decision. After she was finished and I had her settled into bed, I went to Eric’s room and knocked on his door. He answered, his chest bare, wearing only a pair of sweatpants. I had to take a deep breath, to force myself not to look at his strong, broad chest. I couldn’t stop my eyes from scanning over him briefly, though I desperately tried to fight it. When I met his eye, he was grinning at me in that same flirty way that his brother had.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I told him.

“We’ll get you something.”

“Are you sure?” I asked him. I had no money to spend, no way to get a new dress.

“Of course,” he said. “We’ll go into town tomorrow.”

“Okay. Thank you, Eric.”

“Thank you for agreeing to come,” he said, and he really did look grateful. I couldn’t help but smile at him before I turned around and went back to my room, with a surprisingly light feeling in my chest.