It’s not long before I’m back at Bee and Dex’s house. As thrilled as they are with Gabi and Izzy—nicknames set in early in our family—it’s beyond exhausting to have not one, but two newborns in the house, so I’ve been spending my free time cuddling one baby or another so Bee and Dex can take turns napping.

I don’t know how they do it all and still smile at each other. Bee’s more of a mess than I think I’ve ever seen her, and Dex still looks at her like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life.

For all I know, she is.

One day, Bee sends Dex out for an afternoon with his friends.

“You’ve been here every second since the twins were born,” she says as he stands in the doorway between their living room and their bedroom, looking back and forth from her to me to the babies.

“I’d feel like shit to go out and leave you here.”

“Cate’s going to be here the entire time,” Bee wheedles. “You can go for a couple of hours. These are your friends, Dex. In a few months when I’m not attached to these gorgeous babies all the time, you can return the favor.”

“Okay,” Dex says, his forehead still furrowed.

“Go take a shower and make yourself presentable. Then get out of here.”

Another flash of guilt crosses Dex’s face, but as he disappears into the bedroom I see the corner of his mouth turn up in his signature half-smile. Bee is right. He needs this.

Fifteen minutes later, he emerges wearing a fresh outfit, his face neatly shaven, smelling like his body wash and face brimming with excitement. He gives Bee a kiss that lasts almost long enough to be embarrassing, plants little kisses on each baby’s head, and then grabs his keys.

“Don’t let anything here get too crazy, Cate,” he says to me.

Izzy is asleep on my chest, her soft baby scent filling my nose. “I won’t. Scout’s honor.”

Dex lets out a snort of laughter at my joke and heads out the front door at a clip.

Bee giggles as the front door swings shut. “It’s like he’s a little worried that I’ll call it all off. He misses his friends.”

“I thought he didn’t have many friends here.”

“He kept to himself when he first moved back, but now that he’s involved in the local political scene, he’s found—and I know, it sounds crazy—a couple of good guys that he likes to hang out with. When there’s not a baby crying…which right now is practically never.”

“This must be a special moment, then.” Gabi is curled up in Bee’s arms, snoring softly.

We sit silently in the quiet, each on our respective sides of the couch. Bee closes her eyes and leans against the backrest. She’s got dark circles under her eyes, but somehow she still looks radiant. Her sandy hair is gathered on top of her head in a messy bun. A hot tendril of envy rises through my chest. I always felt like I had to work harder than my sister to be beautiful, to be valuable. It was always easier for her.

I check that thought.

Maybe it wasn’t.

I guess you never know.

“How did you know, Bee?”

“About what?”

“About Dex.”

She takes a deep breath in through her nose and lets it out. “That I loved him?”

“More than that. How’d you know he was the right one for you?”

“I loved him almost from the moment I saw him. We always had…” Her voice trails off as she searches for the words. “There was always something between us, but it was more than friendship, and when he kissed me the first time, it was like…God, this is so stupidly cliché. It was fireworks.” Bee smiles at the memory.

“But you didn’t date.”

“We were going to. Life kept intervening.”

“So when you saw him again…”

“That was a wild coincidence. It was one of those split-second decisions. I wanted to show him how over him I was, and at the same time I wanted to know…why hadn’t it worked out? Why had he disappeared from my life for so long? At first, it wasn’t about getting him back. But once we started talking, everything from school came rushing back. Anyway, in the end, you don’t get that many second chances, so I took it.”

As Bee speaks, I remember the Fourth of July, Jax cutting across traffic to talk to me. That was a split-second decision, too, exactly the same kind of thing Bee had with Dex.

“And you’re sure he’s the one for you?”

Bee laughs, a pretty, charming sound. “Cate, is something on your mind?”

“Obviously I can’t hide it from you.”

“Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?”

The tears come so quickly it surprises me. “We broke up.”

Bee is instantly concerned. She raises a hand like she wants to reach for me, but drops it again when I wave her off.

“Don’t wake up Gabi because I was a total idiot.”

“What happened?”

“He got me fired from my job. Well…transferred. I wouldn’t listen to him long enough to hear the whole story. It happened overnight, and he didn’t say anything. There was a medical emergency with his mother, and we didn’t talk, and he didn’t text, or send any kind of message. The next day I showed up at Basiqué and I’d already been replaced.”

“Wow. That’s a ballsy move.”

“I was pissed.”

“I bet. It probably doesn’t help that he was right.”

I roll my eyes. “Not you, too.”

“He definitely should have told you, and talked to you about it, and if I ever meet this guy, I’ll tell him that myself. But that job—it wasn’t worth what you were giving it. Would you even be here now if you were still working there?”

I shake my head.

“That’s what I thought. So why don’t you call him up and tell him you’re sorry, and you can kiss and make up as soon as you see him again.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “It’s too late. He won’t want anything to do with me.”

Bee looks at me for a long moment, then shrugs her shoulders a little. “If that’s what you think. Want to watch a movie?”

“You pick.”

She turns on a romantic comedy that had been popular when we were in high school, and I laugh at all the appropriate parts, but her words ring in my ears.

You don’t get that many second chances.