Ben
“You sure she’s coming?” Dalton asks, checking his watch for the tenth time. He’s doubtful, but I’m not worried.
“She’s coming.”
Penny squeezes Dalton’s hand. “I called her twice today, but she didn’t get back to me.”
“Guys, relax. It’s fine. I’m telling you, we had a great time. She’s going to come to dinner.”
Penny gestures for the waiter to pour another glass of wine. “We’ve never been on a double date. Can you believe that? Sisters who have never been out together with guys.”
“Because she’s never dated me.” My attempt at levity falls flat as she continues to nervously fidget with her now-full wine glass.
“I hope she’s not upset with me.”
Dalton takes her hand in his. “I’m sure she isn’t. She’ll arrive soon, and we’ll all have a nice dinner.”
“She’s coming,” I say.
“We get it, Ben.” Dalton begins to lose patience, but I understand it’s because he doesn’t want to see Penny upset.
“No, I mean there she is; she’s walking into the restaurant now.” I point toward the door.
“Holy shit,” Penny gasps. “I seriously did not think she’d come.”
“Thanks,” I say with a laugh.
Penny is on her feet and yanking Kylie in for a hug before I have a chance to greet her. It’s the kind of hug you give to your rescuers after a month on a deserted island, and it gives away how important Kylie is to Penny.
“Sorry I’m late.” Kylie looks stunning. Her black halter dress shows off her perfectly muscled arms and reveals just enough cleavage to make me wonder how I’ll pay attention to anything else. This double date suddenly feels crowded as I get half hard at the sight of her.
Dalton leans in and whispers, “Do you know how to play it cool?”
“I do, but I don’t have to. Women love me anyway.”
“Our first double date,” Penny says, her arm linked with Kylie’s.
“You do know you’re not on the date with each other though, right?” Dalton teases, and Penny smiles as she moves toward him instead. “Good to see you came out tonight, Kylie. Ben was certain you were coming. He never wavered.”
As we settle into our seats Kylie leans toward me. “How can you be so sweet and still sport such a big—” She leaves me hanging long enough to think we’re imagining the same endowment then adds, “ego?”
“I can’t help it if I’m irresistible.”
She opens her menu. “I’m here because I didn’t want to disappoint Penny.”
I take her hand in mine and squeeze it gently. Then I blast her with my sexy grin. “Tell yourself what you need to.”
She rolls her eyes, but beneath the sustained attention she reluctantly smiles. “I don’t know how to win with you.”
“Good.” I like that she’s off balance around me because I sure as hell am with her.
“Sooooo,” Penny says, folding her hands together and resting her chin on them. “How was ziplining?”
Kylie looks at her menu. “We had a good time.”
Dalton asks, looking impressed, “Better than yoga?”
“Much better.” Kylie looks at me, and every touch we shared afterward comes flooding back. I absolutely don’t want to be sporting a chubby around her family. Fuck.
Her cheeks turn a beautiful shade of pink, and I wonder if she’s also reliving last night. Oh man, double dates are torture.
After we order Penny pulls out her phone and pushes it toward us. “You have to see these pictures of Kylie. She was the absolute sweetest.”
“Don’t you dare.” She makes a grab for the phone, but she’s too late. I have my hand on the phone, and I can’t help but look at each one. They are little windows into who she is.
“These are out of context,” Kylie insists.
“This is you at twelve years old in a power suit, sitting behind a tiny desk. What kind of context could I possibly need?”
“I used to go to work with my mom. She had that desk custom built for me. I was her mini assistant.”
Penny sips her wine then expands the explanation. “They had matching business suits made. They would wear their hair the same and everything. My mother adored her. She was lucky.”
Dalton leans in so he can see the picture too. “Were you on the payroll?”
“On it? She probably determined everyone’s pay scale. It was scary.” Penny laughs.
I realize Kylie is the only one not getting a kick out of this. I pass the phone back to Penny and put a reassuring hand on Kylie’s shoulder. I’m on her team, and I want her to know that. I want everyone to know it.
Kylie
The pictures didn’t bother me as much as Penny’s assessment of me. I was lucky? I spent my entire childhood trying to get my mother to notice how damn hard I was working to impress her. I never succeeded. Nothing I ever did was enough, and Penny has no idea what that felt like. She never bothered trying with Mom. She didn’t need to. She had our father.
“I wasn’t lucky,” I blurt out with a bite in my voice that stops the chuckling instantly.
“You know what I mean.” Penny tries to dismiss this, but I can’t let it go. She didn’t understand back then. It feels important for her to understand now.
“It didn’t matter what I did. It wasn’t enough for Mom. I don’t know how you can think that’s lucky. The moment I figured out the only thing she would look up from her paperwork for was shop talk, I knew what I had to do. If I wanted her to pay attention, I had better say something worth listening to.”
Everyone draws in a deep breath and holds it. It’s Ben who makes the first move, and it’s a smart one.
“Dalton, I know the chef here. Have you met him?” His rises from the table.
Dalton stands. “No, but will you introduce me?”
They’re halfway to the kitchen before Penny or I say a word.
“I know it wasn’t easy for you, Kylie,” Penny says gently.
I want to say something equally nice and supportive, but I feel prickly and frustrated. “You had Dad. He loved every single thing you did. It was completely unconditional as far as you were concerned. You drew some scribbly picture, and he couldn’t get to the fridge fast enough to put it up. He didn’t know how to talk to me, and the feeling was mutual. I wanted to be as close to Mom, but anything short of a Picasso in her house went straight in the trash.”
“I remember.” Penny twirls her glass of wine in her hand. “Dad was no picnic either. My pictures might have been on the fridge, but there was no food in it. We had to scrape by every week.”
“Mom would have helped if you asked.” This is a sticking point with every member of the family. Pride. The stubborn kind that blocks progress on all fronts.
Penny lets out a jaded laugh, and I already know her point before she makes it. Worse than that, I know she’s right. “The only solution Mom ever offered me was to come live with her. You think Dad had trouble talking to you? Mom had no trouble letting me know what she thought of me. I wish she’d struggled more with it. Living with her would have come with rules I couldn’t have put up with. But the most important one was disowning Dad, cutting any loyalty I had to him. That was the price of her love.”
“Yes, it was.” I never really saw it that way before. “This whole time we’ve been beating each other up for picking Mom over Dad or vice versa. It wasn’t really our choice. They made us choose.”
“Even Dad. He couldn’t meet her halfway—not even for me.” Penny nods, looking defeated. “I thought you saw me the same way Mom did.”
“I thought you looked at me the way Dad did.” My heart is tight with anxiety as we peel the layers of pain back. “We were both wrong.”
“Make me a promise, Kylie.” Penny reaches her hand out and touches mine gently. “It might take us a lifetime to figure out what to do with Mom and Dad, but we don’t need to work that hard on us. My friend Millie said something to me the other day that made perfect sense.”
“Millie is always good for advice. Delicious cakes and advice.” I lean in and grin, hopeful Penny and I can have the long overdue bond we’ve been missing.
“People who grow up without hardship don’t learn how to persevere. Perfect parents mean siblings never need to have each other’s back. We’ve spent a lot of years making alliances with flawed parents. I say we stop letting that be a wedge between us. We choose each other.” She squeezes my arm affectionately, and I feel a sense of pride. That’s my little sister being all wise and supportive. “Then together we figure our parents out.”
“Sounds like a deal.” I look around, wondering if the men are ever coming back. “I’m glad you found Dalton.”
“We’re as different as you and I are, but it doesn’t matter. We’re a team. No matter what.”
“No matter what.” I’ve always taken care of Penny. Looking out for her has been a priority. But it’s mostly been done behind the scenes. That pesky family pride always gets in the way. Now it’s time to let her in a little. We’re neighbors. We’re sisters and finally friends.
The idea that people in Bachelor Tower might still be out to hurt her or Dalton makes my stomach churn. I can’t imagine my life without her in it. I don’t care what it takes—I will protect her.
As though they were waiting around the corner to see us both smiling, Dalton and Ben return.
“You two are chicken,” Penny teases. “The first sign of conflict and you head for the hills. How do you get through work like that?”
Dalton chuckles and plants a kiss on her cheek. “At work we don’t have two sisters with whom we have vested interests.”
“You both have vested interests?” Penny asks, winking playfully at me. “It sounds like this is getting serious.”
Ben chimes in before I can make an argument for the fact that it’s not. “Kylie is a very serious woman. She knows what she wants, and she doesn’t stop until she gets it. What can I do? She set her sights on me.” He flexes his muscles and smiles with that big grin of his.
I know he’s kidding, trying to get a rise out of me. I could fake some righteous indignation but everyone would see right through it. Instead I raise my glass and make a toast. “To our first double date. If you people don’t drive me absolutely mad, maybe we’ll do this again some time.”
We clink our glasses and Ben waits to take a sip. “Challenge accepted.”