“Anytime. I don’t like snow, and I’ve been bored out of my mind being stuck inside. I’m happy to have something to do.”
“I guess this works out well for the both of us.”
“You ready to go?” Coal asked.
“Definitely,” I said and followed him to his truck. I climbed inside and smiled when I noticed he’d turned my seat warmer on for me.
“I need to stop by my house and grab some clothes. Do you want to come in?”
“Maybe another time. I’ll stay here where it’s nice and warm.”
“I’ll be right back.”
While he was inside, his phone rang, and the name Ember appeared on his truck’s screen. Feelings of jealousy shot through me at seeing a woman’s name. Feelings I had no right to have. Coal and I were friends, nothing more. Regardless, I still didn’t like it.
His phone stopped ringing and dinged with a text message, which I shamelessly read since a preview popped up on his lock screen.
Ember:Haven’t heard from you in a few days. Call me. Love you.
I stared at the phone and scrunched my nose in disgust. Who the hell was Ember? Was she his girlfriend that he’d been avoiding for the last few days because he’d been with me? More importantly, how was I going to find out without sounding like the jealous woman I clearly was?
I was still trying to figure that out when Coal returned with a duffel bag in tow. He climbed into the truck, glanced at his phone, looked at me, and laughed.
“What?” I asked, trying not to sound defensive and failing miserably.
“Ember’s my twin sister,” he explained.
I tried to play dumb. “What are you talking about?”
He didn’t buy my act. “The girl that just called and text. Ember. She’s my twin sister.”
I still refused to acknowledge what he was implying. Instead, I tried to redirect. “You have a twin sister?”
“I do,” he confirmed. “She lives in Croftridge with her husband and their daughter.”
“Do you have any other siblings?”
He nodded. “I have a half brother named Nathan, who’s a year younger than me. And I have a younger brother and sister who are also twins. They’re two years old.”
“Wow, sounds like twins run in your family.”
“I guess so. What about you? Do you have any siblings?”
“Nope, it’s just me,” I said. I honestly didn’t know if I had any brothers or sisters, and I wasn’t interested in finding out. But that wasn’t something easy to explain, so once again I changed the subject before he could ask me anything else about my family.
“What time should we leave tomorrow?”
“I was thinking we could head out around ten or so. Does that work for you?”
“You’re the one driving, so it’s really whatever works for you.”
* * *
Once again,I spent the night wrapped in Coal’s arms and woke nightmare free. Neither of us said a word about how we were sleeping, and I wasn’t sure if that made things more or less awkward. It did leave me with numerous questions.
Was he just being kind, or was there more to it?
Did I want there to be more to it?