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  A knock sounded at the door a minute later, and she opened it to find Oz on the other side.

  “I’m so sorry.” He held up a pizza box. “I know you didn’t get dinner—a peace offering?”

  She stepped back and let him inside. “You don’t owe me anything.”

  “I feel like I do. I should have texted you the minute Cam showed up, but everything pretty much flew out of my head when I saw him.”

  She took the box from him, set it on the table, and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I understand.”

  “Mmm.” He gave her a little squeeze. “I like you in sweats. You’re all fuzzy and cuddly. Not as fuzzy as Hershel, but you’re definitely cuddly.”

  She burrowed her head into the little hollow between his chest and shoulder. “You’re comparing me to your rabbit?”

  “Yes, but only in the most favorable way.” He gave her a kiss on top of her head. “Cam is tucked away at the Riston Best Western, where he’ll probably waste his time and everyone else’s until they kick him out in two weeks. Then he’s promised to leave and go somewhere else far, far away.”

  “And do you think he really will?”

  “I don’t know what to expect from him, truth be told.” Oz let her go, then pulled a chair out from the table and sat. “Come eat with me. Cheese is helpful.”

  She grabbed a couple of plates and some napkins, then sat across from him. “Do your parents know he’s not in Alaska anymore?”

  “He said they’re showing him some tough love right now. I don’t know exactly what that means.” Oz pulled out two slices of pizza and put one on each plate. “Do you believe in aliens?”

  “No, but I didn’t necessarily believe in fairies until I met Jaclyn. Why?”

  He grinned and shook his head. “I’ve had to rule out the theory that one of us was adopted—we look too much alike. Now I’m thinking about alien invasion. A body snatcher scenario.”

  Alicia wiped her fingers on her napkin. “Was he ever dropped on his head as a baby?”

  “I’ll have to ask my mom, but that’s also a possibility.” Oz reached over and touched her hand. “I’m so, so sorry that you walked in to that. And Hershel was sad to see you leave so quickly.”

  “He was?”

  “Oh, definitely. I had to break out the baby carrots to console him.”

  “That sounds pretty serious.”

  “It is. When he graduates from the cabbage to the carrots, we know he’s hitting the hard stuff.” Oz grinned, but then exhaled loudly. “I can’t get over the coincidence, though. The two of us meet up again, and now Cam shows up—it’s like we’re in a time loop from five years ago. I can’t figure out what the universe is trying to say.”

  “I think right now it’s telling us to eat,” Alicia replied. “Then we can figure it out.”

  “The universe is very wise.” Oz concentrated on eating his pizza, and Alicia concentrated on him while she ate. He was usually so laid back and easygoing, but tonight, he seemed to be carrying all the weight of the world on his shoulders. She wished there was something she could do to help, but she knew that the only real solution would come from resolving things with his brother, and that was something Oz had to do for himself.

  ***

  Oz made his morning deliveries, then walked across the parking lot toward Jaclyn’s house. He’d hardly slept at all the night before. Alicia had done her best to cheer him up by showing him her favorite dumb dog videos on YouTube, but the underlying problems were still there, and all the tossing and turning he’d done until dawn hadn’t shaken any answers loose.

  “Hello there,” Jaclyn said as she opened the door. “You’re about five minutes late, but you aren’t to take that as a criticism. It is what it is.”

  “You knew I was coming?”

  She gave him an exasperated look. “It’s like you don’t even know me. Come in before one of the bunnies gets loose.” She closed the door behind him and led him over to the living room couch. “How’s Hershel?”

  “He’s doing great. He’s made himself right at home in my living room.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” She poured him a cup of tea. “Chamomile this time—you seem agitated.”

  “Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate.” He took a few sips. “I know you’re the matchmaker here on the ranch, but I wonder if you have any advice for me on family relationships. My brother . . . well, he’s a loose cannon, and I’m struggling to know how much I should help him and how much I should let him go.”

  She sat back and studied him. “No, I think you’re struggling to know how much you can trust your own instincts. You already know how much you should help him and how much you should let him go.”

  “I checked him into the hotel for two weeks, gave him some food money, and told him he’s on his own after that. It felt like the right thing to do, but . . . you’re right. I’m second-guessing myself. He’s my brother, so I don’t want to think that he’s as bad as all that, but he doesn’t show the slightest bit of remorse for anything he does. If he was trying, if he wanted a do-over, that’s different, but he just . . . he thinks he should be able to do whatever he wants without consequences.”

  “And so you and your parents take the brunt of his actions.”

  “Well, we used to. He hasn’t lived at home for a long time.”

  “And that’s where you’re wrong.” Jaclyn leaned forward and put her cup on the table. “You think his actions don’t have any bearing on you when he’s gone, but they do, don’t they? It doesn’t matter where he’s living.”

  “You’re right. We’re worried about him no matter where he is.”

  “And that’s the beauty of family. We can live a whole world apart and still be connected. But it’s a question of healthy versus unhealthy connections, isn’t it? We can love someone with all our hearts, but that doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for us to be enmeshed with them.”

  “That’s what I’ve been telling myself for years, but when he showed up on my doorstep last night . . .”

  Jaclyn gave him a sympathetic smile. “You’re a good boy, Oz, but you’re such an innocent.”

  “I . . . I’m sorry?”

  “Your heart’s in the right place, but it’s also in the right place to get ripped out and trampled on and totally mangled. You did the right thing by putting him up at the hotel, but even now, you’re questioning whether you should have done more. You can’t do any more, Oz. If you do, you’ll be hindering his growth. Yes, he’s going through a hard time, but life is hard for a reason—to teach us the things we need to know. If he doesn’t learn those things, you haven’t really helped him, have you?”

  “No, I guess not.”

  “When he’s having to face the realities of his choices, bailing him out would be the worst possible thing you could do for him.” Jaclyn picked up her cup and took another sip of her tea. “It doesn’t mean you don’t love him. It means that you love him enough to do what’s best for him. Just like I did when I sent Hershel to live with you. I didn’t want to do it, but it was the right thing. He couldn’t reach his full rabbit potential here. I had to let him go so he could learn how to fly.”

  Oz had almost forgotten that Jaclyn was nuttier than a fruitcake—her advice had sounded so on point. And then she reminded him. He smiled. ‘You’re very good to your rabbits, Jaclyn. I know they appreciate it.”

  “I hope so. I’m just doing what I can.” She regarded him with a pointed look. “And that’s exactly what you should be doing—what you can, and nothing more. We’re put here on this planet to support each other, not to live someone else’s life for them or take away their opportunities to grow.”

  “Are you back on speaking terms with them yet?” he asked.

  “We’ve reached some mutual understandings. I imagine that in another day or two, we’ll have it all worked out.”

  “I’m very glad to hear that.” Oz set his cup down and stood. “I’m sorry to run off, but I have a few deliveries this afternoon
.”

  “Of course you do. Whitney’s the best florist for miles—I know I wouldn’t call anyone else. Be strong, Oz. Encourage your brother along his path, but don’t try to walk it for him.”

  Oz thought about that as he went back over to the floral shop. It didn’t really matter, actually, how crazy Jaclyn was—she made a lot of sense.

  Chapter Nine

  “Is this really your life, or are you telling me about a soap opera or something you’ve been watching?” Heidi asked as she arranged the boxes of chocolate on a shelf near the front of the store.

  “Oh, trust me, I wish this was all made up. But no, there he was, standing in Oz’s living room, all smirky and smug.” Alicia placed another two teddy bears on her display. They’d gotten almost everything set out the night before, and now it was just a matter of a few final touches. The store looked so much better with some actual seasonal merchandise in it.

  “That’s just crazy. You and Oz meeting up again, and then Cam strolling into town . . .”

  “Yeah. Like the universe has a really bizarre sense of humor.” Alicia gathered up the sacks they’d emptied and put them in a larger sack that she’d take out to the recycling bin later. “And . . .”

  “And what? There’s more?”

  “A little bit.” She leaned against one of the pillars that marked the end of an aisle. “Oz told me that his end game in all this is marrying me.”

  “His end game? And . . . marrying you?”

  “Yeah. His ultimate goal. What he’s working toward.”

  “Wow. Was that before or after his freaky brother showed up?”

  “Before. He told me that in Spokane before we came back home.”

  “I just . . . we need to sit down. Some conversations can’t be held standing up.” Heidi grabbed another camping chair from the display and carried it over next to the one already by the register. “Okay. Sit. So, you’re in Spokane . . .”

  “We were in Spokane, and we were shopping and having a great time. We listened to all our old music and talked about our friends from high school. I’m on Facebook, but Oz isn’t, so I filled him in on everyone. It was such a great day. And then as we were getting ready to come home, we talked, and we decided that we didn’t want to be in this unless it meant something, and he told me that he wants to get married.”

  “That’s so romantic,” Heidi said, wiping a sudden tear from her eye. “And what do you think? I mean, do you want to marry him?”

  Alicia sat back and thought about that. Not that she’d ever stopped thinking about it, really. “Marriage is a pretty daunting thought, but I can see us together. We’d balance each other out.”

  “That’s great, but it sounds so logical,” Heidi replied. “Do you love him?”

  Alicia took a deep breath and puffed it out. “You don’t ask easy questions.”

  “Of course not. They’re boring.” Heidi crossed her legs. “There’s no one in the store—I basically have all day.”

  “Okay, how about . . . I can see myself falling in love with him, yes. I’m almost there now. I mean, there’s not a long ways from monster crush to love, and I never really got over my monster crush, so all signs would indicate that yes, I could fall in love with him. Without too much of a problem.”

  Heidi laughed. “So, a definite maybe?”

  “Do I sound that wishy-washy?”

  “Kind of, yeah.”

  Alicia shook her head. “I don’t know! I mean, it’s one thing to imagine him showing up and wanting to marry me, but then when he actually does it . . . This is a huge decision. How did you know Mark was the right one?”

  “You know, sometimes I think it’s a matter of choosing to be the right one,” Heidi replied. “We could sit here our whole lives and wait for the perfect Prince Charming to come riding by, or we can meet someone really awesome who wants to be a prince to us. Mark chooses every day to be kind and considerate and thoughtful, and I choose to reciprocate. A happy marriage is a long string of choices, not something that magically happens because there’s a ring on your finger.”

  Alicia nodded. “That makes sense. I just get goose bumps when I think about it in terms of my life. I could be someone’s wife! That sounds so grown up and responsible and scary.”

  “You are grown up and responsible.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve never been a wife!” They both laughed.

  Just then, the door opened, and Tamlyn stepped inside. “Hey,” she said as she walked toward them. “Those look like great chairs.”

  “They’re really comfy. Wanna grab one?” Alicia offered.

  “No, but thanks. I just came to bring you this.” She pulled a bank envelope from her purse. “Rent and deposit.”

  “Thanks.” Alicia put it in her pocket. “Tamlyn, this is Heidi. Heidi, Tamlyn’s my new roommate, and she also does costuming for Legacy.”

  “Hi,” Heidi greeted her. “Welcome to River’s End Ranch.”

  “Thanks. And what a cute pioneer dress!”

  Heidi looked down, seeming a little embarrassed. “I only wear it a few days a week. I’m not sure it’s really authentic, you know?”

  Tamlyn nodded. “It’s not exactly authentic, but it’s cute enough that no one will really notice. I’d be happy to help you with one that really is authentic, though.”

  “I’d love that,” Heidi told her. “Thanks so much.”

  “Not a problem at all. Costumes are my thing.” She waved her fingers. “Gotta go, but I’ll see you later. Do you want me to grab anything at the grocery store on my way home?”

  “No, but thanks for asking.”

  Tamlyn stepped back out as quickly as she’d come.

  “She seems nice,” Heidi said, nodding toward the door.

  “She is. I think we’ll work out well together. Especially because she pays her rent on time.” Alicia patted her pocket. “That’s always a good thing.”

  ***

  “Here you go—one Western Wonder burger and onion rings,” Oz said, placing the bag on the counter. “Bob says not to blame him if the onion rings are a little bit off. He had Lindy mix up the batter according to his explicit instructions, and apparently she didn’t consult the planets or something and he’s miffed.”

  “If Bob wasn’t such an amazing cook, I don’t think anyone would put up with him,” Whitney said, plunging her hand into the bag and pulling out a ring. After she took a bite, she said, “What’s he even talking about? This is great.”

  Oz opened his own bag and pulled out his fries. “He just doesn’t want anything to happen to his reputation.”

  “Well, I have no complaints here. Thanks for grabbing this for me—four more orders came in while you were running deliveries, and I’m getting a little swamped.”

  “So, when do those extra helpers start?” he asked.

  “Not for another two days. Maybe I should see if they can come in sooner. Or maybe I just need Western Wonder power.” She took a big bite of her sandwich. “Now, that’s what I’m talking about.”

  Oz stayed put while he ate, but Whitney was constantly on the go, grabbing flowers with one hand and eating onion rings with the other. She then wiped her mouth, threw away her empty wrappers, and finished the arrangement she’d been working on. “First! Three more to go.”

  Oz glanced at the clock. “For today?”

  “One can go in the morning, but yeah, the other two are for today.”

  “Hmm. You like cutting it close.”

  “It’s not me. It’s these customers.” She studied the next order. “This one’s gonna be fun. Lavender roses and white daisies.”

  Oz threw away his trash too, then turned when the shop door opened. It was the sheriff again, but this time, with a solemn look on his face.

  “Hey, Sheriff,” Oz said. “I don’t know who’s been saying what this time, but I promise, I’ve been on my best behavior. No sideways parking or anything.”

  The man gave one short nod. “Oz, do you have a brother named Cam Burton?”


  Oz exhaled. “What did he do this time?” It could be anything—probably a fist fight. That was kind of Cam’s thing.

  “I’m sorry to say, he was driving under the influence and struck another vehicle. He and the other driver have both been taken to the hospital.” The sheriff paused. “Oz, it doesn’t look good.”

  Oz just stared, not sure he understood what he was hearing. “Um, what?”

  Whitney came around the counter and touched Oz’s elbow. “Are you okay?”

  He blinked and tried to focus. “I need you to repeat what you said, please.”

  The sheriff cleared his throat. “Your brother was in a serious car accident a little while ago. He’s at the hospital. Can I give you a ride there?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, that would be good.” Oz looked over at Whitney. “The deliveries . . .”

  “Don’t worry about the deliveries. And I’ll tell Alicia where you are. You just go.”

  Oz followed the sheriff outside blindly and climbed into the front seat of the car, his mind a total jumble. “Our parents . . .”

  “Yours was the only contact information in Cam’s car. Give me your phone when we reach the hospital, and I’ll call them,” Sheriff Clapper said. “You just concentrate on your brother.”

  Oz closed his eyes as trees and fields and buildings whizzed by. He had a suspicion that the sheriff was going a little faster than the speed limit, but it’s not like anyone was going to pull him over, and he appreciated the escort. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to drive himself safely. He was too confused.

  “You said he was driving drunk?”

  “That’s right. An open container was found at the scene of the accident, and the responding officers were able to get a breath test on him.”

  Oz rubbed his eyes. “You said there was another injured person?”

  “That’s right. He struck a car and they both spun off the road.” Sheriff Clapper looked over at him. “Your brother’s in fairly bad condition, Oz. Are you all right to deal with that, or do you need some time?”

  “I think I’m okay.” Oz stared out the window, not really seeing anything. “Thanks for the ride, by the way.”