your summer events short? Why aren’t you dressed for the rehearsal dinner?” Ramon asked. “Isn’t it standard for the close family to attend?”
“We’re excused from going,” Maggie called out, “on account of what happened today to us.”
In question, Ramon turned and looked to Kenzie for an answer. She rolled her eyes. “She is piggybacking on the excuse.”
“We’re twins,” said Maggie. “When you hurt, I hurt.” She said it with such conviction Kenzie wanted to offer her sister an Oscar or Golden Globe Award.
“I didn’t realize,” said Ramon.
“We’re not twins.”
“We’re Irish twins,” said Maggie. “Close enough.”
Ramon chuckled at the sibling banter. He’d mentioned he came from a big family; Kenzie wondered where he stood in the lineup. She pictured him as the overprotective big brother type—especially after the way he’d looked after her today.
“Well, thanks again for the replacement cupcakes,” Kenzie said, wanting to end this bonding moment with Ramon.
“Have you given my offer any consideration?” Ramon asked.
“I’m good.”
Ramon licked his lips and glanced down at her frame. “I know. But I asked if you needed an escort in exchange for helping me win the bid for the post office.”
“As a historian invested in the community, I’ll help,” said Kenzie. “But I don’t need help with finding a date. I am a well-rounded woman with a PhD and a beauty queen pedigree and tiara to match. I can handle a wedding with my family.”
* * *
“So who were the cupcakes for?”
Ramon made it back to his cousin Stephen’s house in the suburbs of Southwood with his sleepy niece, Philly. Technically Philly would be his second cousin because her father, Ken, was Ramon’s first cousin. But given the age difference and how Ramon considered his Reyes cousins as brothers, Philly was his niece in his eyes.
“Uncle Ramon?” Kimber asked, turning down the booming music from her cell phone.
“What?”
“The cupcakes. Tiffani told me you bought a dozen just before closing.”
There should be a baker confidentiality clause somewhere. Ramon chuckled and shook his head. “Shouldn’t you be off somewhere backpacking through Europe like most college kids?”
“Don’t change the subject on me,” said Kimber, scrambling from her place on the couch in the family den. School books clunked to the floor. The kid amazed him so freaking much. Kimber lost her father four years ago. Her uncles, Stephen and Nate, had uprooted their real estate business from Atlanta to sleepy Southwood to move into their brother’s family home and take care of Kimber and Philly. Of course his first cousins had had a few ups and downs trying to raise the girls but they all came out just fine. Stephen married and he and his wife, Lexi, lived at the home, raising Philly and their almost one-year-old son, Kenny. Kimber was home for the summer to help Lexi out with Kenny and wait for the arrival of the latest addition to the Reyes family.
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