1
Six Years Ago…
“Looks like the ugly duckling finally turned into a swan, huh?”
Shoving her elbow into her twin brother’s rib, Mallory Westbrook quickly moved away and smoothed a hand down her dress. “Shut up.”
Laughing, Sam did his best to shoulder her out of the way and get a glimpse of himself in her full-length mirror.
Rolling her eyes, Mallory nudged him aside. “Seriously, Sam, knock it off! I was getting ready first!”
“Mal, we’re adults now. Aren’t we a little too old to be arguing over a mirror?” he said with a superior tone.
“I know I am, but clearly you’re not. And why are you even in here? Don’t you have a mirror in your room?”
“Well, yeah. Duh. But I was walking by and saw you preening so I figured I’d come in and give you a hard time. You know, for old times’ sake.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Old times? Dude, you never stopped doing it.”
“Okay, maybe that’s true but I have to say, you’re looking good. Finally making me proud to be your twin.”
Unable to help herself, she let out a huff of annoyance. They weren’t identical, but they definitely shared enough similarities – same chestnut colored hair and midnight blue eyes. Same stubborn chin. Sam was definitely taller than Mallory and somehow way more genetically blessed.
Until now.
In the last six months, Mallory finally felt like she had moved on from her awkward teen years.
And considering she was twenty, wasn’t it about time?
“I hate backhanded compliments,” she murmured, stepping closer to the mirror and carefully applying her lipstick.
Sam made a face behind her and she chose not to respond.
“You’re right. That was out of line,” he said and he at least sounded sincere. He took a step back and looked around the room. “But I’m serious. You look good.”
“Thanks.”
“You didn’t look like this over Christmas.”
Clearly he wasn’t going to let this go. Straightening, she placed her lipstick down on her dresser and faced him. “No, I did not look like this over Christmas,” she began patiently. “I joined a gym, then I cut my hair and learned how to apply makeup. Happy?”
Sam eyed her suspiciously. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why all the changes?” Then he started to grin. “Oh…a guy, right? You did all this for a guy?”
Another huff of frustration. “Sam…”
“C’mon, Mal. Don’t deny it. The only reason a girl goes and does the whole…” He motioned to her whole body, “makeover thing, it’s usually because of a guy. So come on. Spill it. Who is he?”
There was no way in hell she was going to tell him he was right, mainly because it was a little embarrassing. Basically, she was always athletic and in good shape, but she’d lacked some confidence. Taking yoga and Zumba helped her work on some coordination and toning. And the makeup? Well, that was because the natural look wasn’t doing her any favors. An afternoon at Sephora had been very educational.
And expensive.
But as she looked in the mirror and saw the results, Mallory knew it was all worth it.
It had to be.
“It feels weird to be back, doesn’t it?”
Turning her head, she looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we just finished classes for the semester and I was looking forward to heading home – back to New York – and instead we were all told to come here.” He shrugged. “I really could have used a couple of weeks to decompress after finals before having to deal with all this nonsense.”
This time she made a face. “I hate to break it to you, but there would have been nonsense back home too. At least here we have some distractions.” She paused. “Plus, fewer responsibilities. I thought for sure you’d be all for that.”
His expression turned fierce for the briefest of moments before going completely neutral. “Yeah, sure. That’s me. You know how I love avoiding being responsible.” Then he laughed and tried to make light of it. “And you can’t beat the location – beaches filled with girls in bikinis. Not a bad way to pass the time.”
Somehow, Mallory didn’t quite believe him, but she wasn’t going to push it right now. That wasn’t what this trip was about. “We’re here for Pops and he’s the most important thing, right?”
A shrug was his only response.
“I don’t know about you, but coming back to Magnolia Sound was exactly what I needed after my finals. No responsibilities, just a chance to hang out with the cousins and sit in the sun. Um…yes, please!”
“Right. That’s because you’re not being looked at as the family screwup and being compared to Mason the Magnificent.”
It was a name they had given their cousin back when they were still kids because it seemed like no matter what anyone accomplished, no one could do it better than Mason. His parents – Sam and Mallory’s Aunt Georgia and Uncle Beau – made sure everyone knew all about their gifted and talented son.
It was enough to make you sick.
“For Pops, I think you can handle it for a few days, right?”
Their great-grandfather Ezekiel was celebrating his ninetieth birthday and it’s why they were all here on the North Carolina coast. There was going to be three days’ worth of festivities celebrating his life and the whole town was involved because Ezekiel Coleman was the last surviving original founder of Magnolia Sound.
Quite an accomplishment.
He not only outlived his own siblings, but his own children. Now all that was left were his three grandchildren – Susannah, Georgia, and Cash – and their families. And they were all currently on hand and ready to celebrate the life of their patriarch.
Personally, Mallory was excited to be here; she’d been counting down the days until she could hop in her car and make the drive down. With school done for the semester – and the summer – this was something that had become a tradition. Spending the summer – or at least part of it – on Magnolia Sound with Pops and the family was something they’d always done. Maybe Sam was ready to be done with it, but she wasn’t.
“Any chance I can skip out of here tomorrow?” Sam asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“You know that’s not possible. Tonight is just the beginning of it all. A family dinner down in the main dining room with all of Pops’ favorites and then tomorrow is an all-day affair starting out with the Founders Day parade.” She gave him a small smile. “You know you can’t skip out on that. You’d break Pops’ heart.”
He muttered a curse and raked a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah, well…at least tomorrow I can conveniently get lost in the crowd at the parade, but tonight…”
A knock on her door had them both turning.
“There you two are! I meant to be here to greet you earlier but I had some last-minute shopping to do for the dinner tonight. Pop invited the Summerfords to join us,” their mother Susannah said as she took turns hugging and kissing them both.
“The…the Summerfords are coming?” Mallory asked nervously and immediately cursed herself. The look on Sam’s face showed her that the slight tremor in her voice was noticeable. Quickly clearing her throat, she added, “I mean, that will be nice. The more the merrier, right?”