Jarrid yanked open his van door and hurled his gym bag into the front seat. Who’re you kidding? Wasn’t it obvious that Becky was trying to brush you off?
Come on—she never lived in New York? She had an identical twin sister? Face it, Browning. Becky still doesn’t want to become a serious part of your life and never will.
Just then, Jarrid saw the door swing open again. His heart pumped faster as Becky stepped out and walked toward the parking lot.
She was wearing a calf-length flowered skirt and loose white blouse. She had a touch of powder pink lipstick on her rosebud lips, and her strawberry blond hair bounced as she walked.
As she passed him, he smelled sweet roses and felt the impulse to reach out and stop her. He yearned to know who she was now. As he watched her, he saw her face flush from his blatant stare. Then she quickly got into her car and drove off.
Jarrid realized that maybe he didn’t know Becky after all. He remembered how sensually she had dressed in high school with form-fitting skirts and hugging sweater tops. He had never once seen her wearing a flowing skirt and button-down blouse.
A ray of hope filled his heart. Maybe he should pursue her, get to know her on a new level.
Jarrid squeezed the chrome door handle of his van, wondering if he could open his heart to her again, knowing she again might shatter it to pieces.
He climbed into his van and drove to his store, needing to bury himself in his business, needing to forget that the sight of Becky made him want her all over again.
Becky zipped along palm-tree-lined Venice Boulevard in her red VW Rabbit heading towards Charlotte’s office to find out the details of that advertising job for Pam. She had a couple of hours before she had to be at the hair salon for her first appointment.
However, she could barely think about work or her sister’s new job. Jarrid Browning filled her every thought.
Becky desperately needed to talk to her twin. She had to find out who Jarrid was to her. Instead of going straight to Charlotte’s, she made a U-turn and headed toward her Mar Vista apartment.
In her living room, Becky first dialed Charlotte’s office to tell her that she would be a few minutes late. When she got Charlotte on the line, the executive had said she’d call her right back.
Becky hoped that Charlotte didn’t think she was being flaky by not going straight to her office and prayed she hadn’t ruined Pam’s chances of getting that new job.
Becky then anxiously called her sister’s office in New York where she was an account executive at an advertising agency.
“Pam Lawson’s office,” the secretary said over the phone.
As always, Becky was thrilled when Pam’s personal secretary answered her call. She was so proud of her twin’s career success. Her secretary asked if Becky could wait a few moments for Pam to get off the other line.
As Becky nervously waited, she remembered the first moment she’d found out that she had an identical twin sister.
One year ago she had opened the door to her apartment, and Pam had been standing there. Stunned, Becky had felt as if she was looking into a full-length mirror.
“Becky, it’s me,” Pam said, her green eyes welling up with tears. “I’m your twin sister!”
A sob had caught in Becky’s throat as she hugged her twin, holding her and not wanting to ever let go.
Becky had stayed up all night talking with Pam. Her sister remained at her apartment for two straight weeks until she had to return to her job in New York.
With disbelief, Becky listened as Pam told her that she had found their birth mother right before she died of cancer. She learned that she and Pam got separated at birth because their real mother wasn’t married and had decided to give them up for adoption to two different couples.
Their birth mother had never told either adoptive couple about the existence of the other identical twin. She was afraid that no one would want to adopt two baby girls together or want to keep them apart if they knew.
Becky was astonished to discover that her identical twin had, like her, also been adopted by an elderly couple who had passed away. Her sister had also been named Becky—after their adoptive grandmothers who coincidentally had the same first name—and she was also afraid of the dark and of the water, because she had almost drowned as a little girl.
Within a week, Becky and her identical twin had immediately changed their different adoptive last names to their birth mother’s surname, Lawson. And her sister had changed her first name to Pam, their birth mother’s first name.
“Beck, I was just thinking about you!” Pam’s voice traveled across the fiber optic line from the Big Apple, breaking into Becky’s warm memories. “My bones have been tingling for the last two hours feeling like something wonderful has happened to you!”
“I think I found a great job for you,” Becky said, explaining about Charlotte’s possible L.A. job for her.
“Wow!” her sister responded. “You mean we’ll be together soon? When do I start, Beck?”
“Maybe in four weeks.” Becky replied. “I’ll let you know when you need to give your notice at your New York job.”
“I can’t wait!” her twin added and then stopped. “There’s something else, isn’t there? I can feel it three-thousand miles away.”
Becky sat down to steady herself. “Pam, do you remember Jarrid Browning?”
“Jarrid?” her sister repeated, incredulously. “You saw him today?”
Saw him? She was in his muscled arms! “He goes to the same gym as I do.”
“I can’t believe it!” Pam said, excited. “Jarrid was my very first love in high school. How did he look? What did you think of him?”
The words flew out of Becky’s mouth before she knew what hit her. “He’s sensitive, courageous, caring.” She abruptly stopped. What was she saying? How could she tell Pam that Jarrid made her body so hot she needed an ice bath to cool down?
“You liked Jarrid a lot, didn’t you?” Pam asked, reading her mind. “I can hear it in your voice.”
Becky’s cheeks heated up. “He’s okay, I guess.”
“Beck, for once, will you admit your true feelings?” Pam said, almost like she wanted her to like Jarrid. “Sometimes I worry that you’re so closed up because of what happened with your old boyfriend, Darryl, that you wouldn’t see the man of your dreams even if he kissed you on the lips.”
He did almost kiss me, she wanted to say about Jarrid, but she couldn’t. Not until she knew for sure that Pam no longer had feelings for him.
“Jarrid thought I was you,” Becky hurried on, telling her sister about how he saved her from drowning in the pool. “He even knew about my fear of the water because you and I almost drowned as kids.”
Her sister’s voice rose an octave. “Did you play along with him? Did you tell him you were me to see his reaction?”
“Of course not!”
“Why not? You could’ve gotten to know him.”
All of Becky’s insecurities about being with a man again rose up in her. “I told Jarrid I was your twin sister, but he didn’t believe me.”
She felt so nervous that she got up from the chair and walked over to the window facing the jacaranda trees lining her street.
“This is wild!” her twin exclaimed. “Of course he didn’t believe you, because I was always joking and playing tricks on him.” Then Pam’s voice lowered.