“Is that where you want to go?”
Maddie shrugged. “Six out of seven Morrisons either graduated from Stanford or are going to soon. It doesn’t have a culinary program, but I figure I can major in business or something and then at least I’ll know how to manage my finances when I open my own restaurant.”
“You want to be a chef?”
“For as long as I can remember.”
“Aren’t there amazing cooking schools in San Francisco and Napa Valley?”
“There are, and I’ve done some of their summer programs. In fact, I made most of the food we’re going to be eating today.” She opened up the fridge. “Here’s what we’ve got to drink. What looks good?”
Sensing Maddie wanted to move on from their talk about her future, Serena had just taken out a bottle of San Pellegrino when the side door into the kitchen opened and a man she hadn’t yet met walked in.
“Want another one of these?” Maddie held up a beer bottle for him.
“Nope, water’s good. I’ve got to head back to the office later.” He held out his hand to Serena. “I’m Sean’s brother Grant.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Serena.”
Grant Morrison was a very good-looking man. Tall and ridiculously handsome like Sean, and yet, he wasn’t having anywhere near the kind of effect on her that Sean had from the very first moment she’d met him. In fact, despite what she suspected was Grant’s naturally high level of intensity, she actually felt quite comfortable with him. Immediately sensing what a serious and focused businessman he was, she thought about how she’d met many men like him over the years and had actually liked quite a few of them. At least, the ones who hadn’t secretly hit on her when they thought her mother’s attention was elsewhere.
Something told Serena that Grant would never hit on her in a million years. It was a very comforting thought.
“Serena,” Maddie said, “come on outside and you can try the blue cheese bacon dip I made as a starter.”
Smiling at Grant as she passed him, Serena nearly ran headfirst into Sean coming in through the kitchen door. Only...it wasn’t Sean standing in front of her, but a really close copy of him.
“I’m Justin,” he said, “and you must be the reason why my brother is finally happy again.”
He said the words so easily that she might have missed the serious intent behind them if she wasn’t already so attuned to Sean’s happiness. What’s more, Justin gave her a grin that was such a perfect replica of the way Sean looked at her that it should have set every cell in her body to tingling...only it didn’t. Not at all.But hadn’t she always known that what was on the surface didn’t make up the whole? She was more than her face. And so were Justin and Sean. Just because their outsides were so similar didn’t mean they were the same inside. Although at the very least, she could tell from nothing more than Justin’s smile that he was nice. Sizzling hot like his other brothers, certainly, and with a kindness that radiated even from the way he held the door open for her.
She almost second-guessed herself before replying, but decided that if she didn’t have to be guarded with Sean, then she wouldn’t be guarded with his family, either. “Sean is making me really happy, too.”
“He always was the lucky one of the two of us,” Justin said with the same easy grin that Sean and Maddie had. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, I was just heading outside to try Maddie’s dip.”
“Whatever you think of it,” he said in a low voice, “tell her you love it.”
“Isn’t it good?”
“It’s great,” he said, but he’d clearly felt he had to warn Serena anyway, to make sure that no matter what happened his sister came away feeling good at the end of the day. Without siblings, Serena hadn’t had a chance to see into a family dynamic like this. It was as fascinating—and fantastic—as she’d always thought it would be. At the same time, though, it was so much more complicated than she’d ever realized.
On the one hand, Maddie clearly felt pressured by her family’s expectations, but on the other, she was obviously totally supported in her dreams. Grant was likely needed in his office this afternoon, but he’d chosen to take these hours off to celebrate his sister. Olivia was wary of Serena and wanted to protect Sean from being hurt because she loved him so much. And Justin...well, Serena didn’t have a handle on Sean’s twin yet, beyond sensing that he was really nice in addition to being ridiculously good looking.
She could only imagine how the Morrison house must have been overrun with phone calls and visits from all the people wanting to date them over the years. Surely, she thought, as she finally headed outside, Sean wasn’t the only one dating someone. But when she looked around the backyard, there was only one other person she hadn’t met.
Drew Morrison turned to her with the look of a man who knew precisely the kind of effect he had on women. And yet, though he had BAD BOY written all over him, from his black jeans to his spiky hair and tattoos, she was really happy to find that he didn’t put her on edge the way so many other musicians did. Especially those creeps she’d filmed the video with.
“Great to finally meet you,” he said as he came across the grass to say hello, even the way he moved rock-star sexy.
He wasn’t putting on an act. Drew Morrison just was a rock star. He owned it from the inside out and clearly had found his perfect career fit. Whereas Serena had never been doing more than pretending to be a supermodel.
“You, too.” Again, though she felt more than a little shy, she didn’t let it stop her from telling him, “I really like your music.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.” And she got the sense that he really did.
A moment later, Sean’s arms slid around her waist from behind. “Holding up okay? I don’t have to beat Drew up for hitting on you, do I?”
She laughed as she shook her head, then smiled up at him. “You have a great family.”
He smiled back at her even though she knew what he’d really been seeing since they walked in to Maddie’s party was a family minus one very important person. She could see that same expression in all of the Morrisons’ eyes in varying degrees. Some of them were probably just better at hiding, at bottling up, their grief. For now, at least.