Page 31 of Never Say Never

"Daddy, please, let's stay out," Navy pleaded as she grabbed Paul's hand. "You want ice cream too, right?"

"I do."

"Paul!"

"What! I do," he muttered.

I groaned. He was just as bad as the children. "I'm sorry about this interruption to our..." I tried to come up with a word. "Meeting."

"Ah, yes. Our meeting," he said. "It was very important."

The smirk on his face grew, and I wanted to bite him. What was he trying to say? I shook my head, pushing that thought aside for now.

"I really am sorry. I need to get them home. I don't know why Shelly hasn't called me yet."

"We hid her phone," Navy supplied.

I slapped a hand against my forehead. "When I say grounded, I mean grounded. Do you two hear me?"

They both whined and moaned about why that wasn't fair, but we were beyond that. This wasn't the first time they'd followed me, but at least back then, it was as I left the house and they were caught immediately. This time, they had gotten further.

They were getting smarter.

"Awww, don't scold them," Paul said. "Come on, I'll take all of you home. We're not that far anyway."

"Can I hold your hand?" Navy asked.

"Of course," he said before he held out his other hand. "Do you want to hold my hand too, Nyra?"

As she jogged to him, I took his cup and tossed it away along with mine. I paused.

"You can tell them apart?"

"Definitely." He laughed. "It's easy. Now, what kind of music do you two like? If it's stupid, I'm not playing it."

I stared at them as I trailed behind. Paul chatted with them as easily as if he'd known the girls his whole life. And they talked back just as eagerly. My kids were not outgoing when they met new people. They had been through too much to get attached this fast. So why wouldn't they let go of Paul?

And how could he tell them apart? Even I had difficulty sometimes and they pulled the wool over my eyes. Not as often as when they were younger, but still.

What was it about Paul that had the entire Washington family hypnotized?

The twins weren't anything like what I expected. I didn't have a lot of interaction with kids in my daily life. They were whiny and needy little things that tended to get in the way. However, it was hard to place that description on York's girls even as they whined at him about being grounded. They hadn't let up since getting in the car. Even as we pulled into the parking garage and circled looking for a spot they continued to plead their case. Navy wasn't arguing but she was making some solid points. Nyra, on the other hand, had the doe eyes and innocent look down pat. They were the perfect duo, like me and Gin.

Maybe that was why I took an instant liking to them. Was it because I was a twin too? A few minutes in their company and I was missing Gin even more than usual. There was a constant hole in my soul where my twin brother stayed. We'd been out of each other's lives well over ten years, and I was seriously losing it. I knew Gin already had lost it, but I was barely holding it together myself.

"Daddy, we only wanted to make sure you were okay," Navy stressed.

York cocked a single brow; his dad face was gentler than the one he pointed our way at work.

"See, they were only worried," I helped.

The moment York turned to look at me, I caught Navy and Nyra's gaze in the rearview mirror. They smiled at me and I couldn't help but feel I earned a point in their book.

"Don't fall for it."

"But they're so cute like their dad, how could I not?"

York's mouth opened and closed as he stared at me with a perplexed look.