Read The Three Fates of Ryan Love for Free Online

waiting at the ready on the short side. A round table and chairs sat in a nook behind the breakfast bar. Ruby sank into one of the chairs and Ryan set some coffee to brew while Sabelle hovered in the background, unsure what she should do now.
    â€œIt’s decaf,” Ruby warned. “I’m out of the regular.”
    He gave his sister an exasperated look. “Forget to swipe it from Love’s?”
    Ruby shrugged without apology, turning to give Sabelle a direct stare. “Who are you?” she asked.
    Ryan glanced over his shoulder. “Sorry. Ruby, this is Sabelle . . . Snow. Sabelle, my sister Ruby.”
    Ruby caught his hesitation over Sabelle’s last name but obviously didn’t know what it meant. Still, it added to the curiosity in her inquisitive gaze.
    â€œNice to meet you, Sybil,” she said.
    â€œ S’belle ,” both Ryan and Sabelle corrected at the same time.
    Ruby raised her brows in an expression that made her look like Ryan and glanced between them. “How do you know each other?” she asked.
    â€œLong story,” Ryan said.
    Sabelle fixed her gaze on her sooty feet, saying ­nothing.
    â€œI’ll tell you all about it sometime,” Ryan went on. “But do you think we could clean up first? We’re both wet and cold. I feel like I’m covered in glass.”
    Ruby jumped to her feet, pulling her robe tight around her as she said, “Sorry. Yeah, of course. Take showers. I’ll wait here for you and then we’ll talk.”
    Sabelle looked up to find Ryan watching her again. He grabbed his pack and left the kitchen. Warily, she followed him.
    At the top of the stairs, he turned at the first door on the left and entered a room with a wide bed covered by a dark blue comforter. Pennants hung on the walls and shelves sagged beneath the weight of countless trophies. He gave it all a disparaging look as he dropped his pack on the bed and moved to the closet.
    â€œThis was your bedroom when you were growing up?” She remembered to make it a question, but she knew the answer already.
    â€œDad wouldn’t let me throw any of it out. I’ve never known anyone to hold on to the past like he did.” He gave her a fleeting glance. “Guess that’s lucky. I’ve probably got some old clothes in here that’ll fit you.”
    While he rummaged, Sabelle gravitated to a small desk with a picture propped on its surface. In it, a child version of Ryan stood in a bright blue-and-white uniform with a bill cap. His grin revealed a gap where a front tooth should have been. On either side, his mother and father posed with him. His mom looked to be about seven months pregnant, his dad as proud as a father could be. A small Ruby stood in front of her father, a stuffed lion clutched against her heart.
    They looked like a typical American family, unaware that in just a few months, their remarkable twin siblings would be born and their whole world would change. A copper penny that had been flattened and punched with a hole at the top dangled off the corner of one of the frames by a key chain. Sabelle stuck her finger through the ring and lifted it, watching the light glance off it as it spun.
    â€œWhat’s this?” she asked.
    He glanced at it over his shoulder and shrugged. “Junk. Won it at the fair a hundred years ago.”
    â€œIt’s pretty.”
    â€œKeep it.”
    She tried to hide her amazed delight, but Ryan’s surprised laugh made her feel hot and uncomfortable.
    â€œIt’s a smashed penny, Sabelle. It’s not even worth a cent with the hole in it.”
    She’d overreacted. Again.
    Her hand closed around the key chain and she bit her lip to keep the smile from coming back. Worth was a matter of opinion.
    Ryan pulled a pair of jeans and a shirt from the closet and tossed them on the bed. “Those should work,” he said.
    He showed Sabelle to the bathroom and turned on the