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“You’re sure?”
“Positive. Why don’t you go upstairs and hang with the kids? Or relax in your room. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”
She returned my smile, and said a polite goodnight to me and Matt, thanking us profusely for our hospitality before she departed.
“What a fine girl,” my husband commented. “Maybe her gratitude and common sense will rub off on Paige.”
I chortled. As I got up to clear the table, I thought about Tanya.
I was already beginning to love her like one of my own.
FIVE
PAIGE
The alarm of my cell phone trilled in my ears. My eyes fluttered open and consciousness flooded me. It was the first day of school. My last year in high school. Thank God. I was ready to move on. Find my people, and leave all the haters behind. Groggily, I sat up and then staggered to the bathroom.
I unlocked the door and swung it open. As a blast of heat assaulted me, my sleepy eyes bugged out. The steamed-up bathroom was a freaking mess. A puddle of water spread on the white tile floor next to a pile of damp, crumpled towels. The toilet was clogged with God knows what, and my blow-dryer, still hot to the touch, was dangling dangerously above it. Every one of my personal hygiene and self-care products had been used. From my toothpaste and deodorant to my moisturizer and hair balm. Not a single thing had been put away. She’d even used my sink, now gooped up and strewn with long golden hairs. Ugh! And as if this wasn’t enough to make me want to scream or strangle her, every square inch of the mint mouthwash-stained counter was covered with her beauty supplies and makeup. Mascara. Eyeliner. Lip gloss and more. So much more. The room looked like the inside of a CVS drugstore after a 6.0 earthquake. A total disaster.
Frigging Tanya!
Fury filled me and I cursed out loud. Fuming, I twisted the knob of the door to her bedroom and flung it open so forcefully I almost tumbled inside. Screw Jack and Jill. The tumbling-down-the-hill siblings or whatever they were could rot in hell for all I cared. And I still didn’t understand why they named these adjoining bedroom suites after some stupid nursery rhyme.
“Good morning!” chirped Tanya as I caught my balance. Her voice was as bright as a sunbeam, mine as dark as a storm cloud.
“How dare you leave the bathroom like that!”
While I was by no means a neat freak, I kept things clean and tidy. So had my narcissistic sister. The state of the bathroom this morning was like nothing I’d ever seen. And I felt totally violated by her using all my things. She was even wearing my navy velour robe! And styling her blow-dried hair with my detangling brush. Now, as far as I was concerned, it had cooties.
“Paige, I’m sorry. I meant to clean it up afterward, but you didn’t give me a chance. I didn’t think you’d wake up as early as me.”
“Clean it up now!” I ordered, wishing I’d taken a photo of the mess with my phone. “And put my hairbrush away!” Actually it didn’t matter because I was going to have to buy a new one.
“No prob.” She sashayed into the bathroom and I followed her to my room, slamming the connecting door shut behind me. She began singing one of my sister’s favorite songs, Britney Spears’s “Oops!…I Did It Again.” Totally off key. And then I heard the toilet flush. I loathed the idea of having to share the toilet seat with her. For all I knew, she had some kind of STD.
I wished I could stuff her mouth with toilet paper and flush her away.
A half hour later, I was ready for my first day back at school. While not making it perfect, Tanya had done a pretty good job cleaning up the bathroom, and the hot shower had washed away a lot of my anger. I took a final look at myself in my dresser mirror, pleased with what I saw. I was wearing just the right amount of makeup, my hair didn’t look too bushy, and my cut-off jeans and tie-dyed T-shirt (both Goodwill finds) flattered my athletic figure. Grabbing my backpack, I headed to my bedroom door, and as I stepped foot in the hallway, I got my second shock of the morning. This time my heart stopped.
“What are you doing in my sister’s clothes?” I spat out once my heart went back to beating.
Tanya was wearing Anabel’s white ruffled miniskirt that showed off her long bronzed legs, and a coral halter top that showed off her matching toned arms and significant cleavage. She was even wearing my sister’s silver charm bracelet—the one my mom had given her for Christmas. Though I’d not been in my sister’s room since her death, I knew my mom hadn’t changed a thing or given a stitch of her clothing away. She kept the princess-pink room with its canopy bed intact like a shrine. Sometimes, late at night, I could hear her in there crying. Praying for forgiveness.
Adjusting her backpack, Tanya shot me a perplexed look. “You look as if you just saw a ghost.”
It was almost as if I had. For a split second, I thought I’d seen my sister. Like she’d risen from the dead. I think it was the long blonde hair and her lean athletic body. Though it was only a passing resemblance, I was more convinced than ever my bereaved mother had sought Tanya out as a replacement. Rebellious, sassy, frizzy-hair me was no replacement for the beautiful fair-haired daughter she’d fawned all over. And mourned to the point of a mental breakdown.
I meant nothing to her.
Inhaling a breath, I calmed myself. “I’m just shocked to see you in my sister’s clothes.”
She smiled sweetly. “Your mum said I could borrow them until we went shopping.”
“What about all the clothes in that big red suitcase of yours?”
She dismissively flicked a hand. “Oh, there’s hardly anything inside it. I left most of my clothes back home. Icky school uniforms and nothing suitable for LA. Just a bunch of cold London-weather stuff. And so boring. A diplomat’s daughter can’t be caught in anything too risqué. It would be all over the tabloids.”
As she spoke, I recalled how effortlessly my father had hauled her suitcase into his car trunk. She must be telling the truth.
