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CHAPTER 1
Norway or Bust
“Are you sure you want to do this alone?” Emma, my sister from another mister, asks as she glares into my soul.
“Do what? Escape the mundaneness that is my life?” I load the last of my clothes into my suitcase, laying my entire body weight on top to latch it.
Emma scoffs. “Your life isn’t mundane. You’re a trust fund baby who lives in a lavish penthouse and has everything she could ever want, right here.” She walks around my elaborate bedroom, holding her hands to her side like a model. “I mean, look at this.” She holds a clock made from gold in the air. “Who has a solid gold clock?”
I grab it from her hand, setting it back in its safe spot. “That clock has been in my family forever.” Double-checking the spot, I slide it slightly until it’s exactly where it should be.
“What about this?” She wraps her hands around a clear glass case containing a priceless ice-blue crystal. “This thing has been in this case for at least a hundred years. How is this mundane?”
Rushing to the glass case, I pull my sleeve over my hand, wiping the fingerprints from the clear case. “Okay, so maybe my life isn’t mundane to you, but it is to me. I need a break. I need to get out of this prison of perfectionism I’ve built for myself.”
Emma collapses on the bed, wrinkling the covers. She turns toward my line of sight, seeing the disturbed covers next to her. “I’m sorry, Piper.” She stands, straightening the covers and returning them to pristine condition. She turns with a solemn look on her face. “What if you have another episode?”
“I won’t. The new meds I’m on really help with the impulses.” I smile, hoping to reassure her of my sanity. Emma looks back at the covers she just straightened. “So, if I mess this comforter up, you’re going to be able to control the impulse to fix it?”
I smile, praying she won’t follow through with her threat. Thankfully, she turns, heading toward the large closet. I sigh inwardly.
Following her, we stand side by side in front of the large lighted mirror hanging on the back wall of my closet. We’re the same height, but that’s the only thing we have in common. Where Emma’s skin is dark and flawless, mine is as pale as it comes and covered in freckles. My snow-white hair and crystal blue eyes stare at our contrast. She leans her head into mine. “I worry about you, Pipe.”
“I know, and that’s why I love you.” I turn, facing her. “I’m going to be okay. My doctor says the best thing I can do is to get out of this nest of perfection I’ve created.”
“I get it, Piper. I do, but Norway? What the hell is in Norway?”
“Fjords, beautiful glaciers, ice blue water…”
“Freezing ass temperatures, that’s what you get in Norway,” she interrupts. “You’re going to freeze to death, and no one is going to find your body. You’re going to be like that man that they found frozen for a million years.”
I wrap my arms around my best friend. “Emma, you have to let me do this. I’m a big girl. I’ll be okay. Who knows? Maybe I’ll meet a man while I’m there. Then you can stop trying to set me up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry you find on the street corner.”
“Dick? That’s the first time I’ve heard you use a dirty word,” she teases.
I feel the redness cover my face. “I’ve used dirty words.”
Thin arms cross in front of her body. “You have never said a curse word in your life.”
“That’s not true,” I argue.
“Say shit.”
“Shit,” I echo, instantly feeling awkward. Cursing was something that wasn’t allowed when I was growing up. I spent many days in punishment for daring to tell someone to shut up. I can’t imagine my nanny’s response if she heard the word I just muttered.
Emma smiles. “Good, now say…”
The phone connecting to the front desk rings, interrupting her challenge. I pick up the receiver quickly. “Yes?”
“Miss Erickson, your car is here,” a deep voice says on the other end. “Would you like me to get your luggage?”
“No, thank you, Howard. I can get it. Please tell the driver I’ll be right down.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The phone goes silent.
“Walk me down?”
“Yeah,” Emma answers reluctantly. “I’ll check on the penthouse for you.”
