Page 52 of My Twin Sister

I collapse into the sand and listen to the waves crashing onto the shore. It sounds so similar to the sound of my life crashing down around me. What is my dad going to say when he finds out? Frank is his best friend. I bet Frank will try to pin it all on me. Say I came onto him first when that isn’t even true.

I sigh and get to my feet. It’s time to stop sulking and face the music. If Wyatt never wants to talk to me again, I’ll have to accept that. If the whole town calls me a whore and throws red paint on me in the streets, I’ll just have to wear it.

I walk slowly back to the house. As brave as I keep telling myself to be, I want to put it off for as long as possible. If I don’t go home, I don’t have to face what I’ve done. But eventually, I do make it home.

I hesitate just inside the door. I can hear my parents in the kitchen. Mom is making brownies. I can smell them from here. Dad is trying to get a piece before they’ve cooled, and Mom won’t let him. I kick my shoes off, make my way to the kitchen, and hop onto the counter to sit.

“Hey, you,” Mom says. “You’re just in time for a brownie.”

“How is she just in time but I have to wait?” Dad asks, his mouth open in disbelief.

I smile but it falls quickly. I don’t know why I just expected everyone to know my big secret the second it passed my lips. But they don’t know. They don’t know how awful I am and how bad I messed up, and that’s why they’re being nice to me.

“Where’s Geny?” I ask because I can’t stomach a brownie right now and I need to change the subject because they’ll both know something is wrong if I turn one down.

Dad swiftly lifts a brownie from the pan and dives away from Mom’s swat just in time.

“She left like . . .” He looks at the clock on the stove. “Forty minutes ago?”

“Where to?”

Dad shrugs. “A walk, I think she said.”

I bite my lip. That’s weird. She walks the same path I just took and I didn’t see her. I hop off the counter and take a step toward the doorway.

“I’ll be up in my room if you need me,” I say.

Upstairs, I plop onto my bed. I can’t decide if I’d rather have Geny here or if I’m glad to be alone. A little bit of both, I guess. At some point I must doze off, because the next thing I know, Geny is shaking my arm.

“Wake up,” she says. She looks upset. I immediately try to remember if I was supposed to do something with her that I forgot about, but I can’t think of anything, and I don’t have it in me to ask. I have too much going on myself right now.

“What?” I ask when my eyes can finally focus.

She goes to the closet and changes into a sweater. “Everyone’s hanging out at the beach.”

I sigh and let my head fall back onto the pillow. “I’m not going.”

“Yes you are. I ran into Wyatt on my way home, and he told me to ask you to come. He said you guys were in a fight, but he wanted to talk to you.”

I shoot up from my bed. “Really? How did he seem?”

She shrugs. “I don’t want to be in the middle of it.”

I roll my eyes but grab my own sweater from the back of my desk chair and hurry downstairs. “Are you ready?” I call behind me.

She doesn’t respond and she’s still not downstairs when I get my shoes on. “Geny! Come on. Are you ready?” My sister finally appears on the stairs, moving slower than seems possible. “Why are you dragging your feet? Move it.” I wave my hand in a hurry-up fashion.

I wish I didn’t have to wait for her. I’d run the entire way and be there in half the time. Wyatt wants to talk to me. I hadn’t expected to hear from him again tonight. Probably ever again, but especially not tonight.

Geny still doesn’t say anything. She sulks past me and out the door. Whatever. She’s had an attitude for weeks now and if she doesn’t want to talk to me about it, that’s fine with me. I walk a few steps ahead of her the whole way there. I don’t try to make conversation again.

Instead, I think about what Wyatt might want to say to me. Maybe he’s officially breaking up with me. The thought makes me want to puke. But I’ll respect his decision, whatever it is. I just want to be out of this unknown middle area of gray. Are we going to try to move forward, or are we going our separate ways?

Whatever it is . . . I need to know.

I see Wyatt’s truck parked on the sand halfway into the brush that leads to the woods. Murphy’s car is here too. All of a sudden, I can hardly breathe, and all my gusto about needing to know Wyatt’s decision is gone. I don’t want to know anymore. I want to go home and avoid him.

It’s too soon to be good news. He’s still at peak anger. He’s making a decision when he’s still mad, and that’s not good for me. But it is totally his right to do that. I let out a low groan of mixed emotions and force my feet to keep moving forward. I see Tara first. She’s sitting by a fire looking pissed off, but that’s how she always looks. When she sees me, her face lights up.