AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Danny helps me clean up, even though pee has always grossed him out, and I announce that Flower’s going to spend the next couple of hours in my bedroom.
“I’m going to help Leonard with the security system,” Danny says, having washed his hands for a second time. “But maybe we can go for a walk later.”
Just him and me, I’m guessing. He’ll want to talk about our mother. I’d prefer to continue pretending she doesn’t exist, but I guess the problem is that she’s remembered I exist.
“Can I stay?” Izzy asks, giving the front door a serious look. “I’m pretty sure I can help.”
A glance passes between Danny and Mira, and she says brightly, “I’ll come with you, Ruthie. You might need to keep the poinsettia in your room.”
I glance around the apartment with new eyes, a visitor’s eyes, and I can see why she’d think so. Every surface is covered with…something. Izzy’s art, or handouts they helpfully sent home from school that will go unread until I have a fit of guilt and spend two hours reading them all while downing a glass of wine. Books that I ordered for Vanny but haven’t been arranged inside yet. Running a Business for Idiots, which hasn’t been as helpful as the title would suggest. Still, Danny and Mira have clearly decided she should try talking to me alone—because I might say to a future sister-in-law what I wouldn’t to a brother.
Maybe they’d be right, except I already know Mira’s personal filter is as effective as Swiss cheese. Annoyance pokes at me, because as much as I love my brother and Mira, I don’t need them showing up and treating me like a kid in my own home, peeking into corners to make sure I haven’t been up to no good.
Still, I find myself leading the way into my bedroom.
Mira shuts the door behind her, confirming that she’s not here to discuss poinsettias, and sets the plant down on my dresser. It’s reflected back at me in the mirror, and memories of last night shiver through me. I’ll never be able to look at that mirror again without seeing Shane’s reflection in it, probably.
The thought reminds me of the possibility of a sex smell, so I try to sniff the air without looking like I’m sniffing the air. I sprayed a little air freshener in here earlier, but there’s still an underlayer of—
“The poinsettia was a ruse, obviously,” Mira says.
“Does that mean I don’t have to take care of it?” I ask. “Because there’s a ninety percent chance it’s going to die if you leave it here.”
She grins at me. “This is why I like you. You’re like me—you cut straight to the point.”
“I hope it’s not the only reason you like me.”
“The fact that you keep a unicorn crown on your bedside table doesn’t hurt.” Her nostrils flare, and panic floods my system. “What’s that sm—”
I grab a perfume bottle from the dresser and spray it in the air between us, as aggressive as one of the perfume ladies in a department store.
“DKNY Apple,” I blurt.
She coughs, and rubs at her eyes. “Uh, nice. But that’s not what I was talking about, I—”
Her gaze narrows as she studies the cheap crown on the bedside table.
Oh, shit. I see it too—a tiny piece of a metallic wrapper. Last night, there were condom wrappers strewn around the room like candy wrappers next to a pumpkin bucket after Halloween. I must have missed this piece.
She takes a step toward the table. Annoyance prickles my skin again, even though I know Mira better than to think she’s capable of not invading my privacy right now.
I’m tempted to run past her and grab the partial wrapper, but that would be more of a tip-off than spraying her in the face with a bottle of old perfume. “Oh, yeah,” I say, trying to play it cool. “I raided Izz’s leftover stocking candy last night. Oops. You caught me. Please don’t tell her, she’d be pissed.”
And she’d also offer up the information that she finished her candy two weeks ago.
“Soooo…you thought it would be fun to wear a unicorn crown while you were eating your kid’s old candy in bed?” Mira asks, pausing as she glances around the room. The bed was made hastily, and there are very obvious puckers from where my fingers balled the cover so hard they made indentations.
“Yeah. Yup,” I say, avoiding the impulse to run my hand over the comforter. “When you put it that way, it sounds pathetic, but let me tell you, a good time was had.”
“I believe that part, at least,” she says, a smile playing on her lips.
Fuck. It’s definitely not noon, but I really need a drink. Maybe two.
I shrug. “It’s not that strange. I’ll bet you do all kinds of weird shit when you’re alone.”
She gives me the look of a woman who knows a partial condom wrapper when she sees one. “Ruthie, I’m going to pretend I believe you stayed up until four in the morning with your dog, eating old candy and spritzing yourself with a bottle of perfume that had dust on it. Because I’m not going to tell Danny anything you’re not ready for him to know.” She gives a dramatic pause, watching for a reaction I struggle not to give. “But I want you to know that you’re basically killing me right now. I mean it. You have no idea how much this is costing me.”
“They were Twix bars,” I blurt. “Twix bars are delicious. Anyone would have gone for them. I defy you to find a person who doesn’t like Twix bars.”
