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“I might be gone in five days.”
“Then you should have no qualms about making a bet with me,” she insisted.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not making any bets with you. I’m just telling you how I feel. My life isn’t a competition to place wagers on.”
“Ugh. You’re no fun. But at least you’re not mooning over Jack Franco anymore.”
“I never was!”
“Mmm hmm.”
Despite my protests, I had been thinking about Jack a lot this morning. My feelings for him, if you could even call them that, remained complicated. I wasn’t sure where he stood now that I had slept with his best friend.
Did he even know we had slept together? He might have seen Liam drop me off this morning, or he might have been sleeping. I didn’t know what a fireman’s sleep schedule was like. But even if he didn’t see my early morning return, men talked about sex. Especially men who were best friends. They had begun their next shift at the fire station already, which meant Liam had probably already bragged to all the guys about our steamy night.
Liam doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to brag about that, I thought. But he might have told Jack about it because of our history.
I tried imagining Jack reacting to the news. I pictured them sitting in a fire engine, racing to another house fire. In my mind, Jack was stoic about it. Pretending like it didn’t bother him, and that he was fine with Liam and I hooking up.
But in my imagination, Jack was secretly bothered by it. He was jealous. He would hide it, because he was stubborn and refused to admit his feelings to anyone, but deep down his jealousy raged.
I tried not to feel satisfied about it.
“Regardless of what happens,” Brandi said, “I’m glad you’re stepping outside your comfort zone. You said it yourself a few months ago: you’ve been in a rut up in New York. Trying new things is good for you, especially while you’re down here.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so. I say so as your twin sister who knows you better than you know yourself. Honestly, you should keep trying new things while you’re down here. Keep stepping outside your comfort zone. Our mother is dead, and all of her baggage burned away with that awful house. It’s time for new beginnings.”
“I’m not sure how much time we’ll have to try new things while I’m here,” I said, “but I’ll keep that in mind.”
But not all of our mother’s baggage was burned away with the house, a fact we were quickly reminded of as Brandi pulled into the strip mall where our mother’s upholstery business was held. An unhappy looking woman stood outside the door, waiting for us.
“Got the keys here,” she said when we got out of the car.
“You’re Nadine? I’m Brandi, and this is—”
She shoved the keys in our direction. “Take them. I’m late for work.”
“Work?” I asked. “I thought you were the assistant manager here.”
Nadine, who looked like she had bitten into a lemon for the first time, snorted. “Title doesn’t mean much without a paycheck. Your mom hasn’t paid me or the other employees in months.”
Brandi and I exchanged a look. “I’m sorry for the way she might have treated you. We know she wasn’t in the best mental health in the end.”
“Didn’t see either of you at the funeral,” she said. “Guess what she always said about you two was right.”
“Excuse me?” Brandi said.
“Hey,” I said. “You have no idea what relationship we had with our mother.”
Nadine snorted again. “Seems like I know exactly the kind of relationship you had. Would’ve been nice if you two showed up a week ago, while I was handling all the funeral arrangements.”
“Nobody asked you to do that,” Brandi said.
“If I didn’t, who would’ve?” Nadine replied. She pulled an envelope out of her pocket and shoved it at me. “Tried using her credit cards to pay for the funeral and burial, but they wouldn’t let me. Here’s what you owe.”
I opened the envelope. The first piece of paper showed the summary of services rendered. I scanned down to the bottom line.
