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Gracie and Hope were the closest in age to me. Both had gone off to college at the same time, but had moved back to Navesink Bank afterward.
Gracie was blonde-haired and blue-eyed with a long, and leanly athletic body, sun-kissed skin, and a big smile on her pretty face.
Hope was the only daughter of my Uncle Renny—a red-headed, blue-eyed man—and my Aunt Mina who was part Asian, making their daughter come out with medium brown hair with reddish highlights, a somewhat delicate face with high cheekbones, and almond-shaped stormy blue eyes.
Whereas Gracie had a beachy sort of style, Hope was more edgy with her all-black outfit, double nose piercing, and the smattering of tattoos I could see peeking out of the collar of her shirt and half-covering her arms.
Much to her profiler parents' chagrin, she hadn't taken her innate skills of observation and pursued a career in therapy or something tame. Last I heard, she was doing a sort of internship working as a private investigator, trying to earn her way into a permanent position.
"How'd you guys find out I'm here?" I asked, wondering if my mom had slipped.
"Ferryn saw the car with the boxes."
Right.
Ferryn.
I hadn't even recognized her when I looked out the window when I heard voices out front. The last time I'd seen her, she'd been sixteen with long black hair and a soft sweetness I had always liked, even if I'd always found her a bit bossy.
There was no more of that softness after many years away. And she'd cut almost all of her hair off.
I hadn't spoken to her, but I guess I should have figured she would know that the car and my boxes were out of place.
"So does everyone know now?" I asked as we made our way out of the bird room, heading into my old childhood bedroom where we'd spent so much of our youth.
"By now? Just everyone our ages probably. Once the moms find out, it will be out, though," Hope said, dropping down on my twin-sized bed, running her hand over the light-yellow wildflower comforter.
"It's like a time capsule in here," Hope said, tossing a few of the stuffed animals off my papasan chair before sitting down.
"Why is it a big secret anyway?" Hope wondered, looking a little hurt that I wanted to keep my presence a secret from her.
"I just needed a couple days to decompress. I was planning on texting you after this weekend. It's nice to see you guys, though," I said, smiling. The last time I'd seen Gracie was when I'd been home for Christmas, but she'd been all over her boyfriend at the time, so we hadn't had much time to catch up. Hope, to everyone's disappointment, had been working out of town the entire week of Christmas and New Year's. "How is John—"
"Nuh-uh-uh," Hope said, giving me wide eyes that said I shouldn't even say his name.
"Uh oh," I said, wincing. "Sorry."
Gracie raised a hand like it was water under the bridge, but she'd sat up straighter. "It's okay."
"And by 'it's okay,' she means it took me three months to even get her to come out of her apartment to get coffee with me."
John had been Gracie's first serious relationship. I definitely remembered the devastation that followed the falling out of mine. I was sure I'd have been in my apartment for months too, if not for Niro.
"But that's why we are here," Gracie said, forcing a bright smile. "We are dragging you to a party with us."
"A party?" I asked, shoulders slumping. I'd never been much of a party person. I'd certainly tried while away at college, but I just never felt like I fit in. I usually just hoped there was a resident animal of some sort that I could hang out with until my friends got drunk enough that they didn't notice—or wouldn't care even if they did—that I snuck out to go home and paint the terra cotta planters I'd bought for one of my many houseplants.
"Oh, you're coming," Hope said, shaking her head.
"You guys know me. I'm not a drinker. Or a dancer. Or a..."
"We are going to meet up with Luna and Billie," Gracie tried, dropping names to more of our cousins. Luna, a quiet, bookish one that I had always gotten along with well. And Billie, the wildcard, the unpredictable one, the one who might be in bed by eight with Sleepy Time tea one night and breaking a couple of laws the next.
"And you can cut out anytime you want," Hope added, giving me the out she knew I needed.
"Alright. Well, what kind of party? What should I wear?" I asked, looking down at the black leggings and my father's old oversize t-shirt I was wearing.
"We're going like this, but that shirt is tragic," Gracie told me. "I'll find you something," she decided, moving off toward my closet, finding a mix of my old clothes from high school and the slightly more mature things I had picked up during college, usually at the insistence of one of my friends. Fashion had never been something I'd had any talent with or even any interest in. Gracie was always the one dressing me when we were younger. "Here. This," she decided, grabbing a simple yellow flower sundress.
