Page 37 of My Twin Sister

No. I wipe the thought away.

I go back downstairs and wait for her while trying my best to imagine the man Grace has waiting in another city for her. Does she have a type? Is he like Wyatt? Or the opposite of him? Does he know where she is, or is she lying to him too? And does this mean she isn’t going to stay here in Raven?

Her footsteps on the stairs make me look up. She spots me and looks surprised.

“You didn’t come home,” I say.

Her eyebrows pinch in the center. “Gen, that’s not my home.”

It feels like a slap, but I don’t react.

“But this is?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I didn’t say that. But more so than your house. This used to be my home. I grew up here.”

I nod but stay silent.

“I’m not trying to sound mean, Geny.”

“I know,” I say, but I don’t. Because sometimes she is trying to be mean even when she says she’s not. “You could have texted me so I didn’t worry.”

“I’m sorry. I should have texted you. You’re right.”

I look up at her again, surprised by the easy admission and half waiting for the other shoe to drop. No argument? No turning it around on me?

“Are you going to come back?” I ask. “To my house.”

“Probably,” she says. “Does it bother you for me to stay here?”

“No,” I lie.

I look around the room and debate asking her who she was talking to on the phone. But I don’t want her to think I was eavesdropping. I also don’t want to let her know that I saw her car at the Gentry’s. I could tell her about the receipt I found in her car. I want to know why she came home so many months ago without telling anyone.

“I went through your car the other night while you were sleeping.” The words fly out of my mouth before I have a chance to stop them. I watch her expression for anger or betrayal, but she only smirks with one raised brow.

I fill her silence. “You’re keeping things from me and I know it. I found a receipt. It’s from six months ago for a place nearby. You came back before now, didn’t you?”

There is still no anger on her face. In fact, she almost looks . . . proud.

“I did come back before. I didn’t contact anyone.”

I hate her answers and the way they just barely answer the question and give nothing more. I hate that I can’t read her anymore because she switches between reactions I expect and ones that throw me off.

“Why?” I ask. “And why not?”

She’s quiet for a second. Thinking. “I wanted to get a sense of things before throwing myself back into this town.” She shrugs and turns away from me. “I needed to feel some sense of control before I spoke to you or anyone else.”

“But dad was alive then.” Heat grows in my chest. “You could have seen him. He could have seen you. He could have known that you were alive.”

Grace’s face goes blank. I blink, waiting for her to respond . . . to react. Anything. But she just stands there, staring at the wall, expressionless. I give up.

I bite back the anger begging to come to the surface. “Well, I have to go to work. Maybe I’ll see you back at the house later.”

I leave without saying anything more because I’m just going to make it worse. I’m already fighting with Wyatt. I don’t want to be in an argument with everyone I love.

In the car, I fight back the tears, but they win out. At least for a minute. Everything is slipping away. Everything feels wrong. This isn’t how I imagined having my sister back, not that I ever dared to imagine it in the first place.

I’m more grateful than I can ever explain that she’s here, alive. But I only have the life I have because she died. Those feelings twist and wrestle inside me until I’m convinced I’m going to tear in two.