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“Yeah, I sent you one this afternoon that said I’d see you tonight. Didn’t you get it?” She glanced up from petting Fen to look at me.
Beautiful, flawless Sunny. Center of my universe. The other half of my being that couldn’t be filled until we were in a room together.
She’d been the one who scared me half out of my mind with that godsdamned text message.
See you tonight.
It hadn’t been the killer. All my nerves and worry and panic, and it had been my stupid twin sister telling me she was coming to town early.
Once I finally got a grip and realized my error, I said, “You must have changed your number. I didn’t recognize it.”
She laughed, her voice like wind chimes or birdsong. “Oh that’s so me. I’m sorry, you must have been so confused. Well, you can add it to your phone now. Sorry.”
“I called you back. There was no answer. No voicemail.”
She scratched Fen’s belly and nodded along with everything I said. “Yeah, it’s a brand-new phone. I literally just finished activating it when I got on the flight. I sent you that text and turned it off. I really am sorry.” After setting Fen down, she dropped herself onto the couch and picked up the nearest Chinese food container, taking an exploratory sniff.
In spite of the fact everything was still fresh, she wrinkled her nose and set the box back down. “I can’t believe you’re still eating this garbage.”
I’d almost forgotten that all the Sun Worshippers were appallingly healthy eaters. The last time we were together she’d tried to sell me on the benefits of cold-press juicing. After she explained that her breakfast was a blend of kale, cucumber, mint, carrot, and beets with a hint of strawberry for sweetness, I’d stopped listening.
We might be twins, but there’s a lot more than blood that goes into making a person who they are. Sunny and I, for all our similarities, had grown into very different women.
She was the kind of person who went jogging for fun and drank herbal tea instead of coffee. I’d never asked, but I assumed she did yoga every morning. I mean, they didn’t call it a Sun Salutation for nothing.
Even her clothing indicated how different we’d become. I was dressed like a homeless concert roadie, and she was wearing a light cream linen tunic top over adorable blue-and-gold print pants. Her shoes were gold loafers.
She looked like she’d just stepped out of a salon after a deep condition and blowout.
I still had my hair in a messy bun on the top of my head where I’d put it for the bath.
How were we even related?
If not for the identical shape of our faces, I would wonder which one of us had been switched at birth.
I didn’t begrudge her any of this, either. Her perfect exterior and enviable health-nut lifestyle were all part of what made her Sunny, and that was someone I loved with every available fiber of my being. Sure, she made me look like an absolute scrub in comparison, but I relished the opportunity to be in her shadow because it meant I was close enough to be there.
I took one of the containers from the table and popped a chicken ball in my mouth, making an exaggerated mmm sound. “Come on. How long has it been since you had a trans fat in your body? Do you remember MSG?” I waved another chicken ball at her, and she rolled her eyes.
“You’re disgusting,” she chided.
“I’m a product of my environment,” I countered.
I’d been trying to make a joke, but she frowned a little. I think there were times she imagined my life a lot worse than it actually was. I liked to complain, but I really didn’t have it so bad. Sure, things weren’t as shiny and movie perfect as they seemed to be at Apollo’s temple, but it wasn’t terrible either.
Still, I think Sunny sometimes wished we’d been destined for the same life and not polar-opposite ends of the spectrum. She was sunshine, I was rain. That was what the Fates had planned for us, and it had a sort of poetic beauty to it.
I mean, we were so different on the surface too. I was all dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin. She was tan and leggy, much better suited for her role in the sun. I tried to imagine myself sitting next to her at a pool, sunning myself like a lizard. I couldn’t do it.
That was the thing about destiny. We were precisely where we were meant to be. No matter what path we took, this was the destination.
I sat next to her on the couch, leaning my full weight against her, hoping to absorb a little of her heat. After this week it would be at least another year before I saw her again, maybe more. Our paths were unlikely to cross in the real world because of how different our jobs were. Sun and rain usually weren’t called for at the same time.
“I missed you, Lula-Belle,” she whispered, pressing her forehead against mine.
“I missed you, Sunshine Marie.”
We sat like that for a long while, breathing each other in, warming one another with our combined presence. I hadn’t realized how empty I’d been until she was there, filling me up. I was half a person made whole.
