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1
ADDISON
‘Honestly, Addison, it’s for your own good,’ Violet tells me, patting me on the back.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. This year simply can’t get any worse.
First, my business goes bust. Which means I can’t keep up the payments on my wonderful apartment and have to move from exciting New York back to boring Denver.
Then, my big sis calmly announces she’s leaving the country for six months.Six months!
Now, she’s telling me I can’t even slum it at her apartment while she’s gone.
Way to kick a Little Girl while she’s down, Vee. Thanks for that, sis.
It doesn’t help that tonight is her last night in the city, and so it’s kind of late notice to break the news to me that I’m currently homeless.
‘My apartment is like a greenhouse in the summer, anyway. Far too much glass. My plants like it that way, but trust me, unless you’re used to living in the Amazon rain forest, you won’t like it.’
My sister once actuallydidlive in the Amazon, and she never stops going on about it. She’s a plant biologist, working in environmental management, which basically is a fancy way of saying that she studies plants, and the effects that humans have on plants in their natural environments.
‘So, what do you expect me to do, Violet?’ I ask. ‘You’d rather I just slept on the streets, or like, under the Millennium Bridge or something, because if I stay at your place I might geta little hot?’ If I was a cartoon character, I’d have steam coming out of my ears about now. I often think about myself as a cartoon character — big eyes, quivering lips, a life that’s about as much of a joke as an actual cartoon.
Violet looks at me with her soft, hazel eyes. Is it just me, or are they growing a little moist? ‘I’m sorry, Addy,’ she says. ‘Really, I am, but you can’t stay here.’
‘Well, who’ll water all your plants?’ I ask, looking around at the array of spider plants and cheese plants and a zillion other plants I don’t know the names of. As if I could be trusted to water plants…
‘I have an automated water and feeding system, totally hydroponic,’ shrugs Violet, standing up from the couch and going to fix herself a lemonade. ‘You thirsty?’
‘Nah. I have an automated water system,’ I joke. ‘I don’t get thirsty like you humans.’
Violet rolls her eyes and laughs. ‘Very funny. Listen, Addy, there’s a reason you can’t stay here. Like, a big reason. I’ve booked somewhere for you to stay.’ She puts her lemonade down on the counter and then leans against the stainless steel worktop.
My sister is filthy rich. Who knew that looking at plants all day could make you rich? I sure as heck didn’t. But Violet’s always been the successful one.
Me? I’m the unlucky younger sibling. Everything I touch goes wrong. Or, at least, it feels that way at the moment.
I was meant to be living out my dream of becoming an age play fashion designer in New York. I had my own online fashion business and everything, selling my nature-inspired adult baby designs via Etsy. Romper suits with prints of American sparrows on them. Sweet, pleated skirts made to look like waterfalls. Cuddly sweaters in mossy shades of green, and shirts with cute little coyote faces for buttons.AddyBaby 97. That was my profile name. I don’t want much from life. Just a chance to follow my dreams, and maybe one day meet a Daddy to share those dreams with. And it felt like I was getting somewhere, it really did.
I can barely allow myself to remember all that stuff now.
It’s too raw. Too painful.
‘Where have you booked me a place to stay? A night at the Hilton? Two nights at the Holiday Inn? And then what? What am I meant to do for the other five months and twenty-nine days you’re away? You know I’m no good at grown-up stuff. I can’t handle being alone like this.’ I know I sound whiny, but honestly, Violet is about the only person I can act like this around. She knows all about my lifestyle, and doesn’t judge me for it. She’s about the best big sister a girl could ask for.
‘Look,’ says Violet. ‘People are going to start arriving for the party in a couple hours. I need to get the canapés ready. You’re going to have to trust me on this for now. Can you do that for me, sweetie? I’ll tell you more after the party. Okay?’ She widens her eyes and me. I know that face. It means:Be a good Little Girl, Addison. Don’t act up.
‘Fine,’ I say, pouting my lip. ‘I’ll go take a shower and get ready.’
‘Atta girl,’ says Violet.
I get up off the couch with a big sigh, and then walk through Violet’s enormous, glassy apartment. How come my sister gets to live in this incredible penthouse, and I end up with next to nothing? We’ve both got brains. We’re both hard-working. Ambitious. We both got the same amount of inheritance from our father. I guess I’ve just been unlucky with my investments. I go to her spare room. At least she’s letting me stay here tonight, I think. At least Her Royal Highness is gracious enough to allow methat. I have to stop myself from giving a disgruntled snort.
I open my suitcase that’s lying on the bed and get out my shampoo and shower gel. I really do have all my worldly possessions in this room. There’s my suitcase, my cell phone, and of course my precious sewing machine. A sleek white Singer with over four-hundred stitch patterns. I go nowhere without that baby.
Unless of course I really am going to end up homeless, in which case I guess I’ll have to sell it to buy a sleeping bag and gloves.
As I head through to the bathroom, I try to push back the thought that Violet is abandoning me.
