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She shakes her head, grinning. “Nope, I did all this on my own. Go me. Booked the hotel and everything. I even spoke on the phone to get myself a room. Terrifying, but I did it. For you.”
“Thanks?”
“I should think so. I was worried when I couldn’t get hold of you, and I tried your new house but I didn’t get any answer. So knowing how important this was to you, I figured you’d have found a way to get here. I brought you these.”
She reaches down and grabs her rucksack off the floor, depositing it on the counter in front of us. Then, with a dramatic flourish, she unzips it and brings out…
“Barbies?” I say, deadpan. “You…shouldn’t have.”
She laughs. “I know, right? I love the dress this one is wearing. You’ll probably want to change it up, bring it off one shoulder or whatever. But it’s got potential, right?”
“Right. Yep, I could do that.” I stutter, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but honestly… Barbies?
“I knew you’d love them. You want to take them up to your room right now, or—?”
I shake my head. “No, you hold on to them for now. Jackson might be a bit surprised to see me, you know, playing with dolls.”
She laughs. “What? He knows all about your Barbie collection.”
“He does?”
“Of course! How would you hide something you’ve been doing since you guys met when you were six? You have a whole collection. That’s how you met your brother. You had a backpack full of Barbies…you don’t remember?”
“Wait, I have a brother?”
“Girl. Jackson. You really did hit your head hard, huh?”
“Jackson? What are you…? No, he’s my b…boy…” In a daze, I stand from the counter, stumbling a little. I feel her hand on my arm but I shrug it away, shaking my head. “Jackson’s my…”
Brother.
Oh my fudging golf.
I stare at my best friend as I back away, feeling my whole face start to heat. Flickers of warm and cold memories snap and flash like strobe lights in a dark room.
She’s saying something, telling me to come back, but I can’t. I want to be away from here. If Jackson is my brother, then what we did was against the rules.
Fudge. Fudge. Fudge.
“Tina,” I say in a daze. “I wouldn’t do this. It wasn’t me, it was Tina.”
“What was Tina? Who is Tina?”
My eyes snap up to hers as it all comes flooding back in such a deluge, the world turns gray. I’m spinning. Nauseous. My temples pound.
The party, the pool, the hospital. Oh heck, the hospital.
“Rosaria…” I’m so embarrassed I can barely say the words. “She was singing.”
“Who was singing?”
“Tina. She was singing Simply The Best so loud they must have heard it in the mortuary!”
“Tina Turner?”
“No, Tina me! I’m Tina. She’s… I made her up but now she’s real and she’s ruined everything.”
I put my face in my hands. How did this happen? Why did Jackson let it…happen?
But then, wasn’t I happy?
His face comes into my mind, and just for a moment I smile. Now that I can see everything as it really was, he was so sweet to me. So kind, so loving. Daddy. I called him Daddy. And it felt right.
I’m so confused. I need to get away. From here, from Rosaria, from Jackson. From everyone.
Without thinking, I turn, ready to run away, and the pool is right there in front of me, looking so vast and deep and…gosh, it’s fudging terrifying. I back away from the edge, staring down into the water, my body shaking with fear.
A middle-aged man points my way from the other side of the pool. “Hey, no running by the water, you two!”
I stare at him, trying to figure out what he means. Us two? Running?
Then I hear it. Laughter. Children’s laughter.
Glancing to the side, I see them heading right for me, not looking where they’re going as they push each other, trying to knock the other into the water. Two boys of maybe six or seven years old, having the time of their life.
“Watch where you’re going.”
But it’s no good. As they brush past, barrelling into my legs. Not hard, but it’s enough. With my already weak knees from the weight of all the revelations swimming through me, my knees buckle and I’m falling. Backward. Into space.
Like a dream, I drop my phone, watching it in slow motion break the surface of the water, sinking as I follow behind.
There’s a splash, voices, then, the water is closing over me as I use my last breath to call out.
“Daddy, please…”
CHAPTER 13
Jackson
“Jackson, we’re hearing that the girl you were seen kissing is your sister. Is that true?”
I glare out into the crowd of reporters as more and more gather. Where are they even all coming from? They’re like vultures, circling until they spot a fresh kill. I can’t see who the voice belongs to, but I don’t need to.
