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Chapter Two
Seven yearslater
The realizationthat your sister hated you came slowly for some. Harper had always been one of Agatha’s favorite sisters, at least until today. Today she was making her serve hors d’oeuvres during some kind of football thing, and her hors d’oeuvre was served in a cup. So now she would have to round up all the stupid cups afterwards.
“Smile, Ag,” Harper said to her with a smile of her own. Which sister’s smile was more fake, Agatha didn’t know. Harper was her physical opposite: blonde hair and bubbly, outgoing, and ambitious. Hence owning her own catering company before thirty.
“I quit,” Agatha said and looked at the platter again.
“No quitting; you’re family,” Lucy said from behind her. The two had started this business over two years before and were doing very well, which meant Agatha was forced to work these stupid events all the time.
“Today, a football player has been swapped by one NFL team for another,” Harper stated in her speech, something she always started these events with.
“Traded, not swapped,” Lucy corrected, causing Harper to glare at her.
“I said traded. Anyway, this is a press event to tell the city about their new player. Or something like that,” Harper explained. “And they have chosen Lovely Catering to supply the food.”
“Football?” Agatha groaned.
“This is big, Agatha, so big. Over a hundred people big, so many contacts and potential business. And TV stations will be here!” Lucy squealed, and Harper joined in. Maby and Agatha did not. Slave labor didn’t get excited about working, no matter how high-profile the event.
“Can you even believe it? And Christopher Lowell is the player. The Christopher Lowell,” Harper said, as if sports were something the sisters talked about, ever.
Agatha looked up from all the little cups on her tray at her sister. Could it be her Christopher Lowell? Big, tall, muscular, and mouth-wateringly handsome? She hadn’t heard anything about Chris since she last saw him in the hallway by their lockers, not that she had spent any time looking. Ending her school career that day, she never went back. Her diploma arrived in the mail a month later. Now after seven years, she was completely over him. It had to be a different guy anyway.
“I remember him at Harry Truman. He was a starter before we even graduated,” Lucy said. “Wasn’t he your age, Ag?”
Looking up at her sister in fake confusion, she said, “I don’t remember. My graduating class was big.”
Suddenly, she was glad she had never told anyone about it. Not even about having a crush on him.
“Yeah, I only remember him because he had a sister my age. Cara, I think that was her name. Do you remember, Lucy?” Maby asked her twin, who just shook her head.
“You don’t remember the sister, but the brother you can’t forget?” Harper teased her.
“Hey, they were part of the rich group. I was not part of that group,” Maby said.
“Probably why I don’t remember him either,” Agatha lied.
Lucy looked at her closely, too closely. What was she seeing? Lucy and Maby were only two years older than she was. Did Lucy remember the terrible crush she had had on Christopher?
“What?” Agatha demanded.
“You got your hair cut. Should that one part be standing up?” Lucy pointed to the side of her head.
“Yes, it’s edgy.” She tried not to touch her hair; she didn’t want to wash her hands again. But she wondered if it still looked like it had hours before or if it was droopy now. Not that she could do anything about it now. And besides, if it looked too bad, Harper would never allow her to work that night.
“I know that, but you should maybe rethink it,” Lucy said, reaching out to touch it.
“Hey, hands off, Luce.” Agatha dodged away from her sister.
This morning when she had sat in the salon chair, she had wanted edgy and different, but by lunch, she was no longer happy with her hair. Now she had to live with it until it grew out. Tomorrow she wouldn’t spike it, but since the stylist had that morning, she would leave it today. Agatha couldn’t pull off edgy but consoled herself that not everyone could.
“Okay, are we ready?” Harper asked as they all picked up a tray. It sounded like people were there. And if there were people, they would want tiny bites of food delivered to them one piece at a time.
Harper started out, followed by the twins, with Agatha bringing up the rear. Glancing at the clock before she left, she saw it was 5 p.m. The event was scheduled to last until 10 p.m., and then at midnight, she was off to her real job, bartending at the Sunrise Tavern. It was a shitty job, but at least it paid, and there were tips.
Tomorrow was Monday morning, and at 10 a.m. she was going to meet with an actual book publisher, Abbot & Merchant. It had taken her weeks to get this meeting to show them the illustrations and mock-ups for a book she had been working on. It was a children’s book she had originally drawn for Violet when she was a baby. But Agatha wanted more than her sister to see the books; she wanted to share them with the world. Tomorrow she would get her first chance to make that happen. Even right now, with hours before the meeting, she was nervous her work wouldn’t be enough.
