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Her smile falls and she walks into the room. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everyone’s in the living room.”
She keeps looking at me. Then she puts down her sleeping bag and reaches into the yellow canvas backpack slung over her shoulder. “Here. Happy birthday.”
The wrapping paper covering a small box is dotted with tiny rainbows. Tess wrote ‘Happy Birthday, Haven’ in pretty script across the top.
“You didn’t have to get me a gift. It’s not really my party.”
She tilts her head. “But it’s your birthday too.”
“Yeah.” I don’t know why I feel like crying. “Thanks.”
She bends down and hugs her sleeping bag in her skinny arms. “Did you hear about Conner Wiseman?”
I nearly drop the box. “What about him? What did Lita tell you?”
Tess frowns with confusion. “Nothing. I don’t think Lita knows yet. But I live down the street from Conner’s cousin Micah and our parents are friends so my dad told me what happened to Conner yesterday.”
“What do you mean?” My stomach suddenly cramps with a bad feeling.
Tess chews the corner of her lip and sighs. “The boys were climbing that old willow tree in the park, racing each other to the top. But one of the branches broke and Conner fell. He hit his head pretty bad and wouldn’t wake up. It was really scary. My dad says Conner woke up a few hours ago but he’s all confused and I don’t know what happens to him now but he’s still in the hospital.”
I no longer feel like crying. Now I feel like I’m going to puke.
Because I’ve said nothing, Tess keeps talking. “My dad knows all this because he talked to Micah’s mother, Matilda. I guess Conner doesn’t remember a lot of things right now and the doctors aren’t sure how long it will take for him to get better or if he’ll get better at all. I forget what that’s called. Oh wait, it’s called amnesia. Yeah, that’s what he has.”
Lita bounces into the room. “Tessie!” She hugs her friend. “We’ve been waiting for you.” Lita notices that I’m standing here with Tess’s birthday present in my hand. “I didn’t know you were home.”
“Well, I live here.” I’m amazed I can talk as my heart cracks into pieces at the idea of Conner in the hospital.
Lita stops hugging Tess and gives me her full attention.
She knows something is wrong.
Of course she does. The curse of having a twin.
“Come to the party,” Lita says. “It’ll be all kinds of fun. Mom left us all her makeup samples.”
I’m already shaking my head. “I hate makeup.”
“But I’ll do your face for you. Please?”
Lita reaches for my hand. But if I let anyone touch me right now, especially her, I’ll start sobbing and I might not stop. Then everyone will start laughing and I don’t think I can take that. Not today. Not right after hearing how Conner fell out of a tree and now lies in a hospital with amnesia.
Maybe he doesn’t remember that his favorite color is green and he loves basketball and promised to wear my birthday on his varsity jersey someday.
Maybe he doesn’t remember anything at all.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” I say to my sister and shove her aside on my way to sprint up the stairs.
The tears make everything blurry and I drop Tess’s gift as I run up to my room. But I manage to flip the door lock before collapsing on my bed, crying until I can’t breathe as the thunderstorm arrives outside my window.
Chapter16
Conner
“It’s still crooked.” Tess bounces Dash on her hip and critiques the banner. “Conner, raise your side a little bit.”
