“Potter?”
“Styles. But yeah, that kid too.” Bree grinned. “Standard misdirection,” she added, waving her curling iron like a magician’s wand.
“You know you are more to me than just a stand-in, right?” Kara whispered in her ear, as they both stared into the mirror at the new voluptuous waves framing Tzipi’s face. “I am forever in your debt.”
* * *
“The moment of truth,” Kara breathed, handing Tzipi her locked phone. “Face ID.”
“Seriously?”
“If we can fool biometric technology…” Kara wiggled her fingers, and Tzipi palmed her own device into her sister’s waiting hand. “On the count of three.”
Tzipi held her breath, then stared unflinchingly straight at the screen. Up popped the colorful background photo of Kara’s unlocked screen: her sister and Shel in an embrace, cheeks pressed together. Broad smiles and bright eyes. Tzipi couldn’t believe her own face had fooled a Smartphone into thinking she was half of this dynamic power couple.
Kara squealed in delight, waving Tzipi’s phone, similarly open for business. Suddenly, it began to buzz with an incoming request to video-chat. “It’s Mom!” she hissed.
Oh, shit. The real moment of truth.
“Let’s answer it together. Overwhelm her senses. She won’t laser focus if there are two of us on the screen.” Translation: she won’t fuss over her broken bird leaving the nest if the more exotic one is flapping around.
“Hi, Mommy!” they chorused. Kara held the phone up so Tzipi could be on screen as well.
Ellen Solokoff was power-walking, AirPods on to receive their greeting. She squinted, grinning and verklempt. “Oh, look at you two. Such a sight for sore eyes. How was the flight, darling?”
Tzipi almost broke character to answer her mom, but Kara swooped in.
“Great, once Kara bumped me to first class. Sorry I haven’t texted, she’s been keeping me super busy.”
If Mom only knew.
“It’s fine, darling. I’m just so happy you two are together for Hanukkah. You needed a break. Gosh, you girls look radiant! What’s New York got in its water?”
“We had a spa day,” Tzipi said, tossing her new extended tresses around for good measure. “And some wine…” She hoped it was a Kara-like sparkle she channeled with her eyes and smile.
“Cheers to you and Dad!” Kara-as-Tzipi held up her glass. And in a split-second, their mom homed in closer to the screen…frowning; her brow wrinkling.
“Tzipora Michaela, why are you wearing your sister’s engagement ring?”
Kara Koff had, for the first time ever, forgotten her line. And neither of them had remembered the three-carats lodged under the knuckle of the twin who still had a living, breathing fiancé.
Tzipi mustered the courage to take control of the phone, shifting it so the camera focused solely on her. “I let her try it on, Mom.” She dropped her voice. “But her fingers swelled from the wine and now it’s stuck! Should we soap it?”
“Windex,” their mother proclaimed emphatically. “Works like a charm.”
“We’ll go try that now,” Kara called, and Tzipi turned the screen so they were both in it again. “Thanks, Mom!”
“Bye, Mom!”
“Holy shit.” Kara breathed, still staring at the dark screen after their mom had disappeared. “Good save, sis.”
“I still remember how to ad lib,” Tzipi joked. But all she could think about was her mother’s facial reaction to “Kara” and her generosity. A sympathetic commiseration, channeled in her expression that had required Tzipi-as-Kara to subtly acknowledge and lob it back. The two of them must talk about me, she realized. A lot.
“That was like, next level. An alibi straight out of the Room to Bloom playbook.” Kara’s praise was rooted in truth. Rosie’s character was known for her fast-thinking white lies, their self-serving nature usually balanced by something altruistic happening in the storyline and wrapped up by episode’s end.
“It didn’t feel quite right playing Mom. I can’t believe you are going to get married without her and Dad knowing.”
“We plan on having a huge reception later, after Shel is back from his humanitarian mission. And Vanta has single-handedly saved the world from evil forces beyond nature.”
