“Mhmm.” Naomi smiled. “And he’s right, you know. It’s no trouble at all. I’m happy to come by and help you. It’ll give me an excuse to get out of this house and stretch my legs. I’ve been reading entirely too much smut lately,” she announced and turned on her heel, leading the way upstairs.
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was feeling extremely confused and guilty.
Maybe I shouldn’t have pulled away from Cal like that… We had just discussed in the car that we were…exclusive, I guess. I should be able to let him touch me in front of people?
I glanced at him nervously, expecting him to be upset or hurt, but he just smiled at me and nodded his head in the direction his sister had gone, indicating that I should follow her.
My head was still spinning with too many thoughts as I followed Naomi up the stairs. Cal came up quietly behind me. I tensed, waiting for him to touch me from behind or make a big obnoxious scene, but he didn’t do either. He just followed me silently and let me take in the many family photos that covered the wall on the staircase.
There were tons of shots of Cal and his sisters over the years. There was a picture of a teenage Cal buying an ice cream cone for a tiny Naomi while Cass held a bouquet of balloons. There was Naomi’s high school grad photo next to Cass’s university graduation photo. I frowned when I realized Cal didn’t haveany grad photos on the wall. No pictures of him playing sports, though it looked like Naomi had played soccer at one point. Cassandra had some black-and-white photos of her in ballet shoes and a leotard.
Cal was only in photos for things like birthdays and what looked like little family getaways. The rest of this wall seemed to be a shrine to Cass and Naomi’s childhoods.
Hadn’t he gone to school?
Didn’t he have any hobbies he was interested in?
I glanced back at Cal to find him smiling fondly at the photos as we passed.
“I love this one,” he said, pointing to a picture of a much younger Naomi at the beach with water wings on and two missing front teeth. Cass was showing her how to build a sand castle. Cal wasn’t in it. I assumed he was taking the photo.
“Cass was so shit at making sand castles.” Naomi laughed from up ahead of us. “And she freaked out every time she filled a bucket and discovered a crab hole.”
“She’s so dramatic.” Cal grinned as Naomi crested the top of the steps. Cal and I followed her into a bright coastal-themed bathroom, and Naomi gestured for me to sit on the toilet.
“Yeah, but I’m glad she was there. You ended up having to leave early, remember?” Naomi asked as she dug through her makeup bag.
I glanced at Cal, and though he was smiling, I was beginning to understand him well enough to catch the flash of regret in his eyes. It was only there for a split second, then it was gone.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Duty calls, little gnome. Someone has to fund your dark romance addiction.” He winked, and Naomi laughed, pulling out what looked like a big yellow and orange crayon.
“I know, I know.” She sighed, though she was still smiling. Turning to me, she showed me the orange stick of makeup, and Ieyed it appreciatively. She was going to use the orange to cancel the blue and purple in the bruises on my face. It was a technique I used when getting bodies ready for viewings.
“Ahh, smart.” I grinned.
Naomi laughed. “Just you wait, Ry-guy. When I’m done with you, no one’s going to even know you got your ass beat by my lovable but psycho brother, haha.”
She hadn’t been kidding. After gently cleansing and cleaning my face, she applied the color corrector to all the ugly purple and blue bruises. She followed up with what she informed me was concealer, then color-matched some foundation. Finally, she used some sort of powder to finish up.
“Tadaa!” She beamed, holding up a handheld mirror so I could see.
“Wow,” I said out loud, genuinely impressed.
I was still obviously puffy and swollen, but you couldn’t see the bruises themselves at all. I glanced up at Naomi, who was grinning proudly with her hand on her hips.
“This is amazing, Naomi. Thank you,” I said in awe, gingerly touching a hand to my cheek. Her work was flawless. She had been right. There was absolutely no way I would be able to recreate this on my own.
As if she could read my mind, she winked at me. “What time is your service tomorrow?’
“People should begin arriving around one.”
“Great! I can swing by at 10; does that work? That way, I’ll be out of your hair in case you have some things you need to do to prepare.”
I glanced at Cal hesitantly, and he smiled, giving me an encouraging nod.
“That would be great, Naomi. Thank you,” I said softly, and she beamed.
“No worries at all!” She packed up her makeup. Glancing back at Cal and me, her gaze flitted between us. I frowned and looked at Cal, who was leaning against the towel rack, his hands firmly in his pockets. They exchanged looks in a way that Theo and I sometimes did, as if they were speaking a silent secret language that only siblings understood.
