Page 12 of My Twin Sister

Geny looks at Wyatt with an apology already on her lips. She hasn’t talked to him about inviting me to stay here. They disappear out the front door, and I fight the urge to follow them to try and listen in. I can’t do that with the boys looking at me.

“All right, tour guides,” I say. I wave toward the rest of the house.

“Well, this is the living room,” Jack says.

I nod, looking around the room again. “Very lovely.”

He smirks and walks toward the hall on my left. Carter grabs my hand and pulls me along.

“Our kitchen is in here! That’s where the food is. And the snacks. But you can’t have a snack until after dinner,” Carter says.

“Of course. Don’t want to ruin my appetite.”

The kitchen is painted a soft yellow. I wonder if Geny picked the colors or if they bought the house this way and just left it. She liked pretty colors growing up, and it always felt so contrary to her quiet personality. I loved that about her though. There was so much more to her that other people never got to see.

“Do you guys eat in here?” I ask. There’s a circular wooden table at the back of the room with four chairs pushed beneath it.

“Sometimes,” Jack says. “We’re not always home at the same time for dinner.”

We used to have dinner at home every night at six o’clock sharp. Except on the nights I had a track meet because they usually ran late, especially the out-of-town ones. But Mom always saved me a plate in the microwave for when I got home. A pang stabs my chest. It’s been so long since I’ve had one of my mother’s home-cooked meals.

I mourned my mother years ago, but it still hits me from time to time.

“What’s next?” I say, blinking away the sting of tears.

“Um . . . The bathroom is that way.” Jack points down the hall. “So are our bedrooms. Except Mom and Dad’s. Theirs is upstairs. And then there’s the basement.”

I turn around to where his eyes go and see a door I assumed was a pantry. Jack reaches for the door, but we all freeze at the sound of yelling outside. They didn’t close the front door, so the noise travels right through the screen. It seems Wyatt isn’t happy about my new living arrangements. I could stay at my parents’ house. It’s empty after all. But I have no intention of doing that. Not yet anyway.

The screen door slams. A moment later, Geny appears in the kitchen doorway. Tires spit up gravel outside, and Geny winces.

I try to take the attention off the awkwardness. “Jack was just about to show me the basement.”

“Right,” she says. “Actually, let’s go upstairs first. I have extra bedding in the linen closet. Jack, can you help Carter get ready for his tee-ball game? I almost forgot about it with everything going on.”

“We’re still doing that?” Jack asks.

Geny’s face softens and she pulls him into a hug. It’s incredible to watch her be a mother. “It’ll be good for all of us,” she says. “Keep our minds a little busy.”

Jack’s head nods against the top of his mother’s. “Okay,” he says. Jack pulls away and puts his hand on Carter’s head, mussing his hair and steering him out of the room. “Let’s go get dressed Carter-sauce.”

“Ugh, that was a bad one!” Carter whines.

“Nonsense, Mario-Cart,” Jack says.

Carter laughs in the hall.

“They’re cute kids,” I say when Geny and I are alone. Though Jack hardly seems like a kid. I don’t know how old he is, and I’m almost afraid to ask.

She smiles hesitantly. “Thank you. They’re good kids too.”

I nod. “They seem like it.”

Geny motions for me to follow her and leads us up the staircase.

“Did Mom and Dad love being grandparents?”

She turns to look at me, her eyes shiny with tears. Was she already crying?