Page 22 of My Twin Sister

Upstairs, the smell of smoke and bacon fills the air. Carter is bartering with Wyatt for a second glass of chocolate milk, and Geny appears breathless and flustered in the kitchen.

“Carter, no more chocolate milk. If you’re still thirsty, drink water. Then go get changed. Quickly. We’re going to be late.”

“What can I do to help?” I ask, and all eyes turn to me.

Geny stumbles over her words for a minute, looking around for a task to assign me.

“Um, just eat if you’re hungry. There’s coffee in the pot on the counter. I’ll clean up breakfast when we get home.”

Jack stands up from the table, taking his plate with him to clear and put in the sink. Then he disappears, probably to get ready. Geny always liked to be early for church. Being late, or even on time, gave her major anxiety. That hasn’t seemed to have changed.

I don’t normally eat breakfast, so I pour myself a cup of coffee. And then I start cleaning up the kitchen as everyone rushes around to get themselves ready to leave. Everything is pretty much spotless by the time Geny walks past the kitchen again.

“Oh — you didn’t have to do that,” she says.

“I know. I wanted to help.”

“Thank you.”

I smile and take a sip of my coffee.

“Do you want to come to church with us?”

The hopeful look on her face almost makes me say yes. I don’t want to disappoint her. I’ve done enough of that. But there are things I have to do, and church makes me uncomfortable. I haven’t been to a service since I lived here.

“I’m going to pass if that’s okay,” I say.

Her face falls and I hate myself.

“Yeah, sure. I can skip today. We can spend time together—”

“No, no.” I shake my head. “Don’t skip. It’s important to you. I have plans with Brooke anyway. I’ll see you after.”

Her eyes widen just a little. “Brooke O’Neil?”

“That’s the one.”

“Oh. Really? I didn’t know you guys were friends.”

“We’re not. I mean, not really. I was friends with her sister. But she texted me and asked to get a coffee and I said yes. I’ll probably be back before you even get home.”

She nods, but looks unsure. I know what she’s feeling. I reach out and grab her hand.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here.”

She nods again, this time a little more certain. “Okay.” She smiles. “I’ll see you after. We can go walk on our trail. It’s supposed to be nice today.”

I grin. “I’d love that.”

She ushers her family to the car, but hangs back to wait for Wyatt. He looks at me as he passes but doesn’t say anything. I look at my feet and pretend not to feel his eyes. I wave at them as they load into the car.

As soon as they’re out of sight, I pull my phone from my pocket and look up the funeral home’s number as I walk to my car. A girl answers. She sounds young and maybe just a tad too peppy for a receptionist at a funeral home.

“This is Rachel. Thank you for calling Kilpatrick’s Funeral Home. How can I help you today?”

“Hi, Rachel. My name is Grace Chandler, and I need to have my grave exhumed. Do you know how I go about having that done?”

Rachel stumbles over her words for a second before asking me to hold. I plug my phone into the USB cord so it connects to my car’s radio. I take familiar roads and check my rearview mirror every mile. I used to think Raven was one of the safest places to be. It’s what everyone said. The perfect place to raise a family. Just watch out for the currents. But it isn’t what it seems, what everyone pretends. I was just as bad as everyone else though. I didn’t know it all, but I knew enough and pretended right along with everyone else. I bought into the fantasy of the idyllic seaside town and it swallowed me up and spit me out.