My eyebrows go up, and she shrugs. “You suck at apologies,” I point out. “If that’s what this is.”
“I haven’t gotten to the apology part yet.” She lifts her coffee and takes a sip, still not looking at me. “Then the other night, I met all those people. Carmen said your dad has like twelve of these houses, and you employ most all those people when they can’t find a job anywhere else. No job means no money, no responsibility, and a steady decline of self-worth when you get rejected too many times.”
Jane walks by, waving at us as she heads in through the garage entrance, and I wave back.
“She’s one of them, right?”
“She has her own story, yes. Some of them just work at the house. Dad entertains at this one a lot,” I tell her, sort of answering her question.
“So everyone working here is someone who was saved?”
“Everyone who has ever lived in this house was saved. Us included. Those people remind us every day to be the best versions of ourselves.”
Even Bora, for all her selfish ways, is still a grateful person. It’s why she lives in a shoe box size home instead of flaunting her cash. It’s also why she gives so much of her money away.
Viv pulls out her phone, and I start to walk away to give her privacy for a phone call, but she hands me her phone instead. Confused, I look down at the screen to see a smiling couple staring back at me.
It’s Viv. She looks… pleasant. Which isn’t a look I’ve seen on her since I met her. And the blonde guy beside her is handsome and smiling, too. I don’t like his smile though. It’s a little too smug for my taste.
“That’s Dixon. My husband. Since I married him, my brother won’t hardly speak to me. He thinks I’m too much like my husband now, and I think he’s just an ass. Jax is an ass—not Dixon.” She blows out a breath while taking her phone back and shoving it in her robe pocket. “Until the other night, I thought my marriage was the only thing I needed to focus on. Then all those people told us about the hell they lived through, and—”
Her voice breaks, and she clears her throat before discreetly wiping away a tear.
“I’ve never felt so small in all my life as I did the other night. Jax is right to call me a sponge. I felt their pain like it was mine, and I hated myself for feeling like I had the right to share in pain I knew nothing about. Maybe my brother is right. I need to figure out who I am or something.”
She laughs humorlessly, and I fidget. I wasn’t expecting an early-morning heart-to-heart with Viv.
“Thirty and figuring out who I am. It’s embarrassing.”
I’m not sure how I feel about giving her advice, but I can’t just not say anything.
“My mom is still figuring herself out. Nothing wrong with it. Everyone moves at their own pace.”
We stand there in awkward silence for so long that I lose track of time. Finally, Jax comes back into view. Holy shit. I need to stop watching him.
Viv helps draw my gaze away when she breaks the uncomfortable silence. “I’m sorry I judged you wrong.”
A pang of guilt strikes, because I realize she has no clue I’m nothing more than a faker. She looks at me dead in the eye and blows that guilt away with her next words.
“But you need to tell my brother you’re not your twin sister.”
A strangled sound leaves me, and a slow, almost delighted smile curves her lips. “One of the guys at the bonfire obviously didn’t get the memo, and they raved about Bo and Bora… I heard a lot of stories about how you put on surfing competitions for them when you two were teenagers. Funny thing about identical twins? They like to switch places, or so I hear.”
She turns and saunters away, and I try to ignore the chill creeping up my spine. So that’s how he figured out? The bonfire? Shit. I thought Dad told everyone not to say anything.
It makes sense. That’s when he started acting differently, but he has been… easier to be around. You think he would have been an ass, considering.
Why didn’t he tell Viv he knew? Why didn’t Viv tell him?
Shanna is right. This is too confusing and too complicated. I definitely need to put an end to it.
My phone buzzes, and I pick it up, seeing a picture from Bora. She got her hair done, and I really, really love it.
Sister Sister: You know you wanna do it… It’s hot… Don’t tell me you don’t want a new hairstyle… You owe me since you took all my makeup and clothes…
I really do love it, and she knows I can’t resist. Hell, I got my navel pierced because she did. Just like she got her tongue pierced when Ruby talked me into doing it. Then we both took it out because I couldn’t handle it, and Bora didn’t want it if I didn’t have it.
Don’t ask me to explain, because I can’t.