and dancing to the music in their pajamas, using bright pink hairbrushes as microphones. Tarra’s even had a few strands flailing about.
I snickered to myself, thinking if nothing else, this would be great to play at their high school graduation or weddings.
The song came to a close, and I was about to power off the camera when Cara put on a hat and one of Dad’s blazers, and Tarra did the same with an old school uniform jacket. They began singing the next song, but had their voices low, clearly pretending to be old men.
I barely kept my giggles to myself.
“Ginger, what’re you—” Cori began from down the hall, but I shushed her and waved her over. “You have to see this.”
She bent over and looked at the viewfinder on my video camera. “This is classic,” she whispered, laughing silently.
For the next ten minutes, the twins carried on, singing song after song and acting out scene after scene. They were amazing, and when they finished, I had to keep myself from clapping.
But then they started toward the door, and I hightailed it to my room. Cori was hot on my heels, and we both fell into our room, laughing and breathing hard.
Her face was red from laugher when she looked at me. “So...how long’s it gonna take you to put that together?”
“Be ready at eight with the popcorn.”
Fifty-Five
I worked over my computer for two hours, cutting the video, adding over-the-top transitions, and epic movie titles. At two minutes before eight, the pièce de résistance was complete, and Cori had everyone gathered into the living room with snacks, no less.
Part of me was bitter that our parents would be there, enjoying it, but I knew my hospitalization had been hard on them too. Mom had even been checking on me in the middle of the night, just to make sure I was breathing.
“What are you doing?” Cara asked.
“It’s a surprise,” I said, bringing my computer to the TV and beginning the process to hook it up.
Mom said, “This reminds me of when you got your first video camera. We loved seeing your movies.”
“We sure did,” Dad agreed, putting his arm around Mom.
A tightness in my chest unrelated to asthma made it hard to breath. They’d given me videography, but they took away my freedom. All I wanted was to feel Ray’s arms around me again—to know that we could work through tough times and make it better. He hadn’t even given us a chance to do that.
Hot, thick feelings formed a lump in my throat. I shoved them back in the box and swallowed before hitting play.
My audio-edited voice came over the screen, announcing Cara and Tarra Nash, the next big stars to Hollywood.
They looked at me, their eyes wide.
“What did you do?” Tarra asked.
“Shh,” Cori said, laughter in her voice. “You have to see this.”
For the next fifteen minutes, we watched the twins shine on the TV. It was funny, and we had our share of deep belly laughs, but it was amazing too, to think they were only in second grade and had learned all of those lines and songs and moves with such mastery.
At the end, Mom wiped a tear from her eyes and hugged both of them. “My little stars.”
Cara and Tarra came and hugged me next. “Thanks, Ginger,” they said in unison.
I put all the feeling I could into my words. “You’re welcome.”
“How ‘bout we keep this party going?” Mom asked. “Anyone want to stay up and watch a movie?”
The twins’ eyes lit up.
“On a school night?” Cara asked.
Mom nodded and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Between us.”
“Yes!” Tarra cried.
“I’m game,” Dad said.
Cori shrugged. “I’ll watch.”
They turned to me, and I busied myself putting away my computer. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go to bed.”
I didn’t stick around to hear their response, folding up my laptop and tucking it under my arm. Lately, I just didn’t feel like being around my family—I felt like a burden to them, and I was tired of feeling that way, especially when I knew Ray also saw me as a liability.
When I got to my room, I went to my phone and looked up my last chat with Ray. It had been before we shared our weekend together. He’d been clipped with me, and I’d reciprocated. But right now, I just wanted to hear his voice, to find a way we could make things go back to the way they had been.
I hit send on his number, and it