pairs of khaki shorts that she’d gotten at a church clothes closet into the washer and started it. While that ran, she headed upstairs to take a long bath. When the claw-foot bathtub was nearly full, she sank down into the warm water and sighed. To have a bath in a deep tub was something she’d never take for granted again. In her tiny room above the garage, she’d had a shower stall so small that she could barely turn around in it. When she’d moved in, she’d thought she’d died and gone to heaven. Living on the street for six months, she’d been lucky to get washed up in a service station bathroom. She ducked her mass of curly black hair under the water and then worked sweet-smelling shampoo that Miss Janie had always bought special for her type of hair into it. This was nothing short of pure heaven.
Dusk was settling when she finished her bath, found the hair product that Miss Janie kept for her in the cabinet, and worked it into her hair. The Mimosa Hair Honey shine pomade was ten years old, but it still did wonders. She checked her reflection in the mirror and then got dressed in clean jeans and a T-shirt and went back downstairs, where Teresa sat in the kitchen having a slice of pecan pie with ice cream.
“Do I really have to act like you’re my sister? Anything else I need to lie about?” Kayla asked.
“You lie all the time, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” Teresa answered.
“I see you haven’t changed any.” Kayla passed by her on her way to put her clothing into the dryer and start another load. “You’re still as big a smart-ass as ever. Got any more of that pie?”
“Nope.” Teresa shoved the last bite into her mouth and answered around it. “But there’s chocolate cake over there.” She pointed toward a domed cake plate.
“Did you make it?” Kayla glanced over at the cabinet.
“Yep, I did, but I promise I didn’t poison your part of the food,” Teresa answered.
“I wouldn’t put it past you, but since Sam ate some and he didn’t fall over on the floor with froth coming out of his mouth, I’ll take a chance,” Kayla told her.
“I wouldn’t poison you.” Teresa poured herself a glass of lemonade but didn’t offer Kayla any. “It would be a waste of good food.”
Noah came into the kitchen and cut himself a slice of cake and got the milk jug from the refrigerator. When he reached for a glass, he turned toward Kayla. “Should I pour some for you?”
“Yes, please, and thank you.” Kayla smiled.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” Teresa said. “You lived here as many years as I did. You know where things are, and you can wait on yourself.”
“I already figured that out.” Kayla could hear the coldness of her own voice. “But you don’t have to be such a”—she stopped and grinned—“such an old witch about it.”
“You almost made a mistake there,” Teresa said.
“What’d she do?” Noah asked.
“I called her a bitch one time, and she tried to shake my teeth out of my head.” Kayla cut herself a piece of cake. “She’s mean as a rattlesnake, and that word sets her off, so be careful not to call her that. I also remember that you didn’t finish college, so what did you become?”
“I married a man who said we needed two incomes. I worked at a nursing home and got my nursing aide’s certificate by going to night school. Never had the money to get the nursing degree I wanted. How about you?” Teresa answered.
“Why, I was the personal aide to the president’s wife in the White House,” Kayla smarted off. “What do you think I did? I lived in a travel trailer most of the time with Denver. He was as worthless as the last sheet of toilet paper on the roll. I supported us by doing waitress work. I’m not perfect like you.” Kayla’s tone was pure sarcasm.
“One twin is always the good one. Least I went back to school,” Teresa smarted off right back at her.
Kayla ducked her chin and glared at Teresa. “Don’t you know? I’m the twin that gets to have all the fun.”
“Were y’all this hateful to each other when you were here?” Noah asked.
“We lived together in this house, and I can count the times we were friends on one hand. I was the poor little half-black girl with the kinky hair