why did it take your parents so long? Pretty cruel, huh?”
I thought of my father’s roaring temper, my mother’s snappy voice. I remember feeling at the time it was all my fault. “I guess they’d never read Lord of the Flies. I used to lurk in the playground, in corners and shadows, to avoid the bullies. Society was less politically correct about handicaps back then. Nobody came to my rescue, not even the teachers. Eventually, though, I found ways of dealing with the bullies.”
“Dude, school must’ve been harsh. Speaking of your mom, she called on the landline yesterday. I pretended to be the cleaner.”
“Why didn’t you tell me she’d called, Jen? I don’t want you lot interfering with my calls, you’ve all got your own phones!” Secretly I was glad she had lied to Mum. So far, I hadn’t told her about the triplets. I didn’t dare. My mother would be horrified to know I had “strangers” I’d “picked up” on my walks, living with me.
“Sorree. I was curious. Wanted to know what your mom sounded like. I told her you were out.”
“You shouldn’t take liberties in someone else’s house, Jen.”
She didn’t reply. I waited for her to get up and leave, but she carried on casually thumbing through Vogue. My pulse was thrumming with agitation.
“Jen, really, I need to get out of this tub and get dressed.”
“Go ahead, get drezzzzed,” she copycatted. “I’m not stopping you.”
“Stop it! I know I’ve had too much to drink, but I’m going to snap myself out of it. Get myself together and, whatever you say, I’ll call Mr. Donner back and at least give him the option of working with me today. You had no right to—”
“Just chill. Like I said, he’d rather play golf.” She rolled onto her stomach. “You were up to something this morning, weren’t you?”
Her sudden question zapped me like an electric shock. The bath was getting cold, and I didn’t want to stand up in full naked view so I added more hot water. Pretended I hadn’t heard her.
“You were sneaking around in the bushes, going somewhere secretly. Don’t dee-ny it!” She made a singsong of the word “deny.” This was a game to her. She was treating me like her playmate.
I needed to take my power back. “That’s enough, young lady. You get out of this room and give me some privacy. You’ll have to leave this house if you can’t learn to respect me!”
Jen leapt up suddenly and tossed her long blond hair, glancing at me over her fine chiseled shoulder. “Soreee, I was just kidding! All I wanted to do was hang out and make you feel better. Remind me not to give you any more alcohol if you’re going to hate me so much.” She stomped out of the bathroom. At least, “stomping” as much as her delicate bare feet would allow.
The room rang in silence. My harsh words ricocheted back at me like a punishment. My hand twitched in a spasm, taking me way back to that person I did not want to be: the friendless loner.
Two minutes later I already missed Jen’s presence. Her boundary-pushing was her way of feeling close to me, of being my buddy. I reminded myself that this was the way young adults behaved in all homes. All families. Everyone complained how youngsters had a sense of entitlement these days. Some of my friends’ children acted like spoiled brats. Still lived at home, many well into their twenties—even thirties—without jobs, and without contributing anything at all to the household. Their mothers even did their laundry and cooked all their meals. At least the triplets pulled their weight. In fact, I was the lazy one by comparison. They were doing everything for me.
I’d let myself slide.
I’d let myself lose control.
Twenty
I got dressed, selecting a pair of stretchy black slacks and a cream silk blouse. I gathered my dull brown hair into less than a fist’s worth—because sadly, the mane I hankered after lived only in my imagination—and smoothed on a sheen of something that promised body and shine, and scraped my paltry locks into a high ponytail. I grabbed a bottle of mineral water from where my wine lived—in the special fridge—and glugged down the whole liter without stopping.
There! Under control. The thud of a distant headache, like thunder threatening to roll in from afar, lurked in my temples, but I nipped it in the bud with a couple of migraine tablets, downing them with another full glass of