Page 15 of Hot Mess
“Huge difference,” my sister acknowledged.
I wasn’t sure the timestamps on our births accounted for it, but something had. Nature? Nurture? Both?
Who knew.
As twins, we’d met a lot of other twins over the years. Some who were very alike, others who were extremely different.
None more different than the two of us.
“One for the road?” I offered, holding up the teapot.
“Sure.”
I pulled out a travel mug for her, because of course, she hadn’t brought one. Why would she, when she could just use mine/hers? I filled it with tea for her as she bit into her bagel.
“You seriously have no problem with it whatsoever,” she asked me, “when he asks you to pick out roses for his new girlfriend?”
I shrugged. “He had no time and he was all in a fluster. He practically begged for my help.”
“And you helped, even thoughyouhad no time, which couldn’t have been fun for you. As is your way. And as is his way, the roses and this other woman—who may or may not actually exist, by the way—are all part of his Master Plan to manipulate you back into his bed.”
I sipped my tea. “You and your Master Plans. Carter isn’t some evil genius, Dani.”
“No, he’s a dude on a mission, piloted by the whims of his dick.”
“I broke up with him. What more do you want?”
“I want you to set clear boundaries,” she informed me. “And clearly, he wants you back.”
“Boundaries. Right. Said the woman who let herself in to loot my place last night, and to loot my fridge this morning.”
“With love,” she said, blinking her blue eyes at me. But Daniella Vola couldn’t pull offinnocentif her life depended on it.
“Carter’s not after me,” I insisted.
“You are so naive,” she said.
“You are so cynical.”
“It’s not cynical to understand that when a man keeps coming around, even after you cut him loose,he wants your pussy.”
“Do you really have to be this crude before the caffeine kicks in?”
“Face it,” she said. “That man got a taste of the sweet Vola lady-magic, and he wants more.”
“Then he really shouldn’t have gotten a phone number from that chick with the triple D’s at the bar.”
“Exactly,” my sister said. “Don’t forget it.”
“Trust me, I won’t. But we’re still friends.”
“That man is not your friend, Dani.”
“We can be friendly,” I said. “I don’t hold grudges. People make mistakes.”
My sister’s eyes locked with mine. And for just a moment, something…dark… passed between us.
I swallowed a sigh. Still there, after all these years.
