Twisted Lies by Nora Cobb
Chapter 13
Astrid
“You’re glowing. What have you been up to?” Charlotte stops me in the hallway before I can enter my room. She looks well, considering everything that’s been going on, and I wonder if Bryce is hidden inside.
“Not much. How are you holding up?” I place my hand on her shoulder, but it feels disingenuous, so I put my arm down to my side.
Charlotte notices my unease and smiles graciously. “Don’t be a stranger, Astrid. Come and talk to me.”
I would’ve preferred a shower first, but I’m good enough. We go into her room, and I glance around, knowing Bryce won’t be here. I doubt that Charlotte would’ve invited me in. Or maybe she would.
I plop myself down on the couch and wrap the gray throw around me. I’m feeling drained after being with Justin. I know how cats feel when they snuggle up on the chair and doze off. No guy has ever gone down on me before, and instead of Bryce stuck in my fantasies, I see Justin staring back at me.
“You look so far away,” says Charlotte as she sits cross-legged on her bed. She’s wearing her favorite one-piece that matches her blue eyes. “Did something nice happen to you?”
I don’t dare tell her about Justin. I should. It would ease her mind to know that I’m interested in someone else. But what if Wyatt hears about it? He’ll change his mind and think I wanted to be in that bathroom. I keep my mouth shut.
“I saw Dad,” I say in a sarcastic tone. “He gave me money and birth control.”
Charlotte leans her head back in a peal of laughter. “That’s so weird. Maybe for my next birthday, I’ll ask for that instead of a car.”
“How are you doing?” I ask, sitting up. “Really doing.”
Charlotte shrugs and averts her gaze. “I love my mother, but I keep thinking when I go home, she’ll be there. I’ve been in boarding school since I was twelve. I only saw her when I went home. I just don’t want to go home. I don’t want to go there and see that she’s really gone.”
Her emotions went deeper than she let on. Charlotte’s not exaggerating about her insights. Her life at Stonehaven is what she knows. It’s her reality. She doesn’t have to think about what to say or how to act. She’s only known this life since birth, and it’s very real to her.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, “I know what you mean, but then I don’t. I wanted to bolt my first day here and go back home. But with Mom in rehab, home is gone. It’s just a shitty apartment where we keep our stuff.”
I look at Charlotte, and her wide blue eyes stare back at me as if she can’t even imagine my home life. She can’t—to her, a shitty apartment doesn’t have a posh address. She smiles again and changes the subject.
“Are you going to the Halloween Ball?” she asks.
Relieved, I smile. “Yeah, but I haven’t gotten my costume yet. What are you going as?”
A shadow passes over her face. “A Stonehaven princess, I suppose.”
I laugh. “Of course you would. I haven’t decided yet.”
There’s a tap on the door, and Wren enters, pausing long enough to assess my outfit. I don’t miss the twitch of her nose. Nice to see you too, B-. She has on a one-piece that’s almost identical to Charlotte’s, except it’s a peach romper with long sleeves. She’s carrying her pillow under her arm and tapping on her phone. They only put up with me because of Charlotte.
“Astrid is asking what we’re going as for the Halloween Ball,” says Charlotte, patting the bed beside her. “I told her princesses.”
Wren gives her a questioning look but camouflages her expression with a smile. She sits down next to Charlotte, and they look like sisters. “I’m wearing pink,” she says to me, “And Charlotte will wear purple, of course. What are you wearing?”
I cock my eyebrow. “I haven’t decided what to go as.”
They pass a glance, and I’ve overstayed my welcome. I push forward and stand up, dropping the throw on the couch. “I’ve got to study. Charlotte. If you need to talk…”
She smiles again, and it makes me wonder if she ever frowns. “Thank you, Astrid, for being so sweet.”
I step outside into the hallway, and the second I shut the door, I hear them laughing.
“You got a package,” says Roni the second I walk into our room. “It was in here when I arrived.”
I look at the large box on my desk and then at her. “How’d it get in here without us being home?”
Roni barely looks at me as she continues to read her book. “Housekeeping has the key. If not, you would be sleeping on the same sheets until they changed themselves.” I glare at her for a second, but she’s right. I noticed the clean sheets but didn’t pay attention to how they got there.
The box on my desk is an old-fashioned gift box—a long cardboard rectangle with a lid. The top of the box reads Serenella, and I run my hand over the embossed letters.
“Open it.” Roni stands beside me. “I’ve been dying to see what’s inside.”
I have to work the lid off the box. Whatever’s inside, it’s packed in there. I pull the tissue paper back, and inside is a camel coat.
“Fancy,” replies Roni as I lift it out of the box. “Is it a gift or something?”
“Don’t think so,” I reply. It is a lovely coat. It wraps around like a bathrobe and ties with a matching belt. It’s heavy, too, and almost goes to the floor.
“Try it on,” she tells me.
The coat stops mid-calf, and it feels as warm as it looks. The pockets are deep, and there’s a button inside to keep it closed. I spin around on my heels and admire myself in the closet mirror.
“There’s a notecard,” says Roni, pulling it out of the envelope, “To Astrid. From your loving father.”
I freeze and hold my breath, waiting for Roni to continue speaking, but she says nothing. I take the note out of her hand. There’s no last name—only the business card for the shop is attached.
Roni fingers the coat. “It is a beautiful coat. And from your dad.”
Her words hang there, but I won’t give her an explanation. I can’t, and I feel us growing farther apart.
“I better hang it up,” I reply, “I need a shower before I go to bed.”
“Long workout?” she asks.
“Yeah, you can say that.”
