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Chapters (34)
  1. Cover
  2. undone
  3. Dedication
  4. one
  5. two
  6. three
  7. four
  8. five
  9. six
  10. seven
  11. eight
  12. nine
  13. ten
  14. eleven
  15. twelve
  16. thirteen
  17. fourteen
  18. fifteen
  19. sixteen
  20. seventeen
  21. eighteen
  22. nineteen
  23. twenty
  24. twenty-one
  25. twenty-two
  26. twenty-three
  27. twenty-four
  28. twenty-five
  29. twenty-six
  30. twenty-seven
  31. twenty-eight
  32. twenty-nine
  33. thirty
  34. Acknowledgments

Her black hair was pulled back in her signature tight twist. Gold earrings dropped from her lobes. Her forehead wrinkled up as she peered at me as if I were a curious oddity. The calm, untroubled look she’d worn all day could no longer be explained away by Botox. She studied me. Probably thought I was high. Probably wondered why I was wearing a prom dress and a man’s watch to a funeral.

“Please, she would want me to take care of it.”

I could tell Mrs. K. didn’t want to deal with it, with me. She didn’t want me stopping by, and she wasn’t about to come to my house. I wasn’t Chelsea Westad. And I wasn’t the twin sister of the girl in the box. She wrestled with the fact that it was just a sack of flour; what value could it possibly have? Her daughter’s academic career was over, not that it’d been going anywhere before. But then she let out a charitable sigh. “I’ll bring it by the school. I’m going to bring her books by the office tomorrow.”

I tripped over the words to thank her as my mind digested the fact that they’d already addressed the issue of what to do with the dead girl’s textbooks.

Immediately, I thought of Kori’s room, of all the things we’d traded over the past two years. Photos. Trinkets. How many of Kori’s secrets lay vulnerable in the Aspen Grove house? In a panicked moment, I spat out, uncensored, “If there is anything of hers, you know … that you’re ever going to throw out, I’d really appreciate it if you’d … let me have it. Anything.”

Her mother’s skinny lips twitched like two little red worms on a fishing hook. Behind me, I could feel the warm smile of the lady waiting next in line. I could feel her listening to me. “You were very close, yes?” the woman asked, stroking my back. “I’m so sorry for your loss, dear.”

I didn’t nod; I didn’t want to risk losing contact with Mrs. K. Her lips inched, spreading into a stretched smile, like she would never have agreed if the woman touching me couldn’t hear. “Of course, dear,” she forced out.

“Thank you.”

I stepped out of the way and straight into Doc Ramsey’s embrace. My nostrils slammed shut at the smell of Doc’s suit jacket; he’d hugged a lot of women with very bad taste in perfume. I added the Ralph Lauren Romance Cole had spritzed me with to the mix as I clung to his size and strength. “Just so shocking,” was all he said as he took my elbow. I nodded and let him lead me out of the church.

“Let’s get you out of here …”

eleven

Kori wasn’t dead.