“Thanks,” she said, accepting both.
“I’m sorry, but Turner is kind of an idiot,” Rob said.
“You can say that again.” Maizie wrapped herself up in the towel and stared out at the pond with glassy eyes.
If Turner had really been sorry, he would have followed her up here and helped her dry off. But he was still in the water flirting with Stephanie now. Turner was good-looking, but that charm only went so far as to hide the jerk underneath.
“Hey, you okay?” Christian crawled out of the pond and walked toward her. Even in the dark, Maizie could see the definition in his body. He hadn’t worn a swimsuit, but he’d still gotten in with his basketball shorts. Shorts that were now showing off the muscles in his legs as he trudged through the mud.
“Yep. I’m fine,” she said, looking away before he caught her staring. There was no way she would ever admit to Christian how terrible her boyfriend was. Not when she’d been using Turner only hours before to annoy Christian.
She wasn’t any better.
Christian stepped from foot to foot. “Okay.” He went back to the pond and to the group of girls waiting for him.
“Aren’t you going to get in?” Maizie asked Rob, silently terrified he would say yes and leave her.
“Nah, I’d rather be here.” He said, adjusting his glasses.
Maizie met his gaze and saw a flicker of something there. But what?
For the rest of the night, Maizie stayed on the bank with Rob, never venturing in higher than her waist, and Turner never sought her out to apologize. The next time he spoke to her, Maizie would make sure it was the last talk they had.
Eight
Maizie found herself in the barn before the sun came up the next morning. She could have slept until noon with how late everyone had stayed in the pond last night. But she needed to feel the music.
She tugged off her sweater and turned up the volume as loud as it could go. She stretched out her muscles, letting her frustration from last night roll off her shoulders. And then she let loose. As the music amped up, so did her tempo. Spins turned to ariels and ballet turned to hip hop. She loved every style of dance and often mingled them with each other. When she was little, she hadn’t been able to choose a specific one, so she had chosen them all. Mack used to call her the dancing queen. She would laugh and roll her eyes, but secretly she loved his compliments of her. That was the thing about twins. They were enemies at times, but nothing could ever tear them apart. Well, one thing had torn them apart.
Her feet slipped on her back tuck, and she landed on her knees with a thud. The pain surged through her body, and she screamed. But the worst pain was the old familiar ache in her heart for her brother.
She hit the floor with her fist, trying to pound out her pain. Every cell in her body felt the emptiness that had been ripped from her.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t fair.
Her knee was still throbbing two hours later as she got ready for church. But she put on her favorite pink stilettos anyway. Maybe if she looked confident, she would feel it.
She was still ticked at Turner and his lack of concern for her last night, but she felt free already. She’d break up with him first thing Monday morning.
She added the last layer of mascara and ran a brush through her curls.
Done.
Mitchell poked his head in her room. “Can I borrow your comb? I lost mine.”
“Again?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and took in Mitchell’s unruly light brown curls. Between Mitchell’s features and Mason’s athletic build, they could create a carbon copy of Mack. But they weren’t Mack. And she couldn’t force them to be. She had learned that the hard way.
“Sure,” she said, her voice losing its edge. “Just don’t lose it.”
“Thanks.” Mitchell removed himself from her doorway, and Maize’s eyes landed on the picture her mom kept just outside her room.
She moved into the hall, reaching for the life in the photo. It was a picture of her and Mack huddled together like they had a secret, but the only secret was their smiles. Their identical eyes held years of memories just between the two of them.
“That’s still my favorite picture,” her mom said beside her.
“Yeah, mine too,” Maizie said.
