Someone Else's Life (33 page)

Rosie

We’re tucking into our sundaes by the time Jack arrives at Pisa Pizza.

“Hi, where’ve you been?” Megan stands to kiss him as Ben covers his bowl protectively.

“You can’t have any, Daddy!” he sings. “You’re the last!”

“Meany.” Jack smiles halfheartedly.

“We saved you both some pizza, though.” Megan smiles. “Where’s Holly?”

“She’s not coming.” He slumps into the booth and runs his hands through his hair. “She’s moving out.”

“What?” Megan drops her spoon.

I stare at him.

“Why?” she asks. “I thought everything was okay now—Kitty dropped the case!”

“I know,” he sighs. “I think she just needs … some time alone for a while.”

“Where’s Holly?” Ben asks in a small voice.

Jack and Megan exchange looks.

“She’s gone on a little vacation,” Megan says quickly.

“To the beach?” Ben asks hopefully. “Can we go too?”

“Not this time.” Megan smiles. “She’s gone somewhere very boring and cold.”

“The North Pole?” Ben asks. “With the penguins?”

Megan laughs. “Something like that. Brrr!” She tickles him and he laughs.

“I like penguins,” Ben says.

“Well, you obviously don’t like ice cream!” Megan says, picking up her spoon. “So I’ll just have to eat yours up!”

“No!” Ben squeals, digging in.

“Good boy.” She ruffles his hair, then looks at Jack anxiously.

I stare at my ice cream melting in my dish, my wafer sliding over onto its side. I push it up again with my spoon, but no matter how many times I keep trying to prop it up, it always slides back down, the pool of slush getting bigger every time.

Holly

“Whoa,” Melissa gasps after I’ve told her everything—almost everything. She may be my best friend, but as she’s also Josh’s sister, I still can’t tell her I’m pregnant. Not before Josh. Not until I know if the baby’s at risk.

If there’s even going to be a baby.

“Jeez.” Melissa shakes her head. “Holy crap, Holly.”

I nod. That pretty much sums it up.

“I can’t believe it—your dad … Huntington’s disease … 
Kitty Clare!
”

I look up quickly. “You can’t tell anyone, Melissa. Swear it.”

“I swear!” she promises earnestly. “Jeez, Holls, why didn’t you call me? I must’ve tried your cell a million times.”

“Sorry, it’s broken.”

“I thought you were avoiding me coz of what happened with Josh—I was ready to kill him for wrecking our friendship!”

I squeeze her hand. “Never.”

“And then your dad said you were sick when I came around, and you’ve been out of school so long I thought you had mono—or worse!”

I nod.
Worse
. Much,
much
worse.

“Don’t worry, you can copy all my notes.” Melissa smiles. “Not that you’ve really missed much. Except Natalie Van Pelt came back from vacation with the
worst
nose job I’ve ever
seen
, though she claims she just had a skiing accident, but—yeah, right!” She looks up suddenly, contrite. “Not that you really care when your life’s going down the crapper, huh? Sorry.” She squeezes my knee.

“No, it’s okay.” I smile. It’s actually good to think about something else for a change. “What other gossip have I missed?”

Melissa grins, her eyes sparkling as she spends the next hour filling me in on school scandals, from fashion faux pas and disastrous dates to a hilarious horror story about a girl who cut off the school diva’s ponytail because she flirted with her boyfriend, which has me in hysterics, imagining the look of horror on Kimberley’s perfect face when her golden curls plummeted to the floor—priceless!

“Which just goes to show”—Melissa winks—“don’t get mad. Get even.”

I giggle, wiping tears from my eyes, and I suddenly realize how long it’s been since I laughed, since I thought of anything but Huntington’s or Rosie or the baby.

Thank God for Melissa.

Just then there’s a knock on her bedroom door, and her mom steps inside.

“Hi, girls.” She smiles awkwardly. “Listen, I know I said you could stay over, Holly—and you know you’re always welcome …” She squeezes my hand and my heart sinks. “But I just got a call from your dad, honey. He’s really worried about you. I think you should go home.”

“Mom!” Melissa exclaims. “You can’t kick Holly out—she’s my best friend!”

“And her dad’s worried sick. I’m sorry, Holly, I can’t let you stay here. Your dad wasn’t exactly thrilled the last time you stayed over without his consent …”

“Mom, she’s
eighteen
.”

“It doesn’t matter, he’s still her dad.”

No, he’s not, I think.
He never was
.

“You just need to talk to him, sweetie, work this out.” Melissa’s mom smiles gently. “You need to go home.”

“Sorry,” Melissa sighs as her mom shuts the door. “This sucks.”

Once again, her analysis is flawless.

Crap
. I sigh.

If I can’t stay here, there’s only one place I
can
go …

Rosie

“There’s no place like home,” Dorothy chants on the screen, clicking her ruby heels, eyes closed tight as Ben copies her. “No place like home, no place like home …”

I close my eyes.
There’s no place like home
 …

In the week since Holly left, the house hasn’t felt much like a home. It’s been like living in a shell, everybody wandering round like zombies, waiting for the phone to ring, for her to come back. Jack’s still kicking himself for asking Melissa’s mum to send her home—at least she was nearby before. But while he’s not exactly thrilled she’s staying at Harvard, at least she’s safe, and as he doesn’t want to scare her off again, he’s got no choice but to wait, hoping she’ll come back or call when she’s ready.

The shrill ring of my mobile makes me jump. Jack and I stare at it, and Megan comes racing in from the kitchen.

I pick up quickly. “Hello?”

“Rosie?” Sarah’s voice sounds unfamiliar, strained.

“Oh—hi!” I say, surprised. “Just a sec.”

Jack looks at me anxiously, hopeful, but I shake my head.

“Just a friend from home,” I whisper, watching his shoulders droop as I head upstairs. He’s been like this ever since Holly left, jumping up at every knock on the door, every telephone ring. It’s killing him that she’s gone. Mentioning Sarah might not go down so well just at the moment either.

“Hi,” I say again, closing the bedroom door behind me. “Is everything okay? It must be the middle of the night with you!”

“It is,” she says quietly. “I just got in.”

“Sarah?” Something in her voice makes me sit up. “What is it? Is Nana—”

“Your nana’s fine,” she sighs. “At least for now …”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my skin prickling. “What is it?”

“Rosie …” She hesitates. “Look, I don’t blame you. I really don’t, I just wish … I just wish you could’ve given me some warning, that you could have told me yourself.” She sighs heavily, and I imagine her running a hand over her frazzled hair. “Rosie, someone’s found out—about the swap—I’m being sued.”

“What? No!” I tell her, relief flooding through me. “No, it’s all right. There was … there
was
a problem, but it’s over. The case was dropped.” I didn’t know Kitty’d even
opened
the case.

“Really?” Sarah’s voice is hesitant, hopeful. “So this email I’ve got—I don’t need to worry?”

“No, it’s all over,” I promise. “Kitty called it off.”

“Who’s Kitty?”

“My—my real mother …” I trail off awkwardly. “I’m sorry, Sarah, I came over here to find her—I had to … But she called a week ago. The charges were all dropped, don’t worry.”

There’s a short pause.

“Rosie …,” she says slowly. “The email was sent today.”

“What?”
I stare at the phone. “That’s impossible.”
She can’t have changed her mind, she can’t …

“I check my emails every day,” Sarah says. “It just arrived.”

“It was sent to you
personally
?” I gasp, my breath tight in my throat.

“Yes.”

“Sarah …,” I say carefully, dread trickling through me like ice. “Who is the email from?”

Holly

I smile as I stare at the little pink address book for the hundredth time.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. After all, why should Rosie get everything while I’m left with nothing?

And Sarah—well, she’s going to get what’s coming to her, I’ll see to that. Kitty had the right idea. Make her pay. Make her pay for causing this whole mess. But Kitty didn’t care enough. Her precious career was more important than the truth. Well, now I’m going to tell the truth—just like Rosie did when she arrived on my doorstep, ate my birthday cake and stole my life.

How does the saying go? The truth will set you free? Let’s see if Sarah sees it that way.

After all, Melissa was right:

Don’t get mad.

Get even.

Rosie

This can’t be happening
, I tell myself as Jack swings the car onto the main road and slams his foot on the accelerator.

She can’t do this
—
she can’t sue Sarah
—
not now … not after all we went through with Kitty
 … But of course, she can. And why shouldn’t she? It’s Holly’s right, after all … it’s her right more than anyone’s.

But I can’t let her. I have to stop this
—
I have to stop this now
—
but how?

I hang up miserably. She still won’t answer her mobile.

“Keep trying!” Jack urges, the passing headlights picking out his frown lines in the dark. “We
have
to find her, make her see that suing won’t help anything, help
anybody
.”

He thumps the dashboard and I quickly redial, getting through to voice mail over and over all the way to Boston as Holly and Josh refuse to answer.

Finally Jack swings the car to the curb outside a vast redbrick building and jumps out. I hurry after him across a neatly manicured quad crisscrossed with pathways and lined with naked, shivering trees.

He hammers on the locked door until finally someone answers.

“Where can I find Josh Samuels?” he barks.

The girl shrugs, startled. “I’m sorry, I don’t—”

“Which room is he in?” Jack pushes past her. “Where’s my daughter?”

“Hey.” A muscly guy strides forward. “You can’t just barge in here.”

“I’m looking for my daughter!” Jack says firmly. “She’s with Josh Samuels, and I need to see her now!”

“I’m sorry, sir, you’ll have to leave.” The guy walks right up to Jack, his hands balled fists at his sides. “Now.”

Shit. “Jack …” I tug on his sleeve.

“I’m not leaving,” Jack growls, eyeballing the guy, “till I find Josh Samuels.”

“Really?” The human wall raises an eyebrow.

“Jack, maybe we should—”

“I saw Josh.”

Jack spins and pins the second guy with his anxious stare. “When? Where?”

“Uh, about a half hour ago—”

“Where?!”

“He was getting into his car with a red-haired chick.”

“Where were they going?” Jack urges.

“No idea.” He shrugs.

“Shit.” Jack sighs.

“But he had a suitcase.”

Jack looks up quickly. “A suitcase?” His face relaxes. “She’s coming home …”

“You leaving now?” Mr. Muscle grunts.

“Down, boy. We’re going,” Jack mutters, sighing with relief as we head back toward the car. “My little girl’s coming home.”

I follow silently, an uneasy feeling niggling in my gut.

Holly

Home
. There’s no place like it.

I watch the city lights fly past the car window and know I’m doing the right thing.

Whatever’s happened—whatever happens—it’s still my home.

Where the heart is.

Where my family is.

Where I belong.

I smile.

I can’t wait.

Rosie

I hear the familiar ringtone before we even reach the car, and hurry to open the door.

“Rosie, finally!” Andy cries as I answer my phone. “I’ve been calling for, like, an hour!”

“Sorry, I’ve been trying to call Holly, she—”

“Has she got a new mobile?”

“What?”

“She broke hers—did she get a new one? I need to contact her.”

“I dunno, we’re trying to find her, she’s staying with Josh—”

“No, she’s not.”

I blink. “She’s not?”

Jack looks up sharply as he starts the car.

“No, just … if any of you hear from her, tell her to call me, okay?”

“Wait—Andy, how do you know?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you—I promised.”

“
Andy
, Holly’s moved out. Jack’s beside himself! If you know where she is …”

“I don’t …” Andy hesitates. “But I know where she’s headed.”

“Where?”

Andy sighs. “Rosie, she’s going to England.”

“England?”

Jack stares at me. “Shit! The airport.”

My head slams against the window, the phone tumbling to the floor as Jack swings the car in a sharp U-turn and hits the accelerator.

Panic races through my veins.

England … Sarah …

Nana …

Holly

“Hey.” Josh appears beside me in the line for check-in with a bag of candy. “I thought you might need these for the plane—for when your ears pop.” He grins as he chews. “And maybe a few for now?”

I smile as he offers me the already-opened bag. It wasn’t until I spent time with him this week that I realized just how much I’d missed him—his warmth, his laughter, his reassuring presence beside me. It’s been weird staying in his dorm, though. It’s like he’s got this whole other life, filled with friends I don’t know and experiences I can’t share. He’s on the debate team, the university newspaper—he’s even in the choir! My Josh, who I’ve never even heard
sing
before. He’s thriving—changing and growing before my eyes, embracing each new challenge and adventure, gaining more and more confidence in himself. He
fits
here. He belongs in this world, this new life.

But that hasn’t stopped him from being there for me when I needed him most. I smile. Maybe we will find a way through this—maybe it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, college or us, engagement or breakup. We can bridge this gap, we can make it work if we try hard enough. I’ve met all his new friends now, after all, and he’s been incredible this week—lending me his phone to call Charlotte, who’ll contact a clinic in England when my results are ready, and listening without judging as I finally told him everything.

Well, almost everything.

I bite my lip. I feel awful not telling him about the baby, but with things still so undecided between us after our engagement fiasco, I don’t want him to commit to me again just because I’m pregnant—especially when the baby and I might both have inherited a debilitating disease. When I still don’t know whether I should keep it anyway …

Just one more secret. Just for now.

Until I know.

“You okay?” Josh asks gently. “D’you want me to come with you? Get a flight?”

I stare at him. He’d do that? For me? The girl who ditched him? He’d leave his studies and come with me halfway around the world to find my family?

I smile and squeeze his hand. Of course he would. That’s exactly why I can’t tell him about the baby. Can’t let him sacrifice everything for me.

“Thanks.” I smile. “But this is something I need to do myself.”

“Okay.” He nods, a frown flickering across his features. “But if you need anything at all—I’m here. Always. This isn’t leaving my sight. Okay?” He holds up his cell phone and I want to cry.

As if to prove his point, the phone buzzes as he receives yet another voice mail.

“My dad again?” I sigh.

He nods, listening to the message, wincing at the raised voice, almost audible from here. “Crap.”

“What now?” I frown.

Josh looks at me. “He’s on his way.”