Page 90

Chapter Fifty-Seven

“What doyou mean you’re moving out?” My voice rises up a few decibels.

One might expect her twin sister not to be so giddy when giving the news that she’s moving out. Out of the place we’ve shared for over four years.

We have never lived apart. Never.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for Skye finding her own way, standing on her own two feet and all that, but I never saw this coming. Skye was always the one who wanted to do everything together. The one who kind of depended on me. She may be older by three minutes, but I was always the leader and Skye the follower. I always imagined it would be me first venturing into the world alone.

And it always worried me I would break her heart a little by leaving her alone. Why is it then my heart feels a little broken right now?

“I’m moving out, River. I need to pack and get rid of my dingy stay-in clothes and buy some casual clothes and new underwear. You have to go shopping with me and force me to buy the racy stuff I know I won’t buy if I go alone.”

She’s so excited, her voice comes out in spurts between breaths and giggles. I think my sister is high.

“Are you high? Did you smoke some pot? No, that would make you mellow,” I answer myself. “Are you on crack or something?”

That seems to get her back down from the cloud nine she’s been floating on.

“What? No! Of course not. You know I don’t do drugs. I don’t even like to take an aspirin.”

I know this, my twin, the goody-goody girl who never goes over the speed limit, much less ventures into illegal drugs. I’ve never been into any of that stuff either. Okay, I tried pot once in high school. Skye was too chicken to even go near it and made sure to stay downwind. God forbid she accidentally inhaled it.

“Skye, you are freaking me out over here. I don’t understand what you are saying. I hear the words and it sounds like you said you are moving out and I will have this place all to myself, but it doesn’t make any sense.”

She takes a deep breath and settles as her body relaxes into the sofa we’re both sitting on. Then, she shows me her left hand. And I see it. A beautiful white gold ring. A diamond encircled in topaz stones, the blue color nearly identical to her eyes.

I hold her hand in mine and look between her and the ring a few times.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Yes!”

My free hand covers my mouth, holding in the gasp and surprise. My eyes start to mist and before I know it, we have our arms wrapped around each other.

“Oh my God, Skye,” I speak into her hair. “He proposed? Logan proposed? How? When? How? Tell me everything.” I demand, pulling away from her so I can see her face.

She grabs the baby blue pillow behind her and hugs it to her chest.

“It was just so sweet and so romantic. I feel like I’m in a dream still.” Her eyes drift upward in thought.

“You’re killing me with the suspense. Tell me already.”

She giggles.

“You know how he’s been trying to teach me to ice skate for weeks now?”

“Yes, I saw the big purple mark on your ass from the last time you went.”

“Well, he took me to the rink last night after closing time. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was dark, except for the lights right over the ice. And there were all these songs playing that they usually don’t play at the rink. They were slow and sweet and all the lyrics were about loving someone. A Thousand Years by Christina Perri—"

“I love that song!” I interrupt her.

“I know, I do too. All my favorite love songs were playing. ‘I’m Falling Even More in Love With You’ by Lifehouse, ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ by Savage Garden, but I still didn’t think much of it. I was concentrating too hard on not falling on my ass.”

She stops, a dreamy look on her face.

“Tell me, woman! What happens next?”