Page 117 of The Family Guest

Relieved he doesn’t sound angry or judgmental, I push on. My voice grows stronger.

“Father, these are my sins…

“I killed my father.” In self-defense.

“I killed my mother.” For allowing him to rape me.

“I abandoned a child.” Who reminded me of him.

“Then watched her drown.” Left her for dead.

“I shoved another child down the stairs. She fell to her death. It was an accident.” Maybe it wasn’t.

“I thought about killing my husband.” I never had the chance.

I pause and catch my breath. “Father, I have one other confession… After I stabbed my parents, I hitched a ride with a girl from out of town, an aspiring actress, who was a few years older than me. She was heading to Los Angeles but wanted to stop and hike up Tahquitz Canyon to see the waterfall at the top. Halfway up, a brush fire broke out. As we ran down the trail to escape it, she tripped on a rock and hit her head.”

I swallow back the memory, past the lump in my throat.

“In a panic, the blaze coming at us, I abandoned her and stole her identity.”

Tears sear my cheeks. I cannot stop them.

Her name was Natalie Taylor.

“Father, for these sins, I am truly sorry.”

I get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness.

EPILOGUE

TIFFANY

Three months earlier: August

“I’m so excited to be here, Mrs. Richmond! I’ve never been to Miami before.”

“Please call me Catherine,” she says as her Audi convertible cruises along the busy I-19. “Our family is so happy to have you as our guest.”

A warm tropical breeze whips my ponytail against my cheeks while I hold onto the Miami Dolphins hat I stole at the airport so it won’t fly off. I don’t tell her I’ve never been in a convertible because it’s not true. Like families, I’ve learned you have to choose lies wisely.

Toned and tan, my new host tucks her perfectly highlighted blonde bob behind her ears. “You’re going to love it here! There’s so much to do. Wait till we go to South Beach. It’s such a scene! And the shopping’s to die for.”

Urban, here I come with my hotter than ever body. “Can’t wait!” I chew my Trident gum and crack a bubble. “I’m so lucky Papa let me go to college in America. The University of Miami sounds like the bomb.”

Catherine chuckles. “Funnily, my brainiac daughter, Quinn, hates it and wants to go to Oxford next year.”

Ta-ta! She’ll be lucky if she makes it through this year alive.

Thank goodness she doesn’t have a murderous little brother. But she does have this really hot older brother, Zach, who attends the university’s law school. Marriage material. Tiffany Richmond. In my head, the name sings on my tongue. There’s a method to my madness if you haven’t noticed.

Chatty Cathy cuts into my romantic fantasy. “We have an adorable little dog. A Maltipoo. Her name is Pouf. P-O-U-F.” She glances in the rearview mirror. “I should warn you though. She’s rather yappy and is an ankle biter.”

“No worries.” At least she’s small. With a little luck, I’m going to make Pouf go poof. Magically disappear.

My host-slash-future mother-in-law flashes her blinker. “This is our exit. We’ll be at our house in no time. Wait till you see it. It looks like a Mediterranean villa in the South of France and has a swimming pool with cabanas. I hope you love to swim.”

I feel my heart hiccup. The memory of falling into that freezing lake, clinging to a piece of driftwood, and miraculously floating to safety makes me shudder. I almost drowned.